Self-care is an important part of maintaining emotional and mental wellbeing. One way to practice self-care is through journaling. There are several different types of journaling you can do, this doesn’t have to be the “Dear Journal” type that you keep under lock and key. Tee-hee! With the variety of journaling techniques and styles out there, pick one or a few and make them your own.
TYPES OF JOURNALING:
Gratitude Journaling: Writing down things you are grateful for every day.
Reflection Journaling: Writing about ideas, events, or situations that you experienced and how you responded or felt about them.
Bullet Journaling: A system of organizing notes, tasks, and events using bullet points and symbols.
Dream Journaling: Writing down your dreams and interpretations of them.
Travel Journaling: Writing about travels, adventures, and experiences.
Art Journaling: Combining art and writing to express yourself.
Food Journaling: Keeping track of meals, snacks, and drinks.
Goal-Setting Journaling: Writing down goals, objectives, and the steps needed to accomplish them.
Health Journaling: Tracking health-related data, such as diet, exercise, and sleep.
Prayer Journaling: Writing prayers, reflections, and meditations.
Journaling is a form of self-expression and reflection. It can be used to help deal with stress, understand and process emotions, and gain clarity and direction in life. Journaling can be used as a tool to reach a goal, track patterns, and ultimately gain clarity on what matters to you.
BENEFITS OF JOURNALING FOR SELF-CARE:
1) It can be a constructive outlet for expressing emotions, and it can help you to process difficult experiences and break down overwhelming thoughts into manageable chunks. Writing can also be a calming activity that helps to reduce stress and anxiety.
2) It can also be a useful tool for challenging and reframing negative and beliefs that may be holding you back and help you create a more positive outlook. Writing down your thoughts can provide clarity and help you to recognize patterns of thinking that are not serving you.
3) It can a great way to explore and identify your goals and dreams. Writing down your ideas and plans can help you to develop strategies for achieving them. It can also be an effective tool for monitoring progress and staying motivated.
4) It can help you to gain insight, opportunity and introspection into yourself and your life - to better understand your thoughts and feelings. It can also be a useful tool for exploring and resolving difficult emotions, such as anger, fear, and sadness.
TIPS ON HOW TO JOURNAL:
1) Set Aside Time: Establish a time to write each day, even if it's just for a few minutes. The more consistent you are, the easier it will become to write regularly.
2) Set a Goal: Decide on a goal for your journaling. It could be to reflect on your day, to express your feelings, to keep track of your progress on a project or anything else that works for you.
3) Use Prompts: Use questions or prompts to help jumpstart your writing. You can find lots of great journaling prompts online.
4) Get Creative: Don't feel limited to just writing in your journal. You can also use artwork, drawings, photographs, collages, etc.
5) Make it Meaningful: Write about topics that are meaningful to you. Whether it's your thoughts, feelings, experiences, or observations, make your journaling meaningful and personal, this will help you look forward to the process.
6) Be Positive: Focus on the positive aspects of your life and experiences. This will help you to stay motivated and will help you appreciate the good things in your life.
7) Be Honest: Be honest with yourself and with your journal. Don't be afraid to express your true feelings and to be open and vulnerable.
8) Have Fun: Journaling can be a great way to relax and have fun. Let go of your inhibitions and just enjoy the process. Don’t feel like you have to write in your journal every day. You want to journal from a place of joy, not obligation, so journal when it feels right. Every day is great, but it may not be for you and that’s okay.
Pro Tip: Using essential oils in your journaling practice can help you anchor in your feelings and/or process through them. Whether you choose to apply the essential oils topically (pulse points are a great spot to apply them), or you diffuse them in the space you’re – the choice is yours. There are endless choices and combinations of essential oils to use, there is no such thing and right or wrong here. A great place to start is to pick the essential oil or oil blend that you’ve been drawn to lately. A quick Google search will reveal a plethora of recipes. Simply search for “essential oils” and the emotion you’re trying to overcome or achieve.
Check out
The Self-Care Method™, a journal I created to help you cultivate the life you desire through small daily actions. I encourage self-care, including a daily gratitude journaling practice. As I help you reframe what self-care is and looks like for you, I think you’ll find that building a daily self-care routine that works for you is far easier than you may think. And I’m super excited to share that my self-care mobile app is almost finished and will provide you an even easier way to help you create a customized self-care routine.
As you can see, journaling can be a powerful tool in your self-care practice. Pull up the calendar on your phone. Decide when you want to journal, 5 minutes as part of your morning routine? At night before you go to bed? Add a new, recurring event with a reminder that you can strive to do daily. (Don’t do it to check off a box, do it because you want to and it feels good and right for you). Lastly, pick your journaling style and your motive and start writing!
xoDanette