How to Journal- Part 2 of 2
Get started and get consistent
Part one helps you to start journaling
I sometimes ask my coaching clients to keep a journal but I also get questions about journaling from folks who are thinking about starting or building up a journal practice .
So I wanted to share some of my thoughts and ideas about journaling to hopefully inspire you to give it a try or improve the quality of your own journaling. This was a bigger topic than I expected so I made this blog into two parts.
In part 1 , I shared my tips on getting started and making journaling a consistent practice. This is all about making a start and making it a regular occurrence.
Once you get a basic practice of keeping a journal, you will be reaching for your book with more consistency and you can start to see the benefits of using the pages as a way to pause and take notice of yourself. Then you can start experimenting with using it as a reflection tool to help you to make decisions, problem-solve, work through and deal with emotions and just get to know yourself better.
THE VALUE OF WRITING
Once you have a habit, one of the things that I find helps to keep it going is when you get that cathartic feeling, a satisfaction. For me that happens if I wake at 3am and I have thoughts running around my head, I could spend hours tossing and turning or I could go downstairs write it out and then be back in bed in 20 minutes, sound asleep.
But it takes time to learn what that value is for you.
Here are my tips to help you get more value from your journalling
No-one is watching
Stop judging the process or the content, this journaling process is not really the same as your teenage diary. There are no rules, what feels right for you, is right for you. For some people (speaking for myself here) we speak to think, sometimes I talk before I think, so I am organising my thoughts as I am talking. This is not always helpful, especially if the person I am talking to is a person who likes to hear the final idea, not work in progress. Journaling provides a safe space for that. Others who need to fully form their ideas before talking can find journaling helpful to explore and fully form what you want to say.
Healthy Emotional Processing
Research* showed that journaling can improve your personal health, most of the subjects who wrote thoughtfully and emotionally about traumatic experiences generally experienced improved physical health.
Great advice that also applies to journaling
Ref: Down Dog Yoga
Something happens to emotions when you journal about them. They change and evolve. Naming an emotion is the first and crucial step to dealing with it so writing down. “I am tired” can be the start of opening up that emotion for some change. I can explore what kind of tired I am, where I feel it in my body. In my head or chest, feet or arms. Maybe there are some other emotions like confusion, disappointment or loss. I can certainly explore the trigger.
Journaling can help us the work though new emotions too. How would I like to feel? Which of my values or strengths could help me now? What other emotion could I choose now? What do I need to be able to move to that emotion?
Power of Reflection
The time and space to reflect is a superpower. Journaling can give you a medium for critical self-reflection where you can explore dilemmas, contradictions, and where your evolving big ideas can be questioned or challenged in a safe and non-judgemental place.
For example, I wrote one day that I was frustrated with someone. I then looked critically at that emotion and the trigger. What actually happened? What are the facts? What biases and assumptions were at play? What did I do or say in reaction? What if I got really curious about the motives of the other person? What are my own motives? Journaling allowed me to get into a productive and positive conversation that could make a change and difference to me and possibly how I might handle my reaction with that person in the future.
Change catalyst
I kept a diary as a teenager but I first started journaling as an adult when I hired a coach and she asked me to try it out. I was on the edge of a big life change and my notebook was an important aid to the journey I was on. I could explore the fundamentals of personal philosophy, test my thinking without staying things outloud. My journal worked as a record and a mirror for my decisions, my explorations and my actions.
Change happens when we are able to unlearn and relearn.
We can try out thinking in different ways, explore our personal values, beliefs, thoughts that we might not say out loud (yet). When we get new information, have new experiences and learn new skills, we need time to self-reflect, to find personal and relevant meaning.
We get the chance to think about our own thinking. And maybe even change it!
What could journaling give to you? Why not start by journaling about it.
Over the years I have developed a structure to my journaling, and I thought I would share that with you as inspiration. I love a good process and I think this shows in how I journal, this is just my way, and it is not for everyone but if you are curious… check it out and try it.
Let me know if you like it and also if you have any tips for me.
HOW I JOURNAL…
The first page in the book - My purpose, my values and my goals for the year
Intention. The next page is for intentions, my overall intention for the year. I just write a few words like: health, growth, intuition, fun. The rest of the page has a month-by-month grid where I will add the intentions for that month such as February- Clarity, Generosity and Courage. This repeats on the pages (I will come to that)
I leave some pages for things that are important context for example I added my strengths from an exercise I did this year
Would you like coaching support to get journaling?
Monthly - the first two pages of the month are special - I set out my intention for the month (as mentioned from the front of the book), list the priorities, goals, projects, learning and development actions. An important addition to this was to add the things that I will choose to let go of. Maybe I want to let go of a thought pattern or a habit that is not serving me anymore. On the second page of the month, I title the page “Lessons from June” this is a page where I can add my big takeaways and lessons I have learned over the month- I will add to this over the month so that I can look back at it later.
Gratitude. Every entry (this is not everyday, but most days) starts with a letter G) I write something that I am grateful for, this can be anything from the sun to a conversation or my children. The I just write my jumble of thoughts and ideas; somethings might need to become actions others are just thoughts. Some pages are pictures or brainstorms. I might add another coloured pen, write out a quote or write something I have read that inspired me. I will add to the things I was to let go of and the lessons for the month.
At the end and start of every month I look back through the two pages at the start of the book and the two pages of the previous month. This is important context to help me to think about the next month in an intentional way. At the end of the year, I will do a full round up from the year before I start the next journal.
I hope this was interesting for you to read, maybe you can pick up at least one new idea that you would like to integrate into your practice. If you would like some support and coaching on how to get the most of your journaling please register your interest. I would be happy to help.
Enjoy your journal practice!
*Reference- Bruce, R. “Strange but True: Improve your Health Through Journaling.” May, 1998.
