Journaling

Journals vs Diaries

Journalling and keeping a diary are not the same. Although both are private records which are between the author and the page, where a diary holds information such as daily happenings, weather, and appointments, for example, journalling is more reflective. A journal will include records of thoughts, observations, and ideas. These might be in the form of words, photographs, or doodles.

Origins

The modern practice of journalling is similar to the techniques used by ancient Greeks and Romans who followed the philosophy of Stoicism. Stoics emphasised the need for self-discipline, emotional resilience, and rational thinking. They used journalling as a form of contemplative writing.

But there is no set way to keep a journal. People have journalled in many different ways throughout history. Examples include cave paintings showing activities and achievements, ideas notebooks kept by figures such as Beethoven and Edison, and books through which to purge the mind of agitation – used by people including Queen Victoria, Susan Sontag, Oscar Wilde, and Virginia Woolf.

Why Keep A Journal

Journalling is a useful way to reflect on daily experiences, situations, feelings, and emotions. It can be a means of reviewing the past and preparing for the future. Journals can be places to boost creativity through free writing (this is unstructured writing, just letting words come as they may). A journal might provide somewhere to problem solve, by writing things out and breaking them down into smaller pieces.

Although journals are for the eyes of the writer only, some people leave their work to the next generation of readers. While most of us use social media, email and instant messaging as a way of sharing, this information is transient. How will our children or grandchildren know us if our legacy is locked within the internet or stored in the cloud? The ideas and reflections recorded within a journal can give a much clearer, more honest, insight into who we truly are. The hopes and dreams we have for our future, and those around us.

Getting Started

It can be daunting thinking of starting anything new. So small steps at a time, without any pressure to journal regularly. The best type of book is often one without dates, so as and when the writer adds to the journal, each entry flows from the one before. There are no empty pages through dates being missed.

Some people find it easiest to address the journal to a name. This might be someone they know, or a character they create. Anne Frank, for example, wrote many of her entries to Kitty – a fictional character of her own creation.

Writing in a journal can help problem solving, planning, capturing ideas, self-discovery.
Things which might be kept in a journal include:
– Goals, personal and/or career
– Gratitude
– Quotes
– Reflections
– Questions
– Self development
– Successes
– Long term vision
– Ideas

Journalling creates a stronger connection to our inner selves. By leaving our thoughts, our emotions on the page we free cognitive space with which to focus on living. Abraham Lincoln wrote what he called ‘hot letters’. If someone irked him, he would write a ‘hot letter’ setting out why he was upset and what his emotions were. Then he would put the letter aside and allow his feelings to cool before writing ‘never sent, never signed’ at the bottom. This was his way of writing to capture his reactions, explain what annoyed him, leave it all on paper, and calm down. Journalling can offer similar release.

Prompts

If you want to start journalling, but are unsure where to begin, I’ve found some of these prompts helpful in setting off:
– Write a list of things you’re happy with, and things you aspire to (self)
– Set out aims for the next 5 weeks, 5 months, 5 years (self)
– Think about areas for self-development, and to what extent these are within your control (release)
– Create a dialogue between yourself, and your inner child (release)
– Imagine something fun which you’d like to achieve (imagination)
– Free write your thoughts about the weather (imagination)
– Write a letter to say hi to someone reading your journal (imagination)
– List as many uses for a tablecloth as you can (imagination)
– Describe one of your worries, and what you can control within this (release)
– Record the last dream you remember having (release)

Benefits of Journalling

A Cambridge University study published in 2018 found that journalling after traumatic and stressful events helped to improve well-being. Participants wrote about such events for 15-20 minutes, and were observed to experience improvements in physical and psychological health.

The Journal of Experimental Psychology studied the impact of journalling on sleep. Their findings were published in 2018, and showed that journalling before bed helped people clear their minds and ease worries. This in turn led to improved sleep.

From 1996-2008, Harvard University researchers looked into how emotional suppression affects mortality rates. Those who held emotions inside were 70% more likely to be diagnosed with cancer, and had a 30% greater risk of premature death. Journalling was one of the ways in which people were able to release feelings and avoid suppressing their emotions.

Finally …

“I owe a good deal to this journal. By unburdening my mind on paper I feel, as it were, in some degree to get rid of it; it seems made over to a friend that hears it patiently, keeps it faithfully, and by never forgetting anything, is always ready to compare the past & present and thus to cheer & edify the future.”
— Anne Lister

“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
– William Wordsworth

“Whether you’re keeping a journal or writing as a meditation, it’s the same thing. What’s important is you’re having a relationship with your mind.”
— Natalie Goldberg

“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”
– Anne Frank