Create A Journal That Sparks Amazement and Deepens Your Soul
Journaling has many benefits but the only way it will be beneficial to YOU is if you have a strong desire to start the practice. Rather than thinking of journaling as a chore, or something that you ‘have’ to do, think of it as an exciting journey to discover your innermost desires.
Everyone’s journaling experience is vastly different, which is why the deeper you dive into your psyche and identify what you really want in life, the more exciting the act of journaling becomes. You will have some people that journal simply to keep track of their workday and the tasks at hand while others have separate journals for their gratitude, finances, or health. While some people much prefer the simplicity of bullet journaling, others prefer the freestyle journaling of just writing what is on their mind that day, using long hand and full sentences.
The only ‘wrong’ way to journal is to start and stop repeatedly, or to think of it as a chore. With the following exercises, you will want to get clear on why you’re doing what you’re doing. That is, being deeply aware of what your intention with starting a journal is. You could use it to declutter your mind, plan and organize your day, get your creative juices flowing, record your life experiences or absolutely anything else that has meaning to you.
One word I want you to get used to saying – even if it means saying it out loud – is WHY. Do not just settle for that first answer to any of the exercise questions. Dig deeper by asking WHY. For example, let us say you want to start a health journal because you want to reclaim your health by losing (insert your number) pounds and to get off your (insert your prescription of choice). By itself, ‘wanting to reclaim your health’ is a bold reason. But WHY? What is at a deeper level? WHY do you really want to reclaim your health? Is it to be able to play with your young children? Is it to live past the age your parent was when he/she died? Is it to look stunning at the next high school reunion?
Get brave and keep asking yourself WHY to those second level questions. Why is it important to you to wow the crowd at the reunion? Why is it important to live longer than your parent? Why do you want to play with your children? Keep digging deep! The more important your reasoning, the more likely you will be to stick with journaling and make it work for you. Instead of thinking you can skip a day of writing down your health stats, you will fall into a quick habit of tracking your progress because you have identified WHY it’s important to you.
You have heard the saying that it takes 21 days to create a new habit mindset? 66 days total to have it become routine, a living habit. Challenge yourself to keep journaling for a straight 21 days. Adding anything new to your daily routine can be difficult, especially if you are hesitant about whether you will gain any benefit from it, but what harm can it do to journal for 21 days? You are not talking an hour each day. Allow yourself 10-15 minutes to start and see how it develops from there. Feel free to daydream about how journaling will benefit your daily life and pay attention to how you feel before and after journaling. What do you think it would feel like if you skipped journaling on Day 22? Embrace journaling as a daily habit and soon you will not want to skip any days.
If 21 days of straight writing sounds too difficult or boring, add some embellishments to your journal and treat it as an artistic canvas. Download some journaling color pages to give your creative juices an outlet to writing. Any supplies that you would find in a scrapbooking section of the craft store would work well in a journal, so let your imagination get wild!
When you approach journaling in this deep, intentional way the process no longer becomes a chore that you procrastinate about completing. Instead, journaling becomes an art where for a few moments you can explore the inner workings of your mind and soul. This type of thinking elevates your journals to masterpieces worth revisiting in the future instead of ‘just some notebooks’ that are taking up space in your home.
Exercise: Find Your Why
Dive deep into your reasons for starting a journal. The deeper you go, the more important the journaling process becomes.