The Power of Journaling: tips & ideas for starting a journal
In this blog I talk about the power of journaling and share some tips on how you can get started in building a consistent journaling habit if you’re a beginner or have just fallen out of the habit and want to get back into it.
Journaling can be such a powerful tool if we stick to it, and it’s so simple! If you commit to becoming more present you can really building your self-awareness through journaling. Often though, the habit is lost easily, or maybe you’ve never even journaled before?! Some common reasons for not journaling is that it’s hard to find the time, or hard to know what to actually journal about. I’ve been there too.
Building a daily journal habit and reflecting on your life can help to increase your self-awareness, bring balance to your life and your thoughts and help you be present every day. It helps you to see more of the positives in your life whilst also being aware of your feelings, the lessons you’re learning and the growth you’re experiencing. Whilst it’s important to be grateful, it’s also important to be aware of your feelings and to let yourself feel them. No feelings are bad. By journaling every day you will feel more gratitude for your life day to day, yet also gain the ability to look to the future and work towards your goals and dream life.
There are so many things you could journal about, even if at first the idea seems daunting.
Here are some ideas of things you can journal on if you struggle to stay consistent, they’ll help you build the habit and get more of the benefits that journaling can bring. Try using some different combinations to see what works for you…
3 things I’m grateful for
Either in the morning when you first wake up or in the evening before bed, write down 3 things that you are grateful for. This can be absolutely anything, however big or small.
Something I can do for myself today
Write down a list of thoughts or ideas of some things you could do for yourself today. This could be something you need, something you enjoy, something you’ve been meaning to do, something for your body, your mind or your soul. Think about something that might make you feel good.
My intention for the week
A positive phrase or statement for how you want to show up this week, how you want to feel or the energy you want to be in. You could also do this as a daily intention and apply it to each day.
Long-term goals
Think ahead to where you’d like to be in 5 years time and write down some goals to aim towards. You could even set aside some time to make this into a ritual. Make your environment comfortable, maybe light a candle, put on some relaxing music and get into a relaxed and meditative state. Take some deep breaths, becoming aware of the weight of your body and the feeling of your breaths. Once you feel relaxed, spend some time imagining a dream day in the life of your higher self. Write down what comes up after this and then break this down into long term goals. You could then go even further and write down your goals for 12 months time based on this and break that down into 90 day and monthly goals.
Goals for the day
What do you want to achieve today? You could write these down in order of priority or just list a few of the things you want to achieve. Try thinking ahead to those long term goals and think of some small steps you could take today towards achieving them.
Stream of consciousness journaling
Just start writing and see what comes up! This is one of the most simple journaling ideas and it is basically just writing down whatever comes to your mind. It’s useful first thing in the morning to get an idea of how you’re feeling, or last thing before you go to sleep to get everything out that’s on your mind before you go to sleep.
Affirmations
Positive statements in the present tense that you can repeat to yourself to make you feel good. These can help you to manifest your goals and dreams and keep them in your mind in a positive way. You could write these based on what you need right now or how you’d like to feel. Make sure they’re in the present tense though! Some of my personal favourites are:
I am exactly where I need to be
Abundance comes to me easily and effortlessly
I am on the right path
I trust my intuition
I am grateful for today
Everything is working out in the best possible way for me
Something good that happened today
This could be something good that happened, something that made you feel good or a win you can celebrate. It doesn’t matter how big or small this is, anything counts!
So there you have several options to choose from to get started with your journaling journey. Choose what feels good to you at first and try a few out, try mixing and matching and just see what works for you.
Here are some useful tips for making sure you commit to it:
Don’t put pressure on yourself to use all of these prompts and ideas every day, this might seem like a large daunting task and make it less likely to become a habit.
Start small and commit to a little bit every day, rather than trying to do loads and then becoming disengaged and bored with it.
Try and have fun with it, don’t put pressure on yourself. For example you could try and be flexible with it, try a different one of the above ideas every day, or mix and match them. Or just wake up and see which type you fancy doing today. (I personally use my 4 daily prompts each day but then on days where I’m not feeling up to it I will maybe try some stream of consciousness or a different type of journaling, other days I’ll spend longer and do some creative journaling on the lessons I’m learning recently and digging deep into the things that are blocking me). It’s all about flowing with your own energy.
Try doing it as the first thing you do when you wake up. Put your journal next to your bed before you go to sleep. Then when you wake up, don’t pick up your phone and pick up your journal instead. Even if you only do 5 minutes.
So there you have it! Journaling doesn’t have to be complicated, you can make it as simple as you need. You can learn so much about yourself and it can really help to develop awareness & inspire realisations in your life. Try to enjoy the process, you might be surprised at what you uncover.
If you put aside 10 minutes in the morning and 10 minutes in the evening, and stick at it most days for a while, you will start to notice differences in how you’re feeling in your life and it’s likely you’ll start to see some shifts. Then you can journal on these too!
I myself have committed to journaling more recently after not doing it as much for a while. I’ve decided to use it more creatively in both my business and personal life and I like to switch it up a bit to keep it interesting!
Want to create a mindset for success in 10 minutes a day?
I’ve created a free journal prompts download to help you transform your mindset and your life.
