Writing down your thoughts allows you to pause and think about what truly matters. This is the importance of having a self-care journal; you won’t miss out on important things in your life.
But what do you write in a self-care journal? How do you start and more importantly, how do you stay consistent? Choose a time that you’re most comfortable with when you write a self-care journal. For more tips on how to start, read this blog post.
This habit will help you in your self-discovery and teach you to be patient when things don’t go your way. Many of us find it challenging to take care of ourselves. We don’t invest in the time to do self-care activities that help us relax and we put off activities we enjoy because we feel that we don’t have the time. Taking care of yourself is one of the most important things you do for your mental and emotional health.
One way to take care of our mental and emotional health is journaling. All you need is pen and paper to journal. Many people don’t know where to start or they start thinking about all the things they have to do and think it’s a waste of time. This is the reason we at Happy Being Well created a free self-care journal that already has powerful questions (journal prompts) for you to answer designed to get to know yourself at your roots. This is a powerful exercise because once you get back in touch with who you truly are, you can redirect your daily focus on ensuring you are taking actions in your life that make you happy because they are aligned with your true passions, values, and talents. You can get your free self-care journal here.
Also, in our free self-care journal you get ideas and inspiration for self-care activities and ways to relax to release stress. It is vital that we do self-care activities to release stress because this avoids burn out and recharges our mind, body and spirit so we can feel rejuvenated to take on the next day with vigor! Journaling helps us realize that. Journaling is powerful for self-reflection to process what we really feel in our day to day lives and to access the truth of who we are and how we are really living to take more power into our lives by making better life decisions. More people are waking up today by seeing the truth that we are the only ones accountable for our happiness so more people are saying no to toxic relationships and toxic workplaces. More people want to live in peace and create harmonious relationships with others. This starts with getting to know ourselves on a deeper level and building a healthy relationship with ourselves and journaling helps us do that.
A journal is a book to write down your thoughts, feelings and life experiences. It is a powerful way to reflect on your personal life and write down important life events that has impacted your life in some way. Journaling is a great way to release your thoughts and feelings by writing down your thoughts and feelings on paper.
Write from your heart and not from your head when you are writing in your journal. Writing from the heart allows you to express what you think and feel. When you write from your heart you bypass your conscious mind, which is where the ego likes to keep you feeling safe and comfortable so you won’t focus on negative events that you need to process and release onto paper. It’s important to capture the lessons we have learned from our negative life events in order to see how they made us stronger, wiser and better at making life decisions. It is also important to capture what we achieved in life. Our lives are so busy and demanding we often forgot on all the past life accomplishments we have achieved until we actually go through our work portfolio sometimes. This is important to write down so we feel good about ourselves and see more positive possibilities in our lives.
What are the benefits of journaling?
Journaling your thoughts and feelings is a powerful personal development activity. It can help you through hard times, build self-esteem, improve your self-awareness, regain control of your life and appreciate precious life moments.
Journaling is self-care. Clearing your mind and expressing your emotions is beneficial to your mental health. Other benefits of journaling include:
Expressing yourself without fear of judgment
Getting things off your shoulders
Releasing negative emotions
Learning more about yourself
Improving your self-esteem
Increasing your insight into your thoughts and actions
Learning from past experiences
Activate your creativity
Manifesting things you want in life
It is a form of meditation because when you are concentrated in the writing process you are tapping more into your subconscious mind.
If you look to do everything digital in our increasingly digital world instead of using a traditional notebook while pen and paper, you can use digital apps to help you journal like Goodnotes, Evernote, Day One or you can use your device’s native notes app. You can also use a doc file with Microsoft Word and Google Docs.
Not Sure What to Write
Most people struggle with knowing what to write about. You can start with describing your day or what made you smile and feel happy. Answering a journaling prompt also helps. Journaling prompts are sentences or questions that make you think and reflect about your past experiences, present situation, or future plans. You can download your free journal from Happy Being Well with journal prompts in our Resources web page tab located in our blog section where we also offer a variety of other personal development and wellness books to download for free.
You can also infuse your creativity by drawing something that reflects your mood and feelings in your journal entry. Just let your thoughts, feelings, and emotions flow when answering the journal prompt questions in our complimentary self-care journal. To get the full benefits of journaling, being consistent is key. Pick a time of the day when you’re more comfortable writing in your journal. Schedule a few minutes a day to brain dump everything and let your thoughts flow onto paper. Journaling is such a magical experience due to the insights you uncover about yourself and your life. Plus, journaling gives you more energy and excitement about seeing more possibilities in life due to the clarity it brings by writing things down.
Self-care journal prompts
Here are some examples of daily prompts to get you started on your self-care journaling practice. For more journal prompts download our free self-care journal here.
- What is the best part of your day?
- What are three things that bring you joy today?
- What have you done for yourself today?
- What did you learn today?
- What are the three things you’re grateful for today?
- What’s one new thing you learned about yourself today?
- What is my ideal day?
- What are your positive affirmations?
- What do I want to accomplish tomorrow?
- How do I see myself five years from now?
- What thoughts did I think today?
- How am I feeling?
- What do I want to accomplish tomorrow?