Here are 5 styles of journaling that can help you reflect and recharge.
Journaling is a process of regularly recording your thoughts, feelings, memories, and more in a book. It helps you reflect upon your actions, provides an emotional outlet, and helps strengthen your relationship with yourself.
When you journal, you focus on things that are important and you need to achieve. It helps you decode your thoughts, reactions, and feelings towards yourself and others. Journaling has also proved to lower blood pressure and eliminate stress.
I was introduced to journaling when I read the book The Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod. Journaling was one of the five aspects that helped me transform myself and hence I lay so much emphasis on it. I request all my coaching clients to journal daily because the benefits are immense.
I started my journey with forgiveness journaling on blank sheets of paper. Then I combined it with gratitude. Today I also journal my thoughts, my feelings, and what I would like to work on next. It helps me release any stress or negativity and makes it easy for me to forgive myself and others. Just the act of putting the first thoughts in the morning on a paper makes me start my day with energy. Journaling consciously helps me work on the areas that need upgrading, and since journaling is a form of repetition it reprograms my subconscious with new beliefs and patterns. Journaling provides structure and direction to my personal goals, in addition, it sets the intention in the universe.
Journaling is so powerful that it contributes to your overall well-being. It also helps you strengthen your emotional resilience and find joy in your life.
If you feel anxious and stressed by your thoughts, lack focus, and structure, and are not connected to your values, then journaling will give a new perspective on how to deal with such situations.
I mention 5 styles of journaling today that are super enjoyable and you can start with what you resonate with most.
1 – Bullet Journaling/Business Journaling
Bullet journaling combines several goals into an organised system. It can be used as a daily diary, a calendar and task manager, a place to reflect and process things—just about anything you’d do in a regular journal, you can do with bullet journaling!
I use bullet journaling at work to achieve daily tasks.
2 – Daily Reflective Journaling
Daily journaling is a private activity to reflect on your life and process emotions and experiences. This practice can help you let go of stress and know yourself better.
I add gratitude to my reflective journaling as it helps me improve happiness, well-being, and even physical health. Creating a gratitude journal is a powerful way to build a habit of being thankful—and have a central repository of everything you’re grateful for, which you can turn to anytime you’re feeling down. You can keep it simple and fast by adding 5 things you are grateful for every day.
3 – Forgiveness Journaling
I say this time and again – without forgiveness, gratitude is powerless.
Forgiveness has been the most important element of my transformation. Forgiveness releases pain and helps us grow. It helps in healing emotional and physical conditions. It gives us a better quality of life.
It’s extremely important for us to keep forgiving ourselves and others consistently. We are all works in progress and intentionally forgiving on paper will help us avoid negative thoughts and stay peaceful. Make forgiveness part of your daily routine and see the magic.
4 – Travel Journaling
This is collaging mementos from your trip, travel journals give you a snapshot of what you did, moments you don’t want to forget, and lessons learned while being in different places on earth. This is more like a scrapbook, you could add restaurant receipts, pictures, maps, or anything that could take you back to that place and fill your heart with gratitude.
5 – Love Letter Journaling
Writing a weekly love letter to yourself greatly helps improve the relationship you have with yourself and also increases your self-worth in your eyes. Love letter journaling done over time acts as affirmation and aids to shift negative thoughts and self-sabotaging beliefs about yourself to become a better version of yourself.
In conclusion, discipline is the first step to victory. Create a morning routine that will help you to create new habits, make journaling a part of it. The benefits are way too many like – it reduces stress, helps process emotions, and aids reflections. Never miss it, as repetition helps reprogram the subconscious and that’s how we create the life we desire.
The power of journaling has proven to help make a substantial shift in your life, so start with the one style you enjoy the most and then you can combine a few.
You can also download the self-love journal from my free resources page and start journaling today!
Lots of Love
Meher Mirchandani
This article was first published on Thrive Global.
