Journaling isn’t just for self-reflection or self-discovery. It’s also a valuable self-care tool. And helps us manage stress by giving an outlet to our thoughts and emotions. By letting it all out on the page, we process our emotions and organize our thoughts. This allows us to look at situations with clarity.
If you don’t already have a practice, now’s a great time to start. Make daily journaling into a self-care and personal development ritual and reap the rewards.
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How to Make Journaling a Habit
Cultivating a journaling practice can be difficult. But it doesn’t have to be. Ten minutes a day is all you need!. The tips below may inspire you to pick up your pen.
Invest in Your Journal
For some, any old notebook will do. Others need a notebook that inspires them. If you fall into the latter category, buy a notebook that speaks to you. Invest in quality paper. And make sure you like the binding.
I recommend the Erin Condren soft bound notebooks. They come in a variety of colors or designer covers. And you can personalize them with your name for no extra cost! Choose between traditional lined paper or dot grid for bullet journaling. At only $14 each, you will want to collect a few of them!
Have the Right Tools
I’m a pen snob. I can’t enjoy writing on paper if I’m using a crappy pen! Don’t have strong opinions about writing utensils? Don’t worry. I have enough to share!
When writing in black ink, I like the Uni-Ball Signo Ultra Micro 207. Glides onto the paper with zero smudging. And writes in a superfine line. That’s good if you’re prone to small or messy handwriting like me.
Or, if you’re someone who enjoys color ink, I recommend the Gel Ink Muji’s with the 0.38 tips. They come in a variety of vivid colors. And they’re also available in .5 if you like a thicker line.
Make it Routine
Turn daily journaling into a habit. One good way to do this is to habit stack. Habit stacking means that you pair a new habit with an existing one. So in this case, that could mean journaling every morning while you sip your coffee.
When you journal may depend on what type of journaling you do. But make it work with your schedule. If mornings are hectic, journal in the evening. Exhausted after work, do it earlier in the day. Fit into your day or you won’t continue to do it.
Related: Miracle Morning
Different Journaling Types
Journaling can be a recounting of your day. But it doesn’t have to be. There’s no one way to do it. You can choose just one or combine a few. Or come up with your own thing!
Diary
Write about the events of the day including your thoughts, feelings, and impressions. This practice of journaling is what most people think of when they think of journaling. But even though it is conventional, it has value.
This journaling is great for untangling our thoughts and processing our emotions. It provides a clearer perspective.
Dream Journal
Dream journaling is the practice of writing your dreams when you first wake in the morning. It is transcribing every story or image your subconscious played for you while you slept. Even if it is just fragments.
Dreams are fleeting. They fade soon after we wake. Dream journaling requires putting the memories to page as soon as possible to avoid losing them. Keeping a record could help you untangle the messages of your subconscious.
Brain Dump Journal
A brain dump, or mind sweep, is the act of getting whatever is in your head down on the page. It is putting pen to paper and letting it flow. This could be a list. Or it could be a steady flow of consciousness with no definitive punctuation or narrative.
The only aim is to take whatever is in your head and get it onto the page.
Memory Keeping
A sort of long form scrapbooking, memory keeping journaling chronicles the significant events of our lives. But these don’t have to be big occasions. The memories can be whatever you want to recall later. Family dinners, visits with friends, a nature walk with your dog. Whatever.
Often, these journals incorporate photos or momentos. Adhere these to the page with an adhesive roller like this one.
Prompted Workbooks
Some manufacturers print journals with prompts. These can be gratitude, self-care, or almost anything.
I use this One Question a Day: A Five-Year Journal. It has 365 questions. One for each day of the year. You can see how your answers to these questions change over the five years this journal covers.
Another one I like is this Self-Care Workbook. This one allows you to track your mental health and see how your behavior and circumstances may affect your emotional state.
Manifestation Journal
Entries in these journals hold all your hopes and dreams for the future. Everything you want to come true in your life, enter into this notebook. One fun thing to do with these is to color code your entries based on their contents. Like if you’re writing about money, use green ink. For love, pink. Red for sex. That sort of thing.
But manifestation requires inspired action. So don’t forget to use your journal to turn your dreams into goals! Map out the steps you need to take to reach your goals and log your progress.
Affirmation Journal
Take your affirmations and write them down. And then list all the reasons you know these affirmations to be true. For example, if your affirmation is something like, “I am loved” you’d write that down and then list underneath things like, “I have a wonderful group of supportive friends. My parents love spending time with me. My partner shows me affection.”
Bullet Journal
Part planner, part journal, this method allows for the ultimate flexibility and creativity. Beloved by doodlers and the artistically inclined, bullet journals use dot grid layouts, rather than lined. This allows drawing grids for weekly and monthly planning.
Most bullet journalers use indexes at the front to keep track of different layouts, spreads, and entries. Interspersed throughout are different trackers, like for health, habits, or finances, and other entries that could be any combination of the types of journaling listed here.
The Archer and Olive notebooks have dot grid layouts as an option and are a great choice for bullet journaling. You can find them here.
Related: 40 Journal Prompts for Self-Reflection
Start Your Journaling Practice Today
Grab your notebook and pen and start journaling today. Make it a routine practice and reap the benefits of written introspection.
