The Surprising Benefits of Journaling

Do you write daily in a journal? Maybe you want to start journaling but haven’t started yet. Writing in a personal journal has many advantages and you might want to start one when you hear about these surprising benefits of journaling.

For many moms, keeping a journal can be interesting and relaxing. While for others a journal might sound like an incredibly boring activity. But if you are not currently writing in a journal daily, why not give it another try? Journaling provides many benefits including recording your thoughts, life, and aspirations on a daily basis.

In addition, keeping a journal can improve your memory, problem-solving skills, achievement, emotional health, and even your physical health.

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Benefits of Journaling You Might Not Have Considered:

1. A journal creates a record of your life. Have you ever looked back on your high school or college days, but couldn’t remember a name or event? Or have you ever wondered if an important life event happened in 2008 or 2009? If you write a journal, you can reread all the significant events in your life and the day to day events, too (daily journaling is great for keeping special memories of your kids).
2. A journal lets you see challenges from a different perspective. Problems and difficulties look different in your head than they do on paper or on the computer screen. Writing makes difficulties a little less personal when you can see them written down. You might find that many of your challenges aren’t as difficult as you first thought. You might be able to solve your problems with a mind map or by writing three solutions to your problems you can start now.
3. A journal helps you see your progress. When you write your thoughts and the story of your life, you see your progress as it happens. It’s easy to see how much your life is, or isn’t, progressing. Just rereading your old entries can show you significant personal growth and progress that you might not have realized happened if you had not written it down.
4. With a journal, you will move forward. When you make it a habit to record the most important happenings for the day, you will want to make new things happen. Who wants to read and write the same boring things day after day? You will start doing new things, so you will have new and interesting things to write about in your daily journal.
5. A journal can bring healing. When you are able to write your feelings on paper, you feel better. Journaling allows you a quick emotional health boost. Have you ever been frustrated by another person or situation? Writing your feelings in your journal will allow you to vent without saying words to another person that will hurt them and writing will help you clear your head and feel that you have released your feelings.
6. Journaling allows you to organize your thoughts and improves your problem-solving skills. Journaling allows you to clear the clutter out of your head. Do you ever feel that you have so much to do or some any things you are trying to remember that you just can’t think? By journaling and organizing your thoughts, you can clear your subconscious and let your mind begin working on solutions to every challenge you face.
7. A journal will help you accomplish more. Do you write down your goals? Research has shown that just writing down goals significantly increases the likelihood of making them happen. You can start simply by writing your dreams and goals in your journal for today or this week.  You can also try to write your step-by-step plan to achieve these goals and make them happen.
8. Journaling helps you improve your memory. Through journaling, you can reflect on your life at the end of each day, and write it down your thoughts, feelings, and reactions, and you will be much more likely to remember it. Journaling can be a great exercise for your brain and an effective way to remember more of your life.
9. Journaling allows you to learn about yourself. By keeping a journal, you quickly see your behavioral patterns and tendencies (good and bad). Some behaviors you will want to keep and improve, and others you will want to lessen and remove from your life.
10. A journal can be a gift left to your children. If you write about your life, experiences and things you have learned, leaving your journals to your children or other family members can be a treasure with your thoughts and inspirations that live on after you.
11. Journaling leads you to improved health. In a study at the University of Auckland, researchers found that writing in a journal can lead to faster wound healing and minimize the symptoms of several ailments.
12. You are in good company when you journal. Did you know many famous people have kept journals too? Here are just a few famous people who kept a journal like John D. Rockefeller, Benjamin Franklin, George Patton, Alexis de Tocqueville, Thomas Edison, Ronald Regan, Winston Churchill, Mark Twain, and Marie Curie are just a few that benefited from the power of journaling.

Getting Started with your own journal

If you start a journal, consider using pen and paper instead of a computer for your journal. It may seem easier to use a computer, writing with paper and pen engages your mind at a higher level.

You can use a printable journal like the Mom’s Memory Journal which gives you space to write one important memory each day spanning 5 years or Gratitude Journal.

Or if you prefer, you can select a pre-printed journal with blank lines and just write your thoughts each day.

For written journals, you’ll love these beautiful Erin Condren notebooks. They are perfect for daily journaling. Check out the Erin Condren coiled notebooks or Erin Condren soft-bound notebooks.

Why not give journaling a try? Each night before bed or each morning when you get up, take just 5 minutes to write in your journal. After you try journaling for a full month and then make an evaluation. Decide for yourself if you want to continue. You will likely find a journal is a great way to organize your thoughts and record your life and just keep writing for a long, long time.

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