I started journaling in my late teens. Back then, my journal was a place to pour out all my teenage angst. It was where I wrote about my longing, my dreams, my hopes. It was the place where I started working out who I was and what I wanted to be.
Little did I imagine that something so simple – writing down my thoughts and activities – would evolve into a place where I was doing the beginnings of my inner work. I have continued to journal over the intervening years. My journals have become fertile ground for working out problems, putting unsettling dilemmas into words, capturing glimpses of ideas, strategies, and potential goals. My journals in so many ways are my inner life’s home.
It turns out that the journaling I started all those years ago has health benefits.
According to Healthline.com research shows that “journaling can be a great pressure releasing valve when we feel overwhelmed or simply have a lot going on internally,” says Amy Hoyt, PhD and founder of Mending Trauma.
In recent years more studies have been conducted on the health benefits of journaling. You may be surprised to know that journaling has been connected to brain health, improved immune system, and overall mental health. Those who journal discover that by writing it all out, they eventually gain an understanding and access to gratitude. Research shows that giving attention to gratitude has both mental and physical health benefit improving overall well-being.
Leading researchers Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough have found that daily gratitude journaling can strengthen relationships with others, influence personal joy, improve quality of sleep and lower symptoms of physical pain. They suggest that writing about gratitude helps us access the positive things in our lives.
Researchers also suggest that there are psychological benefits to journaling.
Beyond health benefits these include cognitive and social benefits as well as improvement within organizations. Memory is another area where journaling has been proven to offer benefits. Journaling helps people self-reflect, identify, and magnify feelings and gain insights needed for daily living. This growing self-awareness aids in the release of frustration, anger, doubt, and fear.
As you can see, there are tons of benefits for journaling.
When you are navigating difficulty, sadness, regret, doubt, and other challenging feelings, putting pen to paper can release those feelings from your mind and body. Journaling is a healthy outlet for all the feelings related to watershed moments; grief, loss, anger, frustration….you can privately let it all out in your journal.
Some people find that the act of writing is very helpful. Others find that the thought of writing is overwhelming. I know someone who, rather than write it all out, would draw it out. If I were to look in her journal, I might find notes jotted next to images. Those images could have the same expressive power as writing it down. More than anything, it is about finding a creative outlet that enables you to capture as well as explore your emotions.
Recently I visited a church where someone in the congregation had drawn a message on a scrap of paper for his wife every single morning for years. When mounted and framed these scraps became a telling of the couple’s story. A visual journal done in tiny pieces. I would consider his sketches to be another form of journaling – each image was a picture of the life that he and his wife created.
All that to say, there are lots of ways to journal! If you’ve never journaled, I invite you to simply begin. It is your own writing, FOR your eyes only. Invite yourself to try writing for 30 days. Ask your personal critic to step aside and simply begin. If you’ve never done it before, write about the discomfort you might be feeling. You can explore the practice itself – there are tons of resources available offering journaling prompts. After you’ve written or drawn for a few days ask yourself what worked or didn’t work. Invite yourself to do it again for another 30 days. Be curious. Give yourself permission to do it imperfectly. Give it a try!
A watershed moments coach can come alongside your experience of grief and loss providing support, encouragement, education about the nature of grief and insight that can assist you as you mourn. Collaborating with a coach is an investment in finding your way forward after a significant life change. Connect with us for a brief introductory conversation where we will explore whether we are a fit for your current grief needs. Click here to schedule a no-charge, 20-minute conversation where we will learn more about one another.
