The Power of Journaling

6 Ways Journaling Will Change Your Life
 September 2  by CM Smith in Lifestyle

I have been writing something about myself or my everyday for almost 2 years now. It has been one of greatest and most freeing experiences in my life because I can actually slow myself down to think about what’s truly happening around me as well as my part in it.
Most people treat journaling as something they “know they should do” but rarely ever take up the practice and if they do, they fall off the wagon within a few months. But, it doesn’t have to be this way, especially when you learn about the amazing benefits of journaling.

Here are 6 ways that journaling will change your life.

1.  How do you really feel?

Journaling can help you get out of the way of what you truly feel on the inside. In other words, taken the time to sit and write about something that is affecting you can lead to a deeper and more realistic view of what feelings you are actually feeling.
When we are caught up in the “rat-race” of life, we tend to disregard our feelings and keep ourselves, busy and jaded. It isn’t until we slow down for some time to let the feelings inside be what they truly are.

2.  Point of view 

Another thing that journaling can give us is a better understanding of our own point of view as well as what others may think of a situation. It’s always tough to know exactly what others are thinking, but journaling can allow us to slow down enough to start to try to understand someone else’s point of view.

3.  A life worth living 

 I like to think of journaling as “my life’s story”. That alone makes it fun, enjoyable, and inspiring to write a little about myself and what is going on with me every single day. After you journal continuously for sometime and you look back on the things that you have written you may realize that your life is much more interesting and deep than you once thought. In fact, if you are down on yourself a lot, journaling is a great way to get around this and discover that your life is truly worth living.

4.  Hi, my name is… 

Do you know yourself? Without thinking too hard about it, you may just simply say, “of course I do,” yet if you haven’t done some serious introspection and work on who you are, chances are you may only know who you think you are.

This was definitely the case for me before I started writing for myself every single day. I thought that I knew what I liked and disliked, who I was, and where I was going in life. But in reality I these aspects of myself were what I thought I should be; not actually who I was. With journaling I uncovered dreams and goals that I never imagine would be mine. I realized that there were so many things that I just couldn’t stand to do and therefore gave myself boundaries to say “no” more.  Journaling can do this for you too. You can finally say hello to yourself.

5.  A cooler old person

The idea of being able to write for your life and then pass that writing onto someone else, whether it be old friends, children, grandchildren, etc. is inspiring. I could only wish that my father or grandfather would have been able to pass on something like that to me. It wouldn’t have mattered if the words they wrote were deep or insightful; just as long as they were words that I could read and feel more connected to them.  You can journal every day and then pass this legacy on to loved ones later in life. They can learn about you and what made you tick as a human.

6.  Build your serenity

Getting back to number one; when you start to write about your feelings and how situations in your life change your feelings you gain the ability to start to process those feelings. Rather than leaving feelings completely bottled up inside, you can put them down on paper and get them out of your heart and mind so you can process and understand them more which will lead to a more serene existence.  This especially works well with feelings like anger, jealousy, resentment, etc. Putting these feeling out on paper and letting them take their course is a great way to stay balanced.

The simple act of writing a few words, sentences, or paragraphs everyday can have a profound and instant effect on your life for the better. Journaling can change your life and make you more interested and interesting through the years.

Bio

CM Smith is a technologist, writer, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State. CM is also interested in personal productivity, creativity and how to use technology to get things done. Check out his writing at devburner.net or follow him on Twitter.

http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/