I got my first journal as a Secret Santa gift in the fourth grade, and I’ve kept a journal ever since. It’s how I process my feelings and my thoughts, and it’s how I stay connected to my voice and to my heart. I wrote everyday through my grieving process, and it was definitely my #1 tool for coping and moving the heaviness through me and onto the pages of my journal.
Here are a few reasons why I recommend a journaling practice for you, and some tips on getting started. Enjoy!
A daily journaling practice is a way to discover and stay connected to your heart. Journaling is a means to process whatever it is that’s taking up space in your mind and heart.
With your journaling practice, stay focused on yourself, meaning don’t spend a whole lot of time, if any, ranting and raving about someone else, analyzing someone else, blaming someone else, etc… Stick with your own process, stick with “I” statements.
Let your journaling be a way to work things out for yourself, a way to move your issues or mood through you, so that you’re not stuck, and so that you walk away from your writing session feeling much more clear, calm, and focused, having gained the perspective you had been lacking when you started.
And you can come back to any of these or similar questions: how can I love myself through this? What are the potential solutions here? What can I do to feel better that honors my highest good? What would I love to see happen in this situation right now? What action step can I take to move closer to that vision? And how can I get into more of a flow right now, and what am I forcing? And finally, simply asking the question, what’s present?
Your journal can be beautiful, it can be a simple notebook, it can be a word document on your computer, or it can be an art pad.
Pick a time of day that works for you, and remember that it’s easier to be consistent with something if you practice it around the same time each day.
Let yourself be as open and honest as you can, and enjoy this practice of staying heart-centered!