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How to journal

Amy Gorman

Journaling is often a habit I encourage clients to pick up. Whether it be to improve sleep quality, reduce stress or help recognize more of the cues their body is giving them. This can be a great way to process thoughts and feelings at the end of the day.


This can seem quite fluffy or hippy-ish, especially for people who tend not to share their feelings. And for those people this habit is probably even more important!


Sometimes the next question is: "how do I do that?" "Where do I start?" "Are you being serious?"


So where to start…


Grab yourself a notebook, it can be the cheapest one you can find or something nice that inspires you to write, as long as it has empty pages in it. You could also do this on your phone or in a word doc but I find the physical practice of writing is quite helpful.


Do I have to start with “dear diary” or write in the third person?


Ultimately, you can do this however you like! It can be in the third person if it's easier to start, it can be written in bullet points like a to do list, it can be in answer to a specific question.


I often approach it with a time limit to start. This is less to make me stop at a specific time, but so that I know I only have to try and do it for so long to start with. If I know it's a 2-3 minute task, it's way easier to start than thinking it has infinite time to go on. This also helps to prioritize your thoughts and realise what may be bothering you.


Over time you could change this from a time duration to a length or until you feel a sense of relief.


You could also ask yourself: what's been bothering me today, what's made me happy today, what would've improved the day and begin to debunk some of the questions or chatter going on in your head. This also acts as a helpful prompt rather than staring at a blank page.


5-minute journal


There are some companies that have made a killing from making fancy journals and they can be a helpful way to get started. Equally just to take the promptly from.


Morning notes:

  • Intention for the day - write 3 in the morning

  • Affirmation for the day - what are you going to remind yourself of?


Evening reflection:

  • Three good things that happened

  • One thing that could have made the day better

  • One thing to focus on tomorrow


Hopefully this gets your started with breaking down journaling and you can spare 2-3 minutes a few times a week to better understand what’s going on in life and get closer to your goals.


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