How Journaling Can Help Your Health and Wellbeing
Over the years I have kept a journal and recorded on and off infrequently. I may literally have written once a year or possibly longer in between. I love to go back and read where I was at in that moment and evaluate where I am now. In this moment of reflection, I always wish I would have written more in between because stories that happened in the middle are now forgotten. It’s fascinating what can happen in a year and if we don’t capture it in a story it’s possible we lose the memory or forget our feelings in that exact moment.
The sporadic journaling changed for me on January 1st, 2017. My New Year’s goal was to journal every single day. Wanting to live life to the fullest, I gravitate towards people that I find fascinating because of the lives they impact as well as people that are inspirational and motivational to me on my journey. All of these greats have 1 thing in common, they all journal and perform self-reflection.
Journaling is a wonderful way to capture your life in a story. It teaches you to write stories, soothe over troubled memories and motivates you to want to work on personal growth. When you consistently journal daily it just happens that you develop self-trust through awakening the inner voice of intuition that has always been there but you just haven’t labeled or identified it yet. You are literally accessing your unconscious, subconscious, and super consciousness through journaling not to mention increasing your memory of life’s events.
Through journaling I was able to meet my authentic self. By opening yourself up and being vulnerable to ‘self’ enables you to rid the masks you wear and reveal different aspects of your life with no judgement. That is your true self. It takes so little time to stop and pay attention and listen to yourself. Once you discover who this person is you will really love her/him. How can you not? It’s the real YOU!
For me personally I find journaling to be healing. I am able to act as my own counselor (saving lots of dollars in therapy costs). My greatest insight has been to self-identify patterns and cycles present in my life. By discovering these patterns and cycles I was able to put them at the forefront of my life and identify solutions to get off the hamster wheel that I was on.
You can choose to journal a thought of the day, record milestones in your year, start a gratitude journal or script your dreams and nightmares, the possibilities are endless. Just put your thoughts to paper and more thoughts will flow freely to you. As you record the thoughts think of it as releasing what no longer serves you.
As I have laid out, journaling can be beneficial for your wellbeing and aligns with your overall health. Whether you decide to journal once a day, week or year I hope after reading this you will be inspired to pick up a journal and start with one page this next year. There are so many wonderful journals available, you will be sure to find one that works for you or just grab a notebook and begin scripting your thoughts.. When you look back you will thank yourself for beginning.
Be the Light.
-Amber
