Journaling or writing down your thoughts, feelings, experiences, plans, happiness, or heartaches is one of the practices I started early on. On the year 2013, I started writing about what has been happening to me. I don’t know what prompted me to begin journaling at that time, but I somehow took the habit, and I still do it up until now.

I have notebooks filled with the record of my life, reading random things like what I’ve dreamed that day, what I’ve eaten, what happened in my day. Some pages have deep thoughts and emotions, a letter to my future self, my plans, and dreams.

It is incredible to read that and thought to myself how cool it is to preserve the memories we might have forgotten. I’ve been a shy person, and journaling has been my sacred place, a place where I can pour my emotions without being judged.

With those years of journaling, I can finally tell you how it changed my life. For skeptics, please hear me out:

Journaling Helped Me Evaluate My Emotions

Since journaling is all about pouring your heart out in a paper, seeing it written is like a process of materializing or naming your own emotion. When it is inside our head, those emotions can be blurred and all over the place. This is one of the ways that journaling changed my life, especially on times when I’m feeling overwhelmed, and I’m worried about lots of things. Because writing my thoughts lessen my burden. It is amazing, and it works for me.

Evaluating my emotions doesn’t necessarily mean that I will hide or deny it. Journaling has a fantastic power to make me re-think those things. And it can make me question if it is a problem in the first place. Almost all of the time, I will also find the answer to my issues through journaling.

I Journal for Recovery

I think 3/4 of my entries are about self-recovery. It is the process where I write everything that is bothering me or the reasons why I cannot sleep at night. It will depend on a person, but for me, when I write those ugly things, it has a good effect. I’m able to feel as if I can breathe clearly. 

Others might think that it is funny because it reminds me of my sadness or negative emotions, but for me, it is the way of coping up. If you found yourself feeling miserable writing about these negative emotions, then you can journal for the following reason.

I Journal to Focus on Gratefulness and Positivity

I have this habit of finishing most of my pages with a positive note. The year 2013 is the time of questions for me, I’m unhappy with my job, and I’m not feeling good at all. I found that no matter how frustrated I ‘am with those events, I will always find myself being thankful for something, no matter how small it is.

Say that something terrible happened to me that day. Still, I will find myself writing about how situations like this won’t last forever. The year 2013 is my aha moment. It is the year I become passionate about self-helps and become obsessed with learning how to be a better person. Also, journaling helped me achieved it by continuously getting into the habit of being grateful and looking at the positive side of my life.

I Journal My Goals

Whatever I manifested in my life, like having a blog and writing, for example, is not something that I think about in a heartbeat. I remember this diagram and scribbles I made of how to attain my dream life. It is a diagram where I have this primary goal and then steps on how I can achieve it. I seriously forgot that diagram from 2018 because I put it in a separate notebook that I didn’t use until later this year.

Just recently, I browsed the pages, and I saw it. I was like- wow.

Before that, I wrote a bunch of things about being a writer and having a blog in my journal pages a lot of times. Even the one where I wished to be an auditor happened.

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I’m not saying that whatever goals you wrote on your journal will happen- but it is a tool to have a clear mental view of what you want out of life. We are familiar with the lessons where they say that we should write down our goals. I don’t necessarily have that thought in my mind when I write what I like in the future, but it happened for me, and it might happen for you too. 

Maybe journaling became the tools of the universe to attract those goals into my life.

I Found My Purpose Through Journaling

In my blog post, Finding Your Purpose in Life: Why it is Important, and How to Find Yours, I mentioned that having a journal can be a tool to find someone’s purpose in life. Being a writer kept appearing in the pages of my journal. I wanted to be a writer, and I considered it my purpose because of the satisfaction I feel whenever I write. I like the excitement I feel when a friend tells me that he/she is waiting for my posts and how it made them feel better.

I also have this entry where I’m describing my ideal day, and being a writer is an essential aspect of it. Through journaling and analyzing it, we can see the patterns and feelings that might direct our paths to purpose or reason for living.

The only thing to remember is that you should be honest about your desires.

Read also: Finding Your Reason for Being using Ikigai

I Journal for Inspiration

Journaling can even be for anything that inspires you. I have a separate notebook where I write things or events that spark my creativity or something that amuses me. Because of this, I managed to translate my ideas to blog posts and become more creative. 

Journaling doesn’t need an exceptional talent at all. All you need is a paper, pen, and open heart, and the process will be smooth. However, I understand that you may be busy to have time to sit down and write about these things. But remember, the feeling of relief you will have after journaling is much more valuable than the few minutes you let go. The clarity will open up for you, and it is like having someone to listen, to build with you, and to dream with you.

I hope that you start your journaling journey today.

To clarity and love,