Journaling can be very beneficial to maintain your work / life balance. There are various benefits to journaling and one is to process your thoughts, feelings and beliefs when it flows from your thoughts to paper.
There are different types of journaling, personally I use a variety of journaling techniques as it gives me the flexibility to work through thoughts and ideas I have. You don’t have to specifically stick to one type of journal at a time.
When you want to start journaling you can ask yourself these questions?
- How often would I like to journal?
- Do I love using paper, pen, computer.
- How much time can I commit per day, per week, or do I only want to reflect once a month?
Journaling is a very personal, again journaling can change daily, depending what you want to reflect on.
what could be said about the benefits of journaling
- Reflecting on your day, what went well and what did not, what should I let go of and what needs attention
- Lowers your anxiety and stress when your thoughts flow onto paper, you can let it go and sit on paper for awhile
- Sparking your creativity
- Journaling can help you with your future goals
Here are a few types of journaling and journaling ideas to choose from : –
personal JOURNAL
This type of journaling is what it says, the place where you write down what you feel. You can journal about an event, people, places. In this, you can explore your feelings and your reactions to it. This can be therapeutic and release tension and anxiety.
MORNING PAGES
Morning pages is something that Julia Cameron speaks about in her book the Artists Way. This is when you set aside time in the morning and free write about anything that comes to mind.
STRUCTURED JOURNAL
Structured journaling is where you look at a specific goal or topic. In each journaling session you write down a few thoughts and explore each topic before you move onto the next topic or goal you have.
BULLET JOURNAL
Bullet journaling is a system where you organize, track events, ideas, projects, tasks or whatever else you think about. This type of journaling is extremely flexible and can be adjusted based on your needs. It is an excellent way where you can keep things organized.
What can be included in bullet journaling :
- Daily, weekly, monthly spreads
- Include habit, sleep, goal trackers
- Inspirational quotes, reading lists, anything else that you want to include in this journal
Gratitude journal
A gratitude journal is a place to reflect and write things down that you are thankful for. This method of journaling can be words, short sentences, lists anything you are grateful for. Gratitude journaling is a simple way to stop focusing on all the negative things that can happen and look at the blessings there are in your life.
Here are a few gratitude journaling prompts for you: –
- List three things you used today that you are extremely grateful for.
- List three accomplishments this week you are grateful for.
- What do you love most about your life today?
VISUAL JOURNAL
Visual journaling is taking your inner thoughts and express it as a color, shape or an image. This type of journaling has the benefit of reducing your stress and for improving your mood.
ART creative JOURNAL
Art journaling is where you use your art supplies to create drawings and paintings. The purpose is to give yourself that space and release from your emotional burden of your day and to look and explore personal themes. You don’t even have to use journal words if you don’t want to. You can use any type of art supplies to decorate, illustrate your thoughts.
Here are some ideas on art journaling :
- Practice self portraits
- Journal through poetry
- Experiment with dots and lines
- Create a collage
reflective journal
Reflective journaling is a method to help you discover ways to create meaning in your life. These prompts focus on your values, beliefs and experiences. This also give you insights in different aspects of your life.
Here are a few reflective journaling prompts :
- Write three things you have found surprising in your life lately.
- Are there things that you have to let go of today.
- What do you want to achieve in the coming year.
health journal
Health journaling is a way to track your health issues. In your daily life you can look at journaling your physical feelings as well as your thoughts about your health.
Your health journaling prompts :
- Journal all the healthy habits you want to achieve.
- What is your body telling you.
- List your health goals and how you want to focus on them over the next month.
GOAL JOURNAL
In this type of journaling you look at setting your goals setting action steps against them and track your activities.
Let’s focus on your goal journaling :
- What are your top priorities?
- What motivates you?
- How could you step outside your comfort zone?
dream journal
Dream journaling is when you take a few minutes to write down your latest dream when you wake up. The purpose is for you to look at the types of dreams you are having, in this it gives you insights to what you are thinking.
- Another idea of a dream journal is not to just write down the dreams you had but the dreams you have
- Journal what you think your dream life looks like
TRAVEL JOURNAL
Travel journaling is a way to map your journey as you travel, this includes important dates, physical and emotional memories, descriptions of places. You can add train tickets, museum passes and sketches of landscapes to create a memoir of sorts.
MIND MAPPING JOURNAL
This is where you start with a central idea, and then as you start to think about your topic you branch out your thoughts and ideas and start to connect these ideas to real-time observations.
PRAYER JOURNAL
A prayer journal is where you record your own personal prayers. This can be used to look at your spiritual growth and for transformation. You can use these journals to records your prayers, observations and lessons you have learned.
SCRAPBOOK JOURNAL
Scrapbook journaling can be a process to document your timeline, memories, milestones and projects. Scrapbooks are mostly used for personal stories.
the MINUTE JOURNAL
This type of journaling is very structured and can be designed in short, time boxed sessions. In this you can set a timer for one, five or ten minutes. The length is totally up to you. In this journaling you can use a prompt or even start free writing. The ultimate goal is that is would be for around a structured amount of time.
junk journal
Junk journaling is when you use old memorabilia like post cards, theater tickets or any other stubs you have to use in your journal. In this type of journaling you use and gather items that are meaningful to you.
Ideas in what you can do :
- Use old journals, include signatures of old sections of envelopes to hold your stubs.
- Create pockets in your journal where you can include any mementos of your trips or excursions you have experienced.
food journal
Have you ever thought of starting a food journal. The place where you keep all your recipes in one place. Creating a food journal can go beyond the basic food journal where you can include meal planning, grocery lists that would make your food preparation easier.
Journaling can be a great way to connect with yourself, where you can improve your work / life balance and achieve your goals.
Enjoy jour journey – take care – Debbera