My Journal, My Best Friend
Do you have a journal? What do you use it for?
My journal honestly holds my brain. It holds my secrets, my random thoughts, my inspiration and my gratitude. It is an incite into me for me.
I recently had a coffee with a close friend and she asked me whether I still kept my daily journal and if I felt it was still benefitting me. My answer was ABSOLUTELY! The discussion unravelled and it turns out she thought that I was purely keeping a diary like we all did when we were little girls; “Dear diary, today I….”
This really made me giggle as there is an element of truth in this but to me it is so much more. Some days it does read a bit like the diary of my teenage-self. But I also log my intentions and affirmations for the day. I reflect what has gone well in that day and what I am grateful for in that moment. Sometimes I doodle (it’s in my journal that the Evolve logo was born) and other times I write ideas for the house, my clients, my friends… I basically mind dump in it every single day.
A complete mind dump - that’s the purpose of my journal.
For this reason I wanted to share some benefits of journalling:
Reduces Stress - A study showed that expressive writing for just 15 minutes a day, 3-5 times a week was enough to lower blood pressure. By writing about stressful experiences/challenges, it helps you to manage them and find a pathway to dealing with them.
Improves Memory - Research has shown that by reducing the effects of stress, journalling can free up cognitive resource.
Increases Optimism - By dedicating time to reflecting on your day and expressing gratitude you are allowing yourself to embrace optimism.
Improves Sleep - In todays world we all have 101 distractions at any one time and there is an ever growing pattern of poor sleeping habits. Our minds are working in overdrive to process and understand the meaning of everything we experience. By ‘mind dumping’ in a journal, your brain finds relief and space to relax. Journalling before bed is recommended as the optimum time to do so.
Sparks Inspiration - You cannot underestimate the power of pen to paper. Writing down what is on your mind is a great way to focus the mind to think creatively. You never know, it may even help you solve that age old problem that you haven’t been able to overcome.
Are you willing to give it a go?
You can probably tell by now if you have read this far, that I am a big advocate for journalling. And I want to share with you all the power of it.
So much so I invite you to a 7 day challenge…
I have created a FREE editable PDF journal for you to download and use for the next 7 days. It is completely private (unless you want to share that is) but at the end of the 7 days, I want to hear about your experiences.
Are you ready to revel in the secret powers of journalling?
