The Various Types Of Journals And How You Can Use Them Effectively
When it comes to tracking your progress towards your goals or even letting out how you feel, journaling is an essential practice. People who do so regularly know they benefit greatly from the clarity they receive when they let their fingers do the talking. If you don't journal on a regular basis, you should really consider doing so as you'll receive so many great benefits.
The Many Benefits You Can Gain From Journaling Regularly
While there is a slew of benefits that you can receive from journaling on a regular basis, we're just going to discuss just the most popular. Take a moment and read over the list below. Remember to keep an open mind and truly consider how much each benefit can change your life for the better.
Better Organization - Keeping a journal doesn't have to be about writing down your feelings each day. Rather, you can use a journal as an effective method to track your success towards your various goals. If you're looking to lose weight, you can track your progress in a daily journal where you record things like your body fat, body weight, activity level, food intake, and much more.
Reduce Stress - Many times stress in our lives is a result of either lack of planning or viewing situations from an unfavorable perspective. Expressive writing in a personal journal can help to clarify your thoughts and bring hidden emotions to the table. When you make journaling a usual habit you'll notice that you're able to trust your deepest feelings to the personal space between your journal covers.
Enhance Memory - Trying to remember everything you did yesterday can be a challenge. Trying to remember what you did last week can seem impossible at times. With a journal, you can keep track of important happenings in your life so you can go back and review them at a later date. Think of your journal as a place to record the facts that you want to remember.
Tips For Making Journaling A Regular Habit
As you've probably been convinced by now, journaling is a healthy habit which you should partake in if you're not currently doing so. Trying to get started can be a little difficult at first. Here are some great tips that can make the transition into creating a consistent habit of daily journaling easy as pie.
- Always schedule in your journaling session at a specific time. You should have this time period picked out ahead of time so that you never forget it. It's easiest to pick the same time of day where you know that you're going to have uninterrupted time to do so. The morning and late evening hours tend to work best for most people.
- Journaling doesn't just have to be about writing. If you find a picture that moves you, add it to your journal. If you're aiming towards new goals, don't shy away from including a vision board in your journal. Use any sort of media that helps to enhance your effectiveness for journaling.
- Be honest. It's very hard at first to let out your true feelings. Most people think that they should write entries in the sense that other people may read them. This makes it extremely difficult to let the real you talk. Instead, don't overthink your journal entries. No one is reading your journal but you. Simply write honestly about how things are going. We all have times of ups and downs. We all make mistakes. It's best to be honest when writing in your journal so that you can use your past to create a better future.
A Look At The Various Types Of Journals
From the above information, it's likely you've discovered that journaling works for a variety of different purposes. Understanding what you want to journal about is a must. You need to have intent in doing so, otherwise, it's not going to be a habit that sticks. Let's take a closer look at the various types of journals that individuals keep about their lives.
Reflective Journal
A reflective journal is what most people think of when it comes to journaling. This type is about scribing your feelings about events that happen throughout your days. Whether it's a positive or negative experience, you feel a certain way about it. A reflective journal is a great place to write about how you feel and to discover hidden lessons that can help to alter your life for the better.
Journal On Travel
If you do a lot of traveling, it's likely you want to keep your memories straight. Whether it's for reviewing your adventures from a first-hand perspective in your elder years or it's about passing down your experiences to your grandchildren, a travel journal is a truly valuable diary. This is a place where you can collect that various adventure stories from your traveling destinations and come back to relive them later.
Goal Journal
Also commonly called a five-year journal, this diary is for keeping track of your personal goals throughout life. It's about deciding on what you want right now and in the future. By keeping track of your daily progress towards these goals, you can hold yourself accountable for reaching them. Plus, you can look back at these goals five-years from now and see the progress you've made.
Journal Of Dreams
A dream journal or diary is comprised of written records of the experiences that you have when you're dreaming. While you're likely not going to remember all of your dreams, there are some that you will. Many people find it fascinating to piece together their dreams over time to see how they develop. In fact, most people agree that the longer they keep a consistent dream journal, the better their memory is of the dreams that they're having nightly.
Gratitude Journal
One thing that's hard to deny is that fact that gratitude tends to change up how we feel inside for the better. You can be having the worst day of your life, but once you find something to be thankful for you get a warm feeling inside that everything is going to be okay. Gratitude is a concept that works great to put your own life into perspective. Not to mention the fact that journaling about your gratitude towards life tends to make your feelings during the day generally more positive.
Prayer Journal
Instead of saying your prayers out loud, you may find that you're more comfortable doing so in written form. A pray journal is a popular keepsake amongst the religious communities as a direct route between you and your lord and savior. This type of journal helps to keep track of the prayers that you've asked for and allows you to notate which ones have been answered and which ones haven't. This gives you the necessary material you need to assess your relationship with your lord.
The are many different types of journals out there which people keep. This is one of those things that depends highly on the actual person doing the writing. If you're just starting off a new weight loss adventure, a journal can help to keep you on track. If you're deciding to set life goals for the first time, a journal is a great place to watch those goals turn into your new reality. Whatever your newest adventure, be sure to keep track of it with regular journal entries.