A cute notebook, tons of blank pages and that feeling of writing on the very first line of the very first page. SO SATISFYING! Who’s with me?

Journaling can be a great way to organize your thoughts and feelings. It helps to get everything that is spiraling around in your head out on paper in a way that helps you piece it all together. I often have thought fragments that I want to remember or emotions that I need to process through. Life is busy and sometimes it’s hard to just find a moment to allow yourself to sit in your feelings or really think through a problem.

This is why I use journaling as a way to organize all of those fragments into paragraphs. Sometimes many paragraphs. Among many, here are a few reasons why journaling can benefit your mental & emotional health.

1. Reduces Stress

Expressing how you feel through writing is a great stress management tool. Writing about negative or stressful experiences can actually help you process through them and get more in touch with yourself regarding how they make you feel. Not only can this help you understand yourself but it can help you understand others as well. Writing about painful emotions can also aid in releasing the intensity of the feelings that they bring. Allowing you to feel, process and let go. This can help you feel happier and more confident.

2. Helps Achieve Your Goals

When handwriting instead of using a digital device to type, it may actually help tell your brain to remember those things as important information. One study done on children who were learning handwriting in school showed that it helped increase brain activation and skills like thought organization. There’s definitely something to writing things down and seeing them on paper that helps you remember them better. Start writing down your goals and dreams and you may see yourself achieving them sooner than you think!

3. Frees Your Right Brain

This is my favorite fact of them all. While you are writing you are using your left brain. The side that is used for logical and analytical thinking. There is evidence that shows that when your left brain is preoccupied it gives your right brain a chance to feel, think intuitively and best of all, be creative! So interesting, right? Amazing to think about how the two sides of the brain function together to complement one another. Journaling may actually help you get in touch with your creative thinking side to help you express your emotions through writing.

Here are a few topics to help get you going if you need some inspiration.

• Daily Gratitude
• Personal Goals (financial, fitness, spiritual, etc)
• Dreams & Visions for Your Life
• How Your Day Went
• Prayers

If you are someone who has a mind that races, if you’re feeling overwhelmed or if you just want to keep a record of your life experiences, journaling might be just what you need! Give it a try and stick with it for a while. You may find that journaling brings you many of these mental and emotional benefits as well!

If this has inspired you let me know! You can visit the Contact page on my website and leave me a message by clicking here!