How to start Journaling

I started this whole self-development journey back in 2016 and honestly until mid 2019 I didn’t really like meditating too much. So, I didn’t do it.  

Other practices like journaling gave me much more joy so I did those instead and achieved the same results I would have from meditation. 

There are two main things that I learned and cultivated through journaling: 

1.     Self-observation / self-awareness 

2.     Processing my emotions

I started journaling because I struggled with insomnia, I had no idea that I would gain these two very important qualities which would completely transform my life later on. 

Journaling allowed me to get everything out before going to bed so I could fall asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. I felt liberated after every journaling session. I gained so much clarity by just letting my soul speak through my hand. Things came out that I never knew were inside of me. 

What I hear from a lot of people is that they don’t know where to start. 

Let me tell you one thing, YOU DON’T NEED TO KNOW WHAT TO WRITE ABOUT! 

I rarely knew where this journaling session would lead me to. Tears of gratitude and sadness, anger and all emotions in between have emerged from it. And these emotions HAD to come out.

If you don’t let yourself feel the emotion, you will hold it in your body and that will cause further issues like resentment, not speaking your truth, letting people cross your boundaries etc. But that topic is for another post. 

Journaling also sparked inspiration and motivation in me. I received ideas and insights in all aspects of life. I learned to truly love myself, because I actually got to know my real inner self, my soul! Post for the specific exercises is coming soon! 

And by getting to know myself I discovered thinking patterns of mine, behavioral habits, things I liked about myself as well as things I didn’t. And what I didn’t like, I changed. I became aware of what I was thinking and doing throughout my day. I noticed it, I caught myself every time I thought, said or did something I didn’t like and changed it for the next time.

This is always the first step for change: AWARENESS. 

I became aware of EVERYTHING. And it got uncomfortable because let’s be real, we all have traits that are not so good. And we’d rather ignore them than face them and change them. 

Journaling showed me all the things I didn’t like about myself and made me accept them and change them. I truly wouldn’t be who I am today or continue to grow if it weren’t for my countless journals. 

“Okay, this sounds great Nikita, but how do I start?”

Start by saying thank you. Seven times. 

It doesn’t matter what you believe in or if you believe in anything / anyone but start by writing down “Thank you.”

Seven times a “Thank you”. You can say thank you to yourself! 

Then list 5 things you are grateful for:

Examples:

-       Health

-       Roof over your head

-       Water and food

-       Friends and family

-       Your favorite life experiences

-       The lessons you learned, your life journey to where you are now

 Go into specifics like “Thank you for the delicious pizza I ate today, thank you for the conversation I had with this stranger today.”

This is your journey, this is your experience. You don’t need to write about what is going on in your life if you don’t want to. It doesn’t have to be a diary. 

Personally, I try to keep it positive as that sparks more positivity, which will lead to attracting more and more positivity, it’s a never ending cycle! 

Example of turning something “negative” into positive: 

“Thank you that I am feeling heartache. It hurts very deeply right now but I know this will lead to growth. I am learning so much about myself and what I truly desire. Thank you for the clarity about what I truly want and don’t want. Thank you that I am getting stronger from this and learn to sit with my pain and not push it away.”

But there’s also the time and place to just let your emotions out on paper. If you feel anger, resentment, sadness or any other emotion toward yourself or someone else and you need to get it off your chest, write it down! You can get as angry as you want and even write down “I hate that you did this and this!”. 

You don’t have to send or show these pages to anyone. This is solely for you and to help you understand yourself better and gain clarity. It might lead you to having a hard conversation with a specific person and thus clearing the misunderstanding. Wouldn’t that be great?

Just know that it doesn’t HAVE TO. 

Try to go into journaling without any expectations whatsoever. 

And then boom, you will be surprised what comes out of it. 

Maybe you write a lot, maybe you write less than one page. Either way is perfect and the way it should be.  

Try it out multiple times and if in the end you don’t like it, don’t do it. Just like I didn’t meditate for a long time because I didn’t feel like it and now 3 years later, I love it just as much as journaling! Just give it an honest try. And find out for yourself. 

Take 5 minutes and a pen and paper and ENJOOOYY!

Let me know about your experience via DM’s on IG @soulcoachnikita or send me an email at nikita@anandwayoflife.com.