3 Things to Write About in Your Journal to Live Your Best Life
A few years ago, I heard Hal Elrod interviewed on a podcast about his miracle morning practice. If you’re not familiar with it, the miracle morning practice is a 6-step morning routine to help you visualize your goals and increase your productivity. And it’s based on activities called Life SAVERS.
S is for Silence
A is for Affirmations
V is for Visualization
E is for Exercise
R is for Reading
S is for Scribing (Journaling)
According to Elrod, you should do all these things in the first hour of your morning.
Before I had my son, this was a great practice. I did most of these things within the first couple of hours of my day.
But since having an infant who’s turned into an active toddler, this isn’t always realistic.
So I took it and made it work for me. I don’t follow his process to a T. Instead, I have experimented and found what works for me.
Partly because I’m wired that way… hello, Questioner over here (on the Four Tendencies).
And partly because I believe there is so much truth in what Annie Dillard said in The Writing Life: “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives. What we do with this hour, and that one, is what we are doing.”
What I’ve found are my non-negotiables. Exercise has to be in the morning and is my top priority. Reading is best in the evening after my son goes to bed. And, I have to journal every day.
The power of journaling.
Countless studies over many decades have heralded the power of journaling. And the benefits run the gamut from setting and achieving goals, boosting creativity, improving memory, relieving stress, and expressing gratitude.
A recent article in The Wall Street Journal titled, How Journaling Can Help You Live Your Best Life, even suggests a unique way of self-reflection through journaling, where you can achieve goals you never thought possible by making yourself the hero of your own story.
I like the way that sounds!
If you’ve never journaled before, you might have some questions. So I’m sharing some of my best tips for how to get started, what kind of journal and pen to use, and what to write about.
What journal should I use?
You certainly don’t need to have an expensive journal to express your thoughts. You can use any notebook. Whatever you have on hand will work perfectly.
I love the journals from Marami. They have a great weight to their papers. And their headquarters is in my small town so I love supporting them.
What type of pen is good for journaling?
I’m personally obsessed with the Pilot EasyTouch fine black pen (retractable). They aren’t fancy, but I can’t seem to find ones I like better.
Some people swear by gel pens because they glide so easily across the paper. Others choose by whether it bleeds through the paper, allowing them to use both sides of the page.
Do I have to write by hand?
You certainly don’t have to. You can use a Word document or a Google doc.
But… consider that writing by hand may be more beneficial than writing on your computer. According to an article by Psychology Today, titled Is It Better to Write By Hand or Computer?, “Writing by hand connects you with the words and allows your brain to focus on them, understand them and learn from them.”
There are also brain health benefits that can help keep your mind sharp.
One other thing here… If you’re nervous about people reading your journal, you can easily destroy the physical pages with the peace of mind there are no other copies around.
Every fall, I burn my journals. I take out the spiral binding and then I burn the pages.
I know, it sounds extreme.
But I’m slightly terrified that I will die and someone will read them. And the permission to burn my journals has given me the freedom to write anything.
It also feels like a beautiful way to honor the thoughts, the dreams, the situations on those pages. To release them in a bonfire.
That’s why I’m giving you full permission to recycle, burn or shred your journals if you need to.
What should I write in my journal?
The beauty of journaling is there is no wrong way to go about it… whether you jot down what you’re thankful for each day, express your feelings about things that upset you, or just need an outlet for your thoughts.
A few of the things I like to write are affirmations, anything that’s bothering me, and letters to myself. Here’s what I mean.
Write affirmations.
Somewhere between burning out in the corporate world in 2014 and leaving my job to pursue my entrepreneurial path, I started writing affirmations.
It was inspired by my high school Spanish teacher Mr. Engrav. If you were caught chewing gum in his classroom, you received a special assignment.
You had to write, “I will not chew gum in class.” in Spanish a certain number of times. Every time someone was caught in one of his classes, he increased the number by 25.
I was only caught once and never chewed gum in his class again.
Anyway, the scientific evidence supports Mr. Engrav’s approach and enforces the idea that repetition indeed improves learning. Here’s an interesting read about it.
So, what are some examples of affirmations? Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
I am already on the right path.
The path of ease is more powerful than the path of struggle.
I am strong. I am capable.
Feel free to leave a comment with any suggestions for affirmations you like using. I love getting new ideas for myself and sharing them with others.
Write down all your thoughts on paper.
When I notice my thoughts are racing and I can’t seem to focus, I pull out a piece of paper and write down everything that’s bothering me.
And I find that I almost instantly feel better.
And it’s not just me. Journaling in this way is a known method of dealing with overwhelming emotions. This article by the University of Rochester Medical Center takes it one step further and points out, “When you have a problem and you're stressed, keeping a journal can help you identify what’s causing that stress or anxiety. Once you’ve identified your stressors, you can work on a plan to resolve the problems and reduce your stress.”
What I like about expressing myself in this way is that it feels very grounding to me. When my thoughts are on paper, my brain stops spinning and starts to relax.
For me, before I begin my workday and in the evening are the two times that I use this strategy the most.
Start with one of these and empty the bucket. Write until you have nothing left to write.
What are you worried about?
What are you angry about?
What are you hopeful of?
You can use any topic or emotion that comes to mind.
Write a letter to yourself.
Every time I write a letter to myself, I’m surprised by how far I’ve come, how much I’ve experienced and how much I’ve accomplished.
If you’ve never done this before, here are a couple of ideas for letters to write to yourself:
Write a letter from yourself 3 years ago to yourself today.
Write a letter to yourself from today to yourself in 3 years.
Writing a letter to yourself from the past forces you to recall the journey you’ve been on these past three years — and reflect on all the things, big and small, that you’ve overcome.
And giving yourself the space to think about the advice you’d give yourself in three years starts planting seeds of positive self-talk you can call on anytime you need them when you start to doubt yourself.
Let’s stay in touch.
There’s nothing I love more than connecting in this way with like-minded people. I love sharing business ideas with fellow entrepreneurs, inspiration for managing all of life’s chaos with other women and moms, and tips for finding beauty and balance in life.
