The Health Benefits of Journaling
There’s magic to be found in journaling. This simple act of writing is a therapeutic and powerful form of self-coaching. It also creates a system through which your goals can be set and accomplished.
What is Journaling
Journaling is a recording of your thoughts, feelings, values, and beliefs. It can be unfiltered and unstructured, or it can be a well-defined bullet list that helps you track your everyday life. There are no rules other than the guidelines you make for yourself.
While many enjoy putting pen to paper, more modern journaling has adapted to tech, with apps dedicated to note-taking, some even featuring prompts.
Why Journal
Cambridge researchers reported that journaling reduces blood pressure and improves the immune system. Science shows that organising your thoughts and emotions can help you heal from trauma, manage anxiety and stress, and cope with depression.
Journaling helps you become tangible aware of personal triggers and issues by creating a coherent narrative that can help you gain perspective and clarity in a more rationalised and analytical way. This can boost your mood and enhance your overall sense of well-being.
Journaling is a great habit that provides the space, and time, to explore and connect with yourself. It allows you to reflect and take note of what’s really important to you. Taking the time to consider and articulate your thoughts and feelings often has the added benefit of clarifying motivations and expectations, without censorship.
Journaling and Goal Setting
Clearly writing down your goals turns vague desires into physical targets. It forces you to:
Actively think about your goals
Prioritise and organise your goals
Record your progress, both failures and successes
Track patterns
Adapt, expand, and modify your goals as you go along
Stay accountable
Get creative with how to achieve your goals
Identify obstacles, both intrinsic (e.g. personal limitations and hidden fears) and extrinsic that may be holding you back
Problem solve
Cultivate gratitude
Build confidence
How to Journal
Whether armed with pen and notebook or digital journaling app, a great way to start is by asking yourself simple questions such as:
What do I want to achieve?
How am I feeling?
What am I grateful for today?
Once you get into the groove of journaling, you can dive deeper and become more specific. For example, if your goal is wellness-related, you can keep a Food Journal that helps you track what you are eating. You can then adapt your food choices to be more in line with your goal. Naluri’s Food Journal provides an additional benefit of a dietitian coach responding and providing feedback for your meal choices.
