2013 Faith (in) Wellness Challenge Week 17: Journal

Reflection is an important part of anyone’s growth, be it personal or professional. Taking time to write in a journal for a few minutes every day is a great way to clear your mind, focus your thoughts and get out on paper all the craziness floating around in your head absentmindedly.

In a way, journaling is very much like a meditation – a way of harnessing all your thoughts on paper so that you get them out of your head and into a coherent (or sometimes not) sentence, idea or correlative stream of consciousness.

For those of us who enjoy writing, journaling is an activity we look forward to. Those of us who do not like writing might have a harder time finding motivation to put pen to paper.

There are many ways to journal and plenty of things to journal about. This past week I chose to journal about my cleansing experience (I know, we’re back on that topic again). For me, journaling before I go to bed is a nice way to end my day, but for others, journaling right when you get up in the morning is the only peace and quiet to be found for me-time.

The most important thing when journaling is not to be critical of your writing. It’s not like you’re entering a literary contest here. A journal is really just a space for you to jot some things down. No one is checking for proper grammar, spelling etc. In fact, if you make a mistake, see if you can just let it go. It’s a good exercise in going with the flow and being okay with making mistakes now and again. This is especially important training for my fellow recovering perfectionists.

If you’re ever in need of something to write about – although I’m confident your day is fodder enough, despite how boring you might think it was, consider thinking about the following prompts:

  • Recall an interesting conversation you had with someone and write about how it made you feel
  • Write about something new you learned
  • Make a list of your top 5 favorite moments of the day
  • Rehash an argument and see if you can come to a more objective solution
  • Record your dreams
  • Comment on something you read, be it a newspaper article, Facebook comment or a chapter of the novel you’re reading
  • Mentally prepare for an upcoming vacation, even if you don’t have one upcoming
  • Wonder about something that is confusing you
  • Write a story about anything
  • Check in with how you feel health-wise

How do you journal? Let me know in the comments below!

Image credit: paperbackwriter