How and Why to Develop Your Own Journaling Practice

One thing that has truly changed my life is having a journaling practice.

I've always loved books and notebooks but never was able to stay consistent with my journaling until the past few years. And now that I have, it has TRULY changed everything.

Journaling helps you understand yourself, your thoughts, and your emotions better. It helps you figure things out about yourself and your life. Journaling has also been shown to improve anxiety and depression, improve your memory, improve your physical health, improve sleep, and it makes you happier!

With all these benefits, journaling is worth the try, even when you think you're not a journaler. So where do you start?

An easy place to begin your journal practice and where I usually tell my clients to start is to do a brain dump. These are also caused a stream of consciousness journaling. This is exactly how it sounds and you write whatever comes to your mind for a certain period of time.

Another good place to start is pre-written prompts. I have LOTS that I've collected over the years and you can find them all over the internet. So if a brain dump is a little intimidating, this is another good place to start. Eventually, you'll feel more comfortable with this and develop your own prompts.

Below, find my own morning and evening journal prompts for inspiration!

Morning Journaling Prompts:

1. What are 3 things I'm grateful for and why?

2. What are my intentions for the day?

3. What are my goals for the day?

4. What is my dream life like?

5. How am I feeling right now? Why? How do I want to feel today? How will I make that happen?

Evening Journaling Prompts:

1. What goals didn't work out for me today?

2. What did I learn today and how will I improve tomorrow?

3. What were some joyful moments I had today?

Figuring out when you want to journal can be very personalized. Sometimes, you may not be able to make evening journaling work. I know for me, I developed my morning journaling practice LONG before I started my evening journal practice. Finding what works for you means experimenting! Try journaling first thing in the morning. If that doesn't work for you, try to journal right before bed. If that doesn't work, journal while you eat breakfast, and so on.

Make your journaling practice just that- YOURS