How to begin journaling

If you are new to journaling, it may be helpful to point some things out. At the first glance, it seems that the process should be self-explanatory, but we may forget some things. 

Some general guidelines to keep in mind before starting journaling are: 

1. There is no perfect way of journaling. You can write a few words or a few pages. Whatever you write should be meaningful to you, it should come naturally to you. Do not worry about grammar or making the sentences perfect. This will only hold you back. The most important is to express what you want or what comes to your mind. 
2. Understand that you alone are going to read your words. Do not hold back when writing, let it all out. This is the aim of the whole process. 
3. The beginning is the hardest, be kind to yourself and be patient. The words will come, keep ongoing. 

Create the right environment 

The supportive  environment is key (so as it is with mediation). 

Organize the environment so that it is comfortable for you, find a quiet space where you won’t be disturbed for a while. In this way, you will be able to write clearly about your feelings, without distractions. 

Sometimes I prefer the quietness around me, sometimes some gentle music. 

Maybe you prefer some white noise around, or you don’t mind writing in a cafe and cafe noises in the background. But is good to minimize distractions: 

• turn the TV Off, 
• put away your phone and tablet, turn off notifications, 
• think about the music to put in the background, something calm and relaxing if you do not like the complete silence, 
• If you have a family, try to find some minutes before sleep or early in the morning. 

Your emotions may be stirred up, you may be upset during the writing. Calculating some minutes to relax and let your thoughts calm down after your journaling can be very helpful.  You may need some sink in time, which is always a good idea. It is good to have some time for reflection. 

Use prompts

Prompts are always a good idea, especially if you are new to the process. They support you in the process, they offer a way to organize your thoughts, you have something to write about immediately, and they guide your thoughts so that you can get behind the negative emotions. In this way, you get the opportunity to analyze them better afterward. 

Quick prompt when you are feeling sad, overwhelmed, tired or in a bad shape: 

1. Write 20 things about why you are feeling sad, tired, overwhelmed, etc. You may gain an insight into why you are feeling the way you do. 
2. freewriting exercise about feeling sad, tired, overwhelmed, etc.  It might give you reasons you haven’t thought about, something unexpected may come up and light a bulb, you might have the aha moment. Or it will give you more about the context, the background of the situation. 

If you feel worse or bad during the exercise, just stop, it is ok to do that. You may not be prepared to deal with those feelings at the moment, and this is perfectly fine. The time will come when you are going to be able to do that. 

If you still do not know where to start I invite you to join my family. I prepared a bunch of free resources and prompts to use in my free resource library. You can join here.