Have you ever kept a diary or a journal? I have for many years now and while I don’t always keep them, sometimes reading back to journal pages from years ago can be a revelatory experience. It can show you how much you’ve grown. What you struggled with back then and it allows you to see how you dealt with them in hindsight. Overall it’s a very good practice and a very mindful one at that.

Choosing the right journal

The first part when you want to start journaling is deciding on the journal itself! While you can choose to go digital these days, I don’t recommend keeping a digital journal for a couple of reasons. First of all, our retention when we write with a pen is much better, which means we are more likely to remember what we wrote down. The second argument is that it is a much more mindful practice to sit at a table, with a pen and your journal. Putting words on actual paper has a distinct feeling to it that just can’t be replicated digitally, or perhaps only with tablets that feature a pen and a “digital” paper screen.

There are tons of options for journals. Factors like size come into play, but also whether it’s a soft or hard cover, lined or blank pages. I like buying agendas that have a full page per day as journals, so I can write down my thoughts and the events of that day. But of course, you can choose whatever kind of style of notebook for this purpose. It’s all about personal preferences!

Choosing the right time

Usually I write in my journal around 22:00, when the day is nearly done and I still have a bit of energy left to write. But sometimes I write down the events and my thoughts the next day, if I don’t feel I have any energy left.

You could also consider writing in your journal in the morning, when you are still full of energy and had time to reflect on the events of yesterday. I sometimes do this as a means of writing down my expectations for the day and later checking if those expectations were met, or not.

Needless to say, if you plan on making journaling a habit, it’s best to make it a daily practice at a specific time each day, so that it becomes a habit faster. It takes roughly 70 days for something to become a habit, so consistency is key when you want to get into a new habit. After that you’ll see that it’ll become an automatic thing.

Choosing the right subject

There are days when I sit down to journal and not a single word comes to mind to write about. Other days I feel like I’ve run out of paper. Of course, these are extremes and usually you’ll find that you’ll write down something in between. The idea is that you at least write something down. There’s no right or wrong thing to jot down on the paper and sometimes we just have boring ‘ol days where barely anything noteworthy happened, or we’ll have very exciting days full of adventure and excitement. That’s just how life works. Nevertheless, if you can write at least a few sentences down.

One thing that can really help is to always write down a couple of things. For instance, you could write down a daily affirmation. Something that encourages you to continually keep up the good fight for whatever it is that you want to achieve (in the case of our cats it’s world domination, just to name an example).

Another great thing to write down daily is three things you’re grateful for. And this doesn’t have to be anything big. You can write down the smallest things that make you happy and grateful for your life here on planet Earth. The smell of fresh coffee, a compliment you received, a hug from a loved one, cuddle time with your pet, finally landing that dream job, or the release of a video game you anticipated for a long time. You get the idea by now, I hope.

Choosing the write stuff for you

As you can see, journaling is a very personal affair. You can mix and match various methods and materials. It all comes down to what you want to achieve with your journaling journey! For me it’s a way of winding down, reflecting on the day and writing stuff down in order to better deal with them. Sometimes life throws a curve ball and when the days are rough sitting down to write about it makes it just a tad easier to deal with and put things in perspective.

Whatever you choose, I hope you enjoyed this article and that you feel inspired to start your own journal! Please let me know if you intend to do so in the comments below!

Thank you for reading and have a good one!

Jeffrey