Explore Creative Ways to Use Journaling as a Tool for Mindfulness and Personal Growth
This post could not have come at a better time for me personally because I’m at the point where I’m journaling regularly, but looking to maximize its benefits.
I’ve been using journaling for some time now at the encouragement of my dearest friend who has also been doing a daily practice. It is one of my favourite parts of each morning. It’s so nice to settle into my day with my thoughts down from the previous day and my masala chai in hand.
Journaling has been shown to improve quality of life 1,2,3 (with some caveats like already desiring a positive emotional state and that people who desire a positive outcome are more likely to experience it) and I would highly recommend it to anyone looking to be a little more mindful in their daily life. Whether that be to
- release your frustrations
- start your day with a clear mind
- bring more creativity into your life
- strategize on how you want to handle situations less passively
All of those are reasons I like to do it.
I’m now in the habit of dumping my thoughts, but it feels like I’m doing it mindlessly. I want to use journaling as a vessel to explore my creative side, push myself outside of my comfort zone, and work through things rather than just using it to document my life.
Here are some ideas I’ve been trying to implement or that I want to try to bring some energy back into my practice:
- Find humour in something sad/mundane/not so funny every day. Maybe TRY writing a joke about it.
I always found the idea of “roasts” fascinating and impressive. How do people find the right balance between a jab at someone and a stab?? Now I have a place to write light roasts about people so I don’t accidentally say these things in real life 😛 - Write letters to yourself, your past self, and people in your life who you appreciate/are frustrated with. These can be separate pieces of paper you slot in.
- Challenge yourself so you start to grow. Help yourself get out of a rut. Some examples could be to focus on the following:
- Personality (judgementalness, grumpiness, humourlessness, caring about what others think)
- Being a more active participant at work
- Taking space in social situations
- Balancing what you want to do with what you have to do
- Define the wants vs the haves
- Make decisions faster
- Make fun lists daily.
- 5 funny things that happened yesterday/last week
- 3 of my cat’s favourite foods if she were a human
- 10 movies I want to watch, but will never get to realistically
- 10 ridiculous things you would do if you were a superhero with a completely useless superpower
- What would you name your kids if you were a celebrity?
- Use stickers. ✨Stickers just add a little zest✨ You could also try paint, highlighters etc. Things to bring colour to your pages.
- Writing prompts.
- How do you think your older self would see yourself now?
- If you could go back and relive yesterday, how would you have done it differently?
- How would you describe yourself in 3 words? Do those match your values?
- If you continue your life as is, where will you be in 5 years? 10? 15? 20?
- How have you changed over the past year?
- (Sorry this one is dark): what will they write in your obituary? – I like this one because it makes you think about whether you’re the person you want to be.
- Write something creative.
- Write a recipe for your perfect food
- Write a recipe for your perfect day
- Give names to your demons (ex. your anxiety is named “Edith”)
- Write about a fictional character YOU created. What’s their name? Age? Story? What do they love and hate?
- Write about something you dislike as if you like it. Play devil’s advocate about it.
- Make associations about things that would surprise you to be connected (ex. camping and robots – find a way to connect these)
- Doodle something.
- mushrooms
- kittens
- robots
- rocks
- your pet
- things in your room
- abstract shapes
- aliens
- food you like
- A quick word you want to say to yourself
- Thank you…
- I love you…
- I forgive you for…
- Give yourself grace for…
- You could try doing ___ next time ___ happens…
- Choose a song that would suit that day. Make seasonal playlists from these
- Stop writing after a specific interval (leaves you hungry to write more the next day). Use a sticky note to write down the overflow for tomorrow.
- Think about all aspects of something (ex. describe everything you can think of about a rose or about a person you know). In trying to look past the surface-level details, you might grow more understanding/compassion for the thing/person. This is inspired by a meditation practice, but I think it translates well to journaling.
There are whole content creators whose content is geared toward journaling. You can find subreddits on this topic even. I love seeing how other people do it.
- https://www.youtube.com/@OverallAdventures
- https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLSFBX9xCwjaXxwAwqYVxj0k2cPoSYd7px
- https://www.reddit.com/r/Journaling/
Now go out and find your own journaling rhythm 🙃
P.S. Lately, I’ve been ruminating on whether someone will read my journals either during my present life or after I die (could they become historical documents??). It would be slightly horrifying. I think my bigger fear is about people being bored reading it… 😉
P.P.S I very recently learned the term “Navel Gazing” (or omphaloskepsis) which means excessive rumination on oneself. It came from the Ancient Greek meditation practice of looking at one’s navel as a meditation aid. This makes me self-conscious about the “excessive” part of the rumination that comes with journaling. But that’s not going to stop me 😈 Everything is fine in moderation, right?
P.P.P.S Congrats on making it this far! I may need to write a follow-up on this after implementing some of this fun stuff. Maybe also a post on how I’m doing my journaling.
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