So, you have started your own journal, worked inwards to better understand yourself and your journey, and where you want to be or what you want to become, and yet you don’t feel any different.

You may rightly ask yourself why. Perhaps, even think it is a waste of time.

First, journaling should be a daily automatism to bring the wanted results. Second, you should take responsibility for all that has led you to where today. Plus, you should be as honest as possible with your intentions — and your motivations.

Why are you writing in your journal?

What is it that you want to achieve? What is the end vision?

DO YOU NEED HELP STARTING?

You may already be benefiting in a way that isn’t obvious, maybe because you have too much on your plate at present and too much is happening around you to feel grounded.

If you are currently under tremendous stress (or feel excessively anxious), it can be hard to notice anything changing or even getting better. What is important is that you are working on yourself and your emotions. Trust that by taking a few minutes each day, you’re radically improving your mental health, taking control of your thought patterns and, therefore, your emotions and, ultimately, your behaviour (the actions you are taking going forward).

Give it a try and stick to it. You’ll never know if it works for you until you write in your journal daily.

Here are 5 reasons for journaling according to research:

1. Journaling helps increase your resilience.

A growing body of research has demonstrated that writing about traumatic or stressful events or experiences has a positive impact on physical and psychological health.[1,2] Because we are social animals, our quality of life depends on our ability to cope with the various adversities we encounter. It is natural for us to (want to) share our emotions with others, expecting support and relief from emotional burdens. However, in our days and age, and as a result of imposed social isolation and the insane rising cost of living, we feel less and less inclined to share our experiences with others.[3]

“Everyone has their own problems, why should they care about mine?” you may ask yourself. And so, you carry a heavy burden on your shoulders that gets heavier by the day, until you finally feel unable to cope and feel “broken”.

This is where journaling can help you unload that burden and help you take control of your thoughts and emotions. By writing how you feel, you can become aware of how it is affecting you and your behaviour. Then, it is up to you to take action to change the outcome, to change the way you feel and, therefore, behave.

Imagine you can control how you feel. Then, there is nothing to stop you, not even the challenges of daily life and inevitable stressors. Those will no longer be mountains you feel you can ever climb, but just tiny bumps — that help you learn and grow into a fulfilled human being.[4-16] This is the route to happiness and mental freedom, breaking the chains of trauma and, therefore, leading to better health.[17,18]

Journaling has also been proven to help you take control of the narrative and reduce the symptoms associated with depressive disorders.[19] Change the way you speak to yourself (remove the power you give to your negative inner voice) by writing how you feel in your journal. Change the process — change the outcome.

2. Journaling helps you keep your end vision in mind

Once you have set your goals — what it is that you want to achieve — you can work towards your end vision. However, this must be clear in your mind.

Be clear about your core values and the direction you want to take. Make sure it is in line with your true self and that you give yourself all that you need to stay on track. Looking into the future helps you realise how achieving your goals will make you a better person and how you may feel once you know you have achieved those.

What will you feel, taste, smell, hear and see once you have achieved your goals?

What will you look like? Where will you be?

How would you know you have reached your destination?

Use the feelings that you are feeling right now to better identify your end vision and the goals you are looking to achieve. This is not playing pretend. You are seeing the real you — the “you” you want to become — in the place you want to be.

Usually, once your end vision is clear it should give you goosebumps.

Write your end vision in your journal so you can refer to it any time you need it — anytime you feel you need a little mental boost whenever you fall or the end seems to disappear from your mind.

3. Journaling helps with learning and memory

It has been long established that writing helps the brain store the information that is often dictated in schools for example. Most schools still include conventional handwriting instruction in their primary-grade curriculum.

The relationship between writing by hand and the brain could not be any clearer, and the impact on memory is also now well understood.[20]

Using advanced tools such as magnetic resonance imaging, researchers are finding that writing by hand is more than just a means to communicate. It helps with learning letters and shapes and, therefore, can improve idea composition and expression, and may aid fine motor-skill development in children. More so, than typing on keyboards.

It is also evident in adults. Writing by hand engages the brain in learning. Putting down on paper your thoughts can thus anchor those thoughts in your subconscious. Your brain will then be able to assess those thoughts and make assimilations (for example) whenever the same emotions resurface. Writing is a bit like riding a bike. Physical movement makes learning. Riding a bike (or writing) may become an automatism but it is really the brain that remembers, not the muscles.

Increasing your memory capacity may not occur if you are typing on a computer or any other device using a keyboard.

Virginia Berninger, a professor of educational psychology at the University of Washington, says handwriting differs from typing because it requires executing sequential strokes to form a letter, whereas keyboarding involves selecting a whole letter by selecting a particular key. She also adds that images of the brain have illustrated that sequential finger movements activated the regions involved in thinking, language and working memory — the system for temporarily storing and managing information.[21]

Do not worry too much if you are used to tablets and other devices that allow you to write with a “pen” as these still allow you to write by hand. However, do not use the pen to type on the screen keyboard, as this will not have the desired effect — it is the forming of 2-dimension letters that matters, the intention and the end vision (a full sentence bound in emotions and feelings).

On another note, some researchers have documented a relationship between the increase in keyboard typing and a decline in cognitive function. So, go for it. Write your feelings away. It is good for your mind in the long term.

4. Journaling strengthens your communication skills

While it has been disputed (as it was not yet “proven” by science), researchers have adapted the views of a strong connection between writing and speaking. In fact, research occurring about 3 decades ago and theory have helped researchers to see that writing, like speaking, is a profoundly social act. Writing is strongly connected to the cognitive and social-cultural contexts in which it is produced

Learning to write means, to a large degree, learning to anticipate that (and how) one's words will be read (spoken in the mind), or not, and still engages the reader in dialogue.[22]

This means that even if you are the only one that is going to read your journal, you are actively acting to spread a message — to relay how you felt at a certain point in time.

Not only this, but you’re also opening yourself to telling your story, to find the right words to put down on paper (so, there is no possible misinterpretation). This exercise will also help you to articulate sentences and give a more constructed message when speaking to others — so there wouldn’t be any misunderstanding.

This is where honesty is important. By taking responsibility and being honest with yourself, you can find the right words to write in your journal. Failing to identify your core values (living a life that is not authentic, in line with your beliefs and values — e.g., being someone you are not to fit into your crowd or please others) and not understanding your motivations, may stain your end vision and still impact how you relate to others and communicate with others. The tone of voice may also be affected (you may sound angry or impatient, just to use two examples).

5. Journaling improves emotional intelligence and increases awareness

Writing about personally experienced stressors or traumatic events has been associated with improvements in mental and physical health in numerous investigations. For example, writing about stressful or traumatic events has been related to decreased distress and depression, fewer illness-related visits to physicians, and positive changes in immune function. Moreover, the positive effects of written disclosure appear to be equivalent to or greater than the effects produced by other psychosocial interventions.[23]

It has long been believed that the expression of emotion is beneficial to mental health, whereas the inhibition of emotion is harmful. According to this hypothesis, the inhibition of emotion is considered a chronic stressor that can lead to declines in emotional and physical health. In addition, it has been proposed that expressing trauma-related emotions in a safe environment enhances feelings of control and mastery over the traumatic event.[24,25]

Pennebaker and Beall [5] compared the effects of three methods of writing about a traumatic event: focusing on only facts, only emotions, or both facts and emotions. What they uncovered is that writing in your journal about the event itself and the way you felt at the time (or still do) allows you to free yourself from it, and find a resolution — all of which is associated with better health outcomes.[26]

Focusing on the trauma only may not provide sufficient reasons to find a resolution. Focusing on emotions may not be a significant predictor of a greater understanding of the traumatic event. It is also highly susceptible to bias (e.g., assumptions, generalisations, substitutions, deletion, etc.).

What you can take from these 5 benefits of journaling is to be accurate, honest and take responsibility. Understand your motivations and what you want from journaling.

Write about your day and the emotions attached to it. Write your intentions and anything to help become the person you want to become, including affirmations.

Be clear.

Take control of your thoughts and the narrative. Take control of your life and live the life you always wanted to live. The power is in your hands. Journaling is the key.

References

1. Pennebaker, JW. (1990). Opening up: The healing power of confiding in others. New York, NY: William Morrow.

2. Pennebaker JW (1993) Putting stress into words: health, linguistic, and therapeutic implications. Behaviour Research and Therapy. 31, pp. 539–48.

3. Hussain, D. (2010). Healing through writing: Insights from research. International Journal of Mental Health Promotion. 12(2), pp. 19-23.

4. Pennebaker, JW. (1997). Writing about emotional experiences as a therapeutic process. Psychological Science. 8, pp. 162–166.

5. Pennebaker, JW. Beall, SK. (1986). Confronting a traumatic event: Toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. Journal of Abnormal Psychology. 95, pp. 274–281.

6. Pennebaker JW, Colder M & Sharp LK (1990). Accelerating the coping process. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 58, pp. 528–537.

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8. Pennebaker, JW. Graybeal, A. (2001). Patterns of natural language use. Disclosure, personality, and social integration. Current Directions. 10, pp. 90–93.

9. Pennebaker, JW. Kiecolt-Glaser, JK. Glaser, R. (1988). Disclosure of traumas and immune function: health implications for psychotherapy. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 56, pp. 239–245.

10. Pennebaker, JW. Seagal, JD. (1999). Forming a story: The health benefits of narrative. Journal of Clinical Psychology. 55, pp. 1243–1254.

11. Pennebaker, JW. Susman, JR. (1988). Disclosure of traumas and psychosomatic processes. Social Science and Medicine. 26, pp. 327–32.

12. Rosenberg, HJ. et al. (2002). Expressive disclosure and health outcomes in a prostate cancer population. International Journal of Psychiatry in Medicine. 32, pp. 37–53.

13. Smyth, JM. (1998). Written emotional expression: Effect sizes, outcome types, and moderating variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 66, pp. 174–184.

14. Smyth, JM. Pennebaker, JW. (1999). Sharing one’s story: Translating emotional experiences into words as a coping tool. In: CR Snyder (Ed) Coping: The Psychology of What Works. New York: Oxford University Press.

15. Smyth, JM. Pennebaker, JW. (2001). What are the health effects of disclosure? In: Baum, A. Revenson, TA. Singer, JE. Handbook of Health Psychology.

16. Smyth, JM. et al. (1999). Effects of writing about stressful experiences on symptom reduction in patients with asthma or rheumatoid arthritis: A randomized trial. Journal of the American Medical Association. 281, pp. 1304–1309.

17. Esterling, BA. et al. (1994). Emotional disclosure through writing or speaking modulates latent Epstein-Barr virus antibody titers. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology. 62, pp. 130–140.

18. Cameron, LD. Nicholls, G. (1998). Expression of stressful experiences through writing: Effects of a self-regulation manipulation for pessimists and optimists. Health Psychology. 17, pp. 84–92.

19. Lepore, SJ. (1997). Expressive writing moderates the relation between intrusive thoughts and depressive symptoms. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 73, pp. 1030–1037.

20. Klein, K. Boals, A. (2001). Expressive writing can increase working memory capacity. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. 130, pp. 520–33.

21. Bounds, G. (2010). How Handwriting Trains the brain. Forming letters is key to learning, memory, ideas. The Wall Street Journal. Available at: https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704631504575531932754922518

22. Sperling, M. (1996). Revisiting the Writing-Speaking Connection: Challenges for Research on Writing and Writing Instruction. Review of Educational Research. 66(1), 53. doi:10.2307/1170726

23. Ullrich, PM. Lutgendorf, SK. (2002). Journaling about stressful events: Effects of cognitive processing and emotional expression. Annals of Behavioral Medicine. 24(3), pp. 244–250.

24. Rachman, SJ. (1980). Emotional processing. Behavior Research and Therapy. 18, pp. 51–60.

25. Scheff, TJ. (1979). Catharsis in healing, ritual, and drama. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1979.

26. Lutgendorf, SK. Antoni, MH. (1999). Emotional and cognitive processing in a trauma disclosure paradigm. Cognitive Therapy and Research. 23, pp. 423–440.