Mix a martini, don’t forget the olives, or pour yourself some tea, relax and enjoy!
There are no hard and fast rules for journaling. How often you write, how much time you spend, and how rigorously you keep a regular journal schedule are all matters of choice and personal circumstance. Therefore, it is important to find what works for you.
Let me provide nine guidelines that I promote:
1. Having a regular time to journal creates routine and discipline. Journaling isn’t necessarily about what you write; it is simply about expressing your thoughts to create emotional balance. Find a time of day that feels good to you. Come back at this time as often as possible, even if you don’t think you have anything to say, are tired, or aren’t quite awake. Start by simply recording a quote you’ve remembered or a mantra you’re currently using to change. Maybe even a list of things you need to do that day or the next day. The process only requires a starting point. The rest will flow naturally. Everyone needs personal time to process their thinking. Build emotional intelligence (EQ). Allow yourself, be kind to yourself and allow yourself to be emotionally balanced.
2. Prepare your space for success. Would you prefer your environment to be quiet? Maybe you need hustle and bustle around you. Do you prefer specific music or certain writing materials? I like to have my favorite blanket around me when I think about personal things. I like to write about business stuff in a noisy place. I like to write about marketing at McDonald’s that smells like French fries and grease. Where are yours?
3. Develop a centering ritual. By associating journaling with another pleasurable habit, you can strengthen your journaling practice and create an atmosphere of self-care. The ritual may include a glass of wine, tea, or coffee. It may be after a phone with someone. You can start with a certain piece of music. Perhaps meditation, deep breathing exercises, or prayer will center you. I have a list of ways to center typed and taped to the front of each journal. I go down the list and start with the one that feels good at the moment.
4. Start with a prompt. Maybe you want to focus on a particular type of personal development change, and a prompt gets you to that focus faster. Or maybe a message of general reflection lights the spark plugs. For example, “What am I feeling right now?” or “What’s been on your mind?” Journal author Anais Nin suggests asking, “What feels vivid, warm, or close right now?”
5. Write because you know there is a great benefit to you from doing so. Don’t let journaling become an obligation or a chore. Allow yourself to give yourself. Be kind and gentle during this process. Let the experience always feel possible no matter what is poured onto the page. Don’t demand more of yourself than you can give at that moment. It is perfect. If you miss a day or days, accept that journaling, like life, is imperfect and move on. Start over when you get the chance. Punishing yourself for not keeping a journal isn’t going to help anyone, not even you. Nobody is rating you. Nobody is measuring and tracking. Be kind to yourself. Remember, there are no rules.
6. Create a positive feedback loop. As you continue to use journaling as an opportunity to be with yourself and learn about yourself, you will find that the practice gains momentum on its own. Discovering your hidden depths awakens your curiosity and stimulates you to continue, establishing a positive feedback loop between your conscious and unconscious mind. It opens the gaps that fall between space and time. Open creativity, imagination and possibilities.
7. Emphasize the process and not the product. An important purpose of journaling is simply to express and record your thoughts and feelings. Focus on the thought process. Keep the words flowing and stop worrying about the outcome. If your journal is about something specific, read again. Leave room for editing if you wish. Feel free to cross out words because you changed your mind and found a better one. Allow yourself to cross out paragraphs and rewrite them so they mean what you say. This is all part of the thought process. Every time you rewrite your pose, your growth triples. Use your journal as the raw processing material for more polished thinking.
8. Learn from your experiences. Set a time to reread your entries. It’s good to see how much you’ve grown in your thinking. Reinforce how you have changed and grown. It’s a wonderful and personal way to give yourself a pat on the back in life. When you reread your material, look for patterns and correlations. What got better? What stayed the same? Learning from you is much smoother with self-esteem. Use objectivity to see a new perspective or retrospective lesson.
Relax, have fun and laugh! Journaling is a reward. Once you start, your journal will become a good friend. It is available whenever you need it. Day, night, at home, in the car or in a coffee shop. He is a 24/7 friend and is always ready to love you if you let him.
Your journal loves you simply for being you.
