Times are changing and we are learning more about mental health. This means our overall well-being. Today, the internet is flooded with content advocating for mental health and its treatments. However, it’s always good to learn more about mental health from professionals.
So, now that more and more people understand the benefits of getting therapy, those who have actually been counseled will know how journaling is highly recommended by all experts.
What is journaling
According to Meghna Karia, senior psychologist at Mpower, “Journaling is a powerful tool for giving voice to our inner experiences and emotions. We can look back and realign.There is power in every written word.It helps us pay attention to our moods and regulate our emotions.It is a creative outlet for self-expression. Additionally, journaling makes you feel good and adds a sense of wholeness to your routine.
A Harvard study determined that journaling can be an effective tool for managing mental health conditions such as anxiety, depression, and stress.
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What are the benefits of journaling?
Journaling is a great tool for mental health overall, so medical professionals tend to recommend journaling. Benefits you get from journaling include:
Journaling helps us discover and understand ourselves better.
When you start writing your thoughts and feelings in one place, you’ll eventually find yourself discovering things about yourself that you generally didn’t know you had. Seeing things written about yourself on paper increases your self-awareness.
Provides insight into experiences, feelings, emotions, and behavior
You may have experienced things and places, but you never gave a second thought to how you were feeling about them in that moment. We tend to understand our feelings and the emotions that accompany them.
It helps give structure to our thought process.
A lot of the time I really can’t understand how I feel or why I feel the way I do. Journaling helps give it some direction. When I put my emotions and feelings down on a piece of paper, I tend to understand and clarify what is really bothering me through the paper.
Facilitate problem solving and decision making in a variety of situations.
Writing down your thoughts and feelings gives you clarity, making it easier to solve your problems and find solutions to your problems. It also helps you make decisions that you generally have trouble making.
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Allows you to break through repetitive patterns and self-limiting beliefs.
One of the reasons medical professionals recommend journaling is that it helps you break all of your negative habits. People with anxiety in particular tend to repeat patterns of over-thinking and over-analyzing. They also tend to limit themselves by thinking negatively about themselves. Journaling helps break these thought patterns.
Improve your communication regarding how to express yourself more clearly and effectively.
Many people with anxiety don’t know how to communicate how they feel because they don’t know how they feel in the first place. Writing about your feelings and thoughts can also help you communicate the same to those you are with, co-workers, or those who struggle to get your thoughts across.
It helps with your anxiety.
There are some studies that suggest journaling is really good for anxiety. His 2018 study by the National Library of Medicine found that emotion-focused journaling reduced anxiety, depressive symptoms, and distress. The study concluded that journaling improved the health of patients with medical conditions in he month.
It improves a person’s general well-being.
A 2020 review, Meta-analytic review of the relationship between qualitative gratitude and well-being, found that recording gratitude (regularly recording everything you are grateful for) was associated with life satisfaction, Associated with well-being indicators, including happiness and stress.
Another study by Harvard Health Publishing found that journaling and writing gratitude were associated with happiness. This will help you feel more positive emotions, enjoy good experiences, and build strong relationships.
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According to Meghna Karia, senior psychologist at Mpower, there are several methods and techniques you can utilize when starting journaling to get the most out of your experience.
morning page
This technique improves the journaling experience. “Write three pages of free-flowing handwritten stream of consciousness without thinking about whether the information written is true or false. This is often called a “brain dump” and is meant to clear your mind and set a positive tone for the day. Aimed at. Morning pages are believed to inject clarity, focus, creativity and direction into your daily life. ”
color palette
Color palettes are a valuable tool for anyone who has trouble expressing or understanding their feelings. “For example, red often represents love or anger, blue for melancholy, black for sadness, green for harmony and new beginnings, yellow for joy, and white for serenity and peace. It’s meant to help them understand their moods and emotions when they’re confused and hesitant to express themselves.”
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gratitude diary
Gratitude is known to shift focus to the positive aspects of a person’s life. “Additionally, gratitude has proven to be a powerful tool for managing emotions and moods. To create a gratitude jar, take a clear bowl or jar and write a note of what you are grateful for. In addition, you can reread your notes every month or year to remind yourself of all the things you have to be grateful for. When someone is upset, depressed, or anxious. ”
make an affirmation
Affirmations are basically statements that help you overcome self-destructive or negative thought patterns. “You can write it down in the morning or any other time to think about how you want to perceive, feel, and act. This is also part of journaling. Another way to feel empowered is to take charge of your day. You can choose how you want to think, feel and act, giving you more content and efficiency.”
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Journaling may not replace therapy, but it is a great tool to help.
