Journaling - Do I Have To?

I've had a bad attitude about journaling since I was about 18 years old and tried to keep a journal of a study abroad trip. Ugh! I’m not good at journaling. Everything I write is BORING…and now I really want to keep journaling. 

It seems like everything I’m reading lately has a component where writing things down as a daily practice is the glue that makes whatever that thing is, stick. It’s the key to making meaningful changes to your diet if you think you may have food sensitivities - thank you The Virgin Diet by JJ Virgin, which is how I learned I have sensitivities to soy (goodbye knee and hip joint pain), gluten (good by brain fog and morning eye discharge), and low-quality dairy (goodbye morning stuffy nose.) 

Even the act of writing down intentions or goals makes it a higher likelihood that you’ll make progress or achieve those goals. Although, you may need to be flexible on timing, and how they actually come about. This happened to me and two of my colleagues when we did a work book club and read Keith Ferazzi’s Who’s Got Your Back?, that included a multifaceted annual goal-setting exercise where you took yourself on a mini planning retreat and wrote down where you wanted to be with several areas of your life. I didn’t look back at what I wrote down until about 18 months later and nearly everything on the list had come to fruition. Hello manifestation! Also, I did take thoughtful and deliberate action to get to that point, but I thought it was very interesting that I didn’t need to refer back to the goals in order to make meaningful progress. My two colleagues also had equally good results in moving toward their goals.

A gratitude practice is recommended by every self-improvement personality that I come across. I’m a naturally cheerful person, so I wondered do I really need to get that extra boost that a gratitude journal promised? I’ve been doing it for about a month, and I do find that it adds a bit more resilience when times get tough. Recently in a meditation by Stuart Sandman on Insight Timer, he said, “Gratitude is the antidote to fear, stress, and worry.” Wow, I thought, so many people need this! My practice consists of writing down three things I’m grateful for, or think about things that I appreciate, if “grateful” is a stretch at that moment. One that is about my environment, one about people in my life, and one about myself. Feel free to try that out - it’s been helping me to have a little bit more structure around it. 

Then, I write one thing that I learned. (I’m constantly learning, and I’ve enjoyed going back to remind myself what I learned, since I’ve many times moved on, even if it’s a week later.) It helps solidify that thought in my mind. Finally, I write a little mantra, each phrase beginning with I am…

I am strong. I am kind. I am self-compassionate. I am healthy. You get the idea. This structure came from the book Adrenal Transformation Protocol, by Izabella Wentz, Pharm. D.

Finally, I read yesterday in the book, Stillness, by Ryan Holiday, which I was reading as an introduction to Stoicism, and which gives examples of philosophers, athletes, world leaders, and Anne Frank, who all journaled for different reasons. The themes were presence, to process their own thoughts, to become a better person, to give themselves a gut check, to not lash out at others and to learn. Those all sound good to me. It could also be considered a spiritual practice.

My conclusion: Okay, fine! Journaling, you win. I’m doing it and I like the results. If I stop, I can start again. If it’s too much, just 30 seconds is enough. No one else is reading it, so it doesn’t need to be a great literary accomplishment. It helps me. I concede that it is an important practice for a more satisfying life.