The Surprising Health Benefits of Keeping a Journal
Keeping a journal is so much more than writing things down. It’s about introspection, relief, extending your IQ, mindfulness, letting go and plenty of other reasons that prove beneficial in the long run.
Modern psychology wholeheartedly appreciates keeping a diary, and usually uses it for therapeutic purposes. Some choose to keep a journal for practical reasons like remembering to do chores, meet deadlines, or pick up their dry-cleaning and so on. Others turn to a journal for many deep, emotional and mental essential motives. Here are just a few health benefits of journaling that may encourage you to start writing.
Health Benefits of Keeping a Journal
It Evokes Mindfulness
“Mindfulness” has been the ultimate buzzword for a few years now, and there’s a good reason for it. Mindfulness stands for finding the peace within yourself and living in the moment, freed from the past troubles and future anxieties. You can connect with the world in a healthy, profound way. Journaling helps preserve the beauty of the present moment, and bring you into that state of mindfulness by calling a drifting mind to attention and focus.
An Instant Comprehension and Memory Boost
There’s a unique relationship between the hand and brain, sparked by the composition of thoughts and ideas. The raw representations of concepts are words that help bring our thoughts and ideas to life. The relationship between hand and brain is genuinely unique as the process alone (i.e., hand movement and the formation of letters) encourages your mind to compose, strengthen, challenge, and arrange previously covered information to create new cognitive concepts.
It Strengthens Your Self-Discipline
Every positive change in life starts with a decision, and willpower strong enough to help see that decision through. In that respect, self-discipline plays a huge role! When you “discipline” yourself to set time aside to write, whether before bed or early in the morning, you’ve made the first step to organizing your entire life. Why? Discipline reproduces as when healthy habits tend to spread and multiply. Today, it’s disciplining yourself to write in your journal; tomorrow, it’s disciplining yourself to stay on a healthy diet, take that final exam, finish your project before the deadline, and so much more.
You Get to Heal
Regardless of your current situation, past frustrations, emotional scars, worries, etc., letting it all out through the written word will help you gradually heal until you find closure. The more expressive and honest you are in your writing, the more significant impact will your words have in every respect – both emotionally and psychologically. The moment we translate experience into language, we help it go from an abstract notion to a real, graspable concept. Writing your traumas and problems down means taking away their power. This type of emotional release will not only help you heal but also encourage better sleep, lowered stress and anxiety levels, and promote a positive mind frame.
