How To Derive Benefits From Journaling

The practice of keeping a personal journal is one that has fallen out of fashion in recent years. People have lost sight of how valuable keeping a journal can be. What if I told you that adding the habit of journaling into your daily routine would have a positive impact on nearly every aspect of your life? It might come as a surprise, but just a few minutes of journaling every day will do more for you than just provide a detailed account of your life for you to reminisce over later.

In my own experience keeping a journal, the main benefit I have gained from it is stress management. Something about getting all of my problems and concerns down on paper just makes them easier to bear. On that same token, it helps make my thoughts and problems much clearer. Writing down all the details of every issue in my life and sharing my thoughts on paper both helps me to organize my ideas and makes my decisions easier.

Journaling also helps me learn a lot more about myself, and I’m sure it will do the same for you. Having a place to write every thought in your head without concern about anyone else reading it will allow you to truly express yourself and explore your deepest thoughts and emotions.

In addition to these benefits, recent research shows that journaling may also have a positive effect on your health. Dr. James W. Pennebaker, a professor in the Department of Psychology at The University of Texas at Austin, has been encouraging the practice of journaling for the past 20 years. Through his study of expressive writing as a method of healing, Pennebaker found that short-term focused writing can lower blood pressure, reduce depression, decrease the symptoms of asthma, arthritis and other health conditions, improve cognitive functioning, and strengthen the immune system.

So what’s keeping you from starting a daily journal? Whether you do not think you have time in your day or you are just afraid to write your deepest thoughts and concerns down on paper, just go ahead give it a try. It won’t take long at all for you to see the benefits journaling will bring to your life.

==>Amanda Free is a Communication Major at University of Louisville.