5 Journaling Techniques To Get You To Start Journaling Today!

Mental health professionals around the globe agree that journaling is one of the best tools to gain clarity of thoughts. Putting your thoughts on paper through various journaling techniques allows you to declutter your thoughts.

Journaling helps improve overall mental well-being. A study conducted by JMIR Mental Health compared the mental health of people who journaled to people who didn’t. In the former lot, people had better mental resilience, reduced stress, and overall improved quality of life than the latter. The astonishing fact is that the people had just been journaling three days a week for four weeks.

Best journaling technique

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Another health benefit of journaling is that it helps elevate your mood, according to the University of Rochester Medical Center. This is because it gives an outlet for the negative thoughts and feelings that might otherwise continue to stick in your mind for a long time. 

Albeit different, all the journaling techniques aim toward allowing you to express your uncensored emotions.

Let’s learn about the top five journaling techniques to get you to start journaling today:

1. Freewriting

Freewriting is one of the easiest and most effective forms of journaling. It allows your thoughts to flow and write without any specific prompt. You could write about your day, a poem, or your favorite memory. It helps you clear out the junk from your mind and give you some breathing space. Several authors vouch for this technique, saying it has helped them uncover ideas and make personal breakthroughs.

2. Art journaling

You don’t really have to be an artist to drive benefits from art journaling. An art journal combines art therapy and visual therapy in one. However, it’s not much different than a written journal, except that it uses colors, patterns, paints, and words to portray thoughts and emotions. So, if the idea of writing daily intimidates you, art journaling is the perfect way to start.

3. Mind-Mapping

Mind-mapping is the best technique for you to make sense of your emotions. Penning your thoughts on paper will allow you to rationalize and think better. Mind-mapping is a good alternative if you don’t feel like writing too much.

It allows you to capture quick notes about your perspective on different things in life without worrying about the structure. It is an excellent tool for brainstorming or planning something. You could create your personal mood board using this technique. Just write down words or phrases relating to an emotion or a memory, join them with lines, and your mood board is ready!

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4. Vision Journal

A vision journal is just like a traditional journal. But instead of written entries, it has paper clippings, magazine cutouts, doodles, and much more. It is the collection of your thoughts and feelings in visual forms. It is an illustrated diary of your day-to-day happenings. There is no hard and fast rule to start visual journaling with an idea in mind. However, you can always look for a prompt around you for the days when you don’t quite know where to start.

5. One line a day journaling 

One line a day journaling is for everyone who feels like they do not have time for traditional journaling. In this type of journaling, you write one line about anything you wish. It could be something you are grateful for, a positive thing that occurred, or anything else that you might want to write about. Despite being brief, you might be amazed by the number of emotions that can be contained in a line. This type of journal would be fun to look at after a few years. 

Takeaway

From improved mood to reduced anxiety, journaling gives you many benefits. Hopefully, with these easy-to-start journaling techniques, you will begin your journaling journey right away. Just remember that there is no right or wrong journaling technique other than not doing it all. 

Tell us in the comment section about your favorite journaling technique.

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