The Power of the Journal

Welcome back to the blog! I hope you've been owning your week! Where's my NFL fans at??? The season is a week away! I know I'm excited.

This week, I want to look at the importance of having a journal practice in your daily routine. A journal is a wonderful tool to find mindfulness in your life. So often, our day can be hectic, stressful and challenging. Come night time, our minds are going a mile a minute and sleep is no where in sight. 

The beauty of a journal is its ability to download the thoughts from your head onto a piece of paper. When you do this:

-Thoughts become clearer

-Problems are better understood

-Your 'inner chatter' quiets down

This sound a lot like the benefits of meditation, no? By choosing to journal, you are taking a moment to reconnect with life and reflect on your day. So much of this site is dedicated to connecting with mindfulness - this is just another means. There are plenty more benefits of journalling backed by science. Check them out here, here and here.

In life, we are not in control of a whole lot; people places and things are outside of our influence. However, what we do have control over are some very powerful tools: our thoughts, our feelings and our behaviours. Our thinking directly affects our attitude and our feelings, which consequently affect our actions. An effective journalling practice builds on our ability to be aware of our thoughts, emotions and behaviours. Thus, the more I journal, the more I am in control of my mind. 

As a former athlete, understanding and being in control of my thoughts can mean the difference between success and failure. Most times, the person who is most confident, most clear-headed, and best prepared wins the battle. By journalling, letting the past be the past, living in the moment and focusing on what's important becomes much easier. So, the more an athlete (or anyone, really) has a clear idea of how to improve and how that will help them in the future, the better. If I had a journal practice when I was a competitive athlete, I think that would have helped me understand the issues I faced off the field a lot more clearly.

One of the bigger issues with a journal practice is not knowing where to start. Talking about ourselves or getting used to writing things down can be awkward. Like forming an habit, it's tough to start, and even harder to be consistent. Below, I'll offer my personal journalling routine and even give an example directly from my journal.

I picked up this method from Shawn Stevenson's book Sleep Smarter. This particular strategy is meant to be written at the end of your day, but you can tweak this to work at any time you so choose. After grabbing a cheap notebook from a dollar store, open up to a fresh page and answer these four questions:

-What was the best part of today?

-What was the most challenging part of today?

-What is something you would like to improve on?

-What are you looking forward to tomorrow? 

I also add in some personal flavour to my journals, including "what am I grateful for today", and making sure I include about thoughts feelings and behaviours.

I have found great benefit from including this in my daily practice. When I don't do this, it feels like I'm missing something. In fact, by not journalling, I'm much more likely to get caught up in my head when I'm trying to sleep and this anxiety spills over into the next day (and the next, and the next). Simply put, journalling is essential in maintaining my mental health.

I am going to end this blog with an example from my own journal on July 11th of this year. I encourage anyone reading this to at least try to journal this week - even a little bit helps. I hope you have an awesome day, and comment below your own journal practice (there's literally no cap on what you can do).

July 11th

Today, I'm grateful for the awesome dinner I had surrounded by friends, the sun for peaking through the smoke, and a house that allows me to escape the toxic fumes.

The best part of today was intentionally making room for sleep. Feeling as directionless as I have been this past week, having purposeful action felt very satisfying. As I did this, my thinking about myself improved.

The Toughest part of my day was finding the willingness to continue to work hard. I can feel 'checked out' when I have a morning which doesn't go my way. My thinking ends up being all over the place and my motivation gets dried up. 

I feel I can improve on the amount of time I spend in front of a screen. Even when I purposely try to set my phone down, it seems I have to always reopen my phone to 'just check', set an alarm, text someone or select a podcast. A little pre-planning can help this.

I am excited to add salt and lemon to my water in the morning. This is an idea I got from Aubrey Marcus' book, and it may help me remove brain fog when I wake up. I can't wait to see what lessons are in the rest of the book.