How To Start Journaling For Mental Health

Studies show that journaling can help us organize our thoughts and understand our feelings. It can help us notice patterns and habits that could be harmful to ourselves or others. What makes journaling so good for mental health? First, let's start with what journaling actually is.

What is Journaling?

Journaling is the act of documenting your thoughts and feelings throughout your day. It is a tool for self-reflection that allows you to sort and analyze areas in your life that may need improvement. Studies show that this can be helpful for understanding your personal experiences, and identifying any emotional triggers.

Journaling is typically recommended by therapists to patients who suffer from depression and anxiety disorders. This helps them mitigate negative thoughts and maintain a positive frame of mind. There are different types of journaling, and choosing the right one can be an important decision to make when getting started. Below are two examples of some common ones.

Gratitude Journal
This journal type has a fairly straight-forward concept. Start or end the day by writing down what you are grateful for. This sounds simple, but it can quickly become mundane if you choose to journal every day. To avoid this, you want to focus on how the items on your list make you feel, and why you are grateful for them. This will help you visualize your gratitude and the feelings attached to it.

If you are unsure of how to get started, it can be helpful to use prompts. These are questions or statements that help you think of things to write down. Here a few:

• What or who made you smile/laugh today? Why?
• What is something you are looking (or looked) forward to today? Why?
• What is something you did today that you're proud of? Why?
• Who is someone in your life that makes you feel safe? Why?
• What are some qualities you admire from someone in your life? Why?

Stress and Anxiety Release Journal
This type of journaling can be helpful for those who find it difficult to manage their stress and anxiety. Many times, those who suffer from anxious thinking are unaware of what's causing them. This kind of journal can help you discover anxiety triggers, and allow you to you overcome them.

Writing down your anxious thoughts can also be therapeutic and act as a healthy release. For those unsure of how to start, here are a few prompts to use:

• What am I mostly fearful of? Why?
• What would reduce my anxiety at this moment? Why?
• What evidence do I see now that proves my fears wrong? Why?
• What is my ideal outcome of this situation? Why?
• List 3-5 good things that happened today? Why were they so good?

Conclusion

Getting started with journaling can be confusing if you are new to it. It's important to start small and write down what you are feeling at the moment. If you're journaling at the end of the day, planning what you will write can help you make the best of your time. Using prompts can add structure to your journaling. It will organize your thoughts and help you be more thorough. Depending on how much you want to write down, 15-20 minutes is usually enough time to record your thoughts without going over every detail.