Journaling is a great tool to ground your emotions and also allow for creativity to flow without self critique. It’s about self awareness and being able to focus on what’s important, to attribute your thoughts and feelings with intention, to notice your personal habits and behaviours, set and achieve goals & to problem solve. 

Now is a perfect time to incorporate journaling into your routine, whether it’s to write about current happenings in your life, unravel feelings or explore your creativity. We’ve put together some tips to help you start putting pen to paper.

DECIDE WHAT YOU ARE GOING TO JOURNAL ABOUT

The words may flow easily for some but we know sitting down with blank paper and pen can be a little overwhelming and challenging to start.  Firstly decide what it is that you want to journal about, remember there are no rules here it’s your own self expression, but creating a personal template or simply having some direction will help you get started. 

Some journal prompts we love are… 

This is how the An Organised Life team are currently putting pen to paper...

"I’m journaling 1-3 things every evening that I’m grateful for. Some are big & some are small." - Beck Wadworth, Creative Director & Founder

"I'm taking this time to journal my personal experience to what is happening in the word, to express and process my thoughts & feelings in a healthy way. I don't usually use journaling to document experiences however at the moment I want to write something that I can reference in years to come."- Sara Pull, Sales & PR

"I use a plain leather notebook everyday. It comes around with me everywhere in my handbag. Often ideas pop up when I least expect it, I jot them down straight away in my notebook so I don't lose my train of thought.  I also use it to scribble & brainstorm if I have a problem I need to solve and ideas I need to come up with for projects. I always start by mapping out my thoughts using mind maps and creating lists and writing out the problem or challenge. I find by writing everything down I start to generate more ideas, it jumpstarts creativity and it helps me to further develop my thoughts and ideas." - Samantha Holley, Online Assistant 

As one of our beautiful customers said, when it comes to journaling “anything is more than nothing”, remind yourself of that when you begin to overthink the journaling process.

DO IT REGULARLY

Whether you aim to journal daily, weekly or even just a reflection at the end of each month - do it consistently. Create a habit with your journaling and put importance on it in your routine.  Much like trying anything new, consistency is key to feel and see the impact. Start small, try 10 minutes a day, week or month & do what works best for you. 

MAKE IT A RITUAL 

Although sometimes you might just need to get everything out, making the process of journaling into a ritual is a great way to practice self care. Whether that be over your morning coffee, at night with a cup of tea, in bed at the end of the day, outside watching the sunset/sunrise, while listening to your favourite playlist or burning a beautiful candle - your thoughts are precious so be kind to yourself as you allow them to be released freely.

CARRY A JOURNAL WITH YOU 

In addition to your ritual journaling, carry a small journal with you in your bag - think of all the moments you spend filling time on your phone that you could be scribbling down thoughts & poems or sketching what you see around you (plain paper notebook).  Alternatively you can ofcourse use the notes section in your phone to jot down ideas or thoughts, much better than mindlessly scrolling through social media.