Discover yourself through your Journal!
American author Ernest Hemingway once said: “I aim to put down on paper what I see and what I feel in the best and simplest way.” Hemingway won a Nobel Prize for his writings. While all of us may not win a Nobel, none of us want to refrain from expressing our thoughts and feelings.
And, what if we told you that journaling will help you do this better than you do it now.
What is Journaling?
Bestselling author Lucia Capacchione in her book, The Well-Being Journal: Drawing upon Your Inner Power to Heal Yourself, writes: “A written record of our thoughts and feelings is called Journaling. There isn’t any rule or framework for it. A lot of people make Journaling as their daily routine since it helps one in learning about themselves in different situations and tracking everyday life.”
While journaling can be fun and relaxing, it also has many benefits associated with it!
“The act of writing is the act of discovering what you believe.”
— David Hare, English playwright, film director, and screenwriter
Types of Journaling
Well, there’s no hard and fast rule to journaling. Based on what you use it for, journaling can be classified into the following types:
- Feelings Journal: As the name suggests, you write about your feelings in the feelings journal. For instance, you can write what makes you happy, sad or what are your fears, ambitions, etc. You can even draw anything that you feel like!
- Vacation Journal: This is quite similar to the scrapbook idea, we spoke about. In a vacation journal, you write about your vacation experiences. You can get your whole family involved in this project and its lots of fun.
- Bullet Journal: If you love making lists, this is the thing for you. You can compile all your lists together in this journal so that you don’t have to go looking for them anywhere. There’s a good chance your mother might have one such journal. This journal helps you to become more organized.
- Nature Journal: Given the rapid changes in the environment, you can maintain a nature journal, wherein you can write anything about your surroundings, flora, and fauna. You can also draw pictures of insects/birds/animals etc that fascinate you, describe sounds that you hear, glue down leaves or other interesting bits from nature.
- Dream Journal: It is a human tendency to forget our dreams. Dreams, sometimes, have some hidden messages in them. It is never a bad idea to write down one’s dream. You can do so by keeping a dream journal by your bedside and write as soon as you wake up.
“Don’t trust your memory. When you listen to something valuable, write it down. When you come across something important, write it down.”
— Jim Rohn, an American entrepreneur, and motivational speaker
So now that you know so much about journaling, grab your pens and begin on your journaling journey today. Let us know your experience in the comment section.