5 Tips: Journaling for Beginners

What comes to mind when you hear the word journaling? What emotions arise? Excitement? Anxiety? Let’s explore journaling a little deeper.

What is Journaling?

In essence, journaling is expressing your inner world and bringing it into the outer world, and bringing what you have been carrying in your heart, soul, mind, and body into a more tangible form. Journaling is an expression, and sometimes expressing ourselves comes easily. Other times self-expression seems so far away, difficult, or daunting. Journaling is an opportunity to get to know yourself a little better and lighten the weight of what you have been carrying around, perhaps unknowingly.

The invitation to face this blank canvas and fill it up with yourself may suddenly evoke an array of emotions.

Have these statements ever come to mind:

How could I possibly put my thoughts & emotions into words on this piece of paper? The paper is too big, the paper is too small. Which topic should I start with? What even are my topics? I don’t have time. I’ll mess it up. It won’t be perfect. I don’t have anything to write about. I have too much to write. I’ll look back at this in the future and cringe at who I am now. Well, I guess journaling isn’t for me.

What Journaling isn’t?

Journaling is not a time to judge yourself, be perfect, and assume it’s not for you or that it’s not beneficial to you. Journaling isn’t only for the deepest of thoughts and emotions and doesn’t have to be difficult or scary. Journaling isn’t about waiting for the perfect moment to begin.

Tip 1: Allow yourself to get excited about creating

Give yourself permission to have fun with your journaling journey rather than feel the pressure of making it perfect. Lean into the curiosity of what you may create without the pressure of making it perfect. A tangible practice can seem daunting because you bring your inner world out into the open. Try to be curious rather than fearful.

If perfectionism hinders your ability to even begin, then write about that. Use your current thoughts as a gateway to begin. There is always something available for us to use as an entry point to begin expressing our thoughts & emotions. Allow the process to unfold naturally rather than trying to make it a certain way.

Tip 2: Make it easy

Sometimes we feel that we can’t even begin until we can commit to writing every day or at least regularly. Some people may have a journaling practice every day and, that’s great for them. But you are you and should decide what works for you.

Allow the journaling process to unfold naturally. Having topics in mind or a prompt can help you get started by having a direction or a plan. Once you set the scene, allow the process to flow and evolve as you write. Just because your intention was to write about your day doesn’t mean you won’t end up writing about what happened a month ago. You could begin writing about your thoughts and emotions about your significant other and flow into writing about your childhood.

The idea that we need to write in a journal to journal is also not true or helpful. Don’t wait to be in front of your journal before you write. When we start feeling the pressure and tension building up in our bodies, writing is a great way to feel relief and to better understand what is going on internally.

Sometimes we may not have a lot of time or we may not have a lot of privacy. Your phone is always available to you. If you are feeling overwhelmed and want to help quiet your mind, spend a few moments typing into the notes app. It’s quick and easy and you can delete it later or transfer it into an actual journal.

You don’t have to wait for the right time, with the right journal. Do what is easy & helpful at the moment.

Tip 3: Make it yours

Do you have a picture in your head of how journaling is supposed to be? If that picture excites you and seems attainable then bring it to life. If it doesn’t, create a vision for yourself or let go of visions altogether and embrace what is.

I have a vision of walking into a beautiful office, wearing a flowy floral robe, carrying a cup of hot tea, sitting down, picking up my pen, and beginning to write effortlessly. I envision myself feeling so fulfilled as I spend time with my inner world. Whatever beautiful imagery I may have for journaling, I don’t think this vision has ever been brought to life.

In reality, I usually find myself typing on my phone and sometimes transferring it to another form if I want to keep the words I wrote. I did go through an art journaling phase where I sat down and intentionally created, but most of the time when I felt the need to get my thoughts out of my mind, my phone was what was available.

Tip 4: Embrace your moments & themes

We bring something different to the blank page each moment of each day. Write about the moments of your life, small moments, monumental moments, any moment that calls to you. You can write about the current themes of your life or themes that keep resurfacing for you. Keep in mind that the themes you choose can be dark or light. Choose topics that are the most meaningful, words that resonate, colors you are drawn to, and your favorite things. Brainstorming your ideas and topics would be a great way to journal about journaling. Invite yourself to free-write for a short specific time. Set a timer for 1-3 minutes and list phrases, random words, images in your mind, and anything else that comes to you. After you have a list, you can pick a topic and expand on it. If your favorite flower is a daisy, then you can write about daisies: how they look, how they make you feel, and what daisies represent to you.

Tip 5: Honor your journaling needs

I use journaling when I need it or remember that it’s available to me. I have always loved words and writing. But I don’t have a journaling practice every day where I sit down at an allotted time, with an herbal tea, and write my thoughts down in a beautiful journal with a fountain pen, while drinking tea and feeling my words flow out of me. It’s such a beautiful image, but not so much a real image for a lot of us. My journaling has evolved of course, but the practice that has stuck with me the most is just typing my thoughts into the notes app on my phone. If I find myself feeling intense emotions and feel confused about how I’m feeling, I will start typing. I type until I reach a natural stopping point. The beauty of writing in any form is once your flow begins, at some point there is a release of energy, and there is a natural pausing point.

Benefits of Journaling

Journaling is a great way to keep emotions and energy from becoming stuck in our bodies and a wonderful way to validate your thoughts and feelings safely. Sometimes we feel insecure in sharing our beliefs with others, but that doesn’t mean we need to keep our innermost thoughts and feelings buried as this leads to energy becoming stuck in the body. Journaling helps us release stuck energy. When energy becomes stagnant in our bodies, this can lead to dis-ease which then leads to disease. These are some of the significant and worthwhile benefits of journaling.

There are many types of journaling which all have their insights and value. Your intention as the writer is also very important and can be utilized in profound ways bringing great manifestation into your life.

We are creative beings. Even if you don’t consider yourself very creative, it doesn’t mean that is a true statement. Creativity takes many forms. Rather than comparing yourself to a professional artist and judging yourself on what you can’t do, maybe you could think of what you can do. Creativity doesn’t have to be this grand production as this is only one aspect of creating. Simply picking out a color of pen, marker, or pencil to write with is creative.

How Often Should I Journal?

It is best to have a regular practice of course. But if you can’t commit to a daily or weekly practice, don’t let that stop you the next time journaling comes into your mind. Seize the opportunity to express yourself and feel the relief that will come naturally. Even if you don’t have any intention of keeping what you write, just write it down anyway. Keeping our journals isn’t always the point of journaling. The purpose of journaling is to express yourself and allow your inner world to be brought into the outer world. Create a journaling practice that is all your own and experience all the benefits that journaling can bring to you.

Here’s to Moody Journaling that helps you Bloom!