When was the last time you really connected with yourself? Noticed your breath, maybe a heart beat, heard the chatter in your mind or felt the answer in your gut? There are so many positive benefits to journaling. From self expression, enhancing communication skills, memory and help with strong and chronic feelings of depression and anxiety. As well as better sleep, stronger immune system and higher IQ.¹ All that without a pill that has side effects, now who wouldn’t want all that? 

A medical study was done on 70 adults with varying medical conditions where patients did 15-minute journaling sessions three days each week for three weeks.² At the end of months 1 through 3, surveys of psychological, interpersonal, and physical well-being were completed. Journaling was associated with decreased mental distress, increased well-being, less depressive symptoms and anxiety after 1 month and greater resilience after the first and second month, relative to usual care. There is a ton of research out there like this. Journaling is easy to do and costs practically nothing, however, it has huge benefits on your mind, body and soul!

You may ask, “where do I even begin”? There are so many ways to get things down on paper in a journaling practice, that it can be difficult to figure out how to start. I understand and also can relate to how a blank sheet of paper can feel. There’s a well-studied therapeutic journaling technique called “Expressive Writing” where you write continuously for 20 minutes about your deepest thoughts and emotions around an issue in your life.³ You can dive into how the topic affects you, or how it relates to your childhood, your partner or your parents. Or maybe how it impacts your  general relationships, career or children.