Journaling helps to reduce stress. We all know that an overabundance of stress can be damaging to your physical, mental, and emotional health. Journaling is an incredible stress management tool, a good-for-you habit that lessens the impact of physical stressors on your health. In fact, a study showed that expressive writing (like journaling) for just 15 to 20 minutes a day, over the course of a four-month period, was enough to lower blood pressure and improve liver functionality. Plus, writing about stressful experiences can help you manage them in a healthy way. Establishing journaling as a pre-bedtime meditation habit will help you unwind and de-stress.  

Expressive writing is a route to healing -- emotionally, physically, and psychologically. Dr. James Pennebaker, author of Writing to Heal has seen improved immune function in participants of writing exercises. Stress often comes from emotional blockages, and overthinking hypotheticals. He explains, "When we translate an experience into language we essentially make the experience graspable." And in doing so, you free yourself from mentally being tangled in traumas. Studies have also shown that the emotional release from journaling lowers anxiety, stress, and induces better sleep.  

A journal can be a powerful tool for achieving your goals. You can even think of journaling as a self-coaching session. 

Keeping a journal forces you to commit your goals to writing. When you write down your goals you turn vague desires into well-articulated targets you can clearly see and aim for. You’re taking the first step toward turning the desires in your head into something concrete that exists in the material world. 

When you write down your goals you’re laying the first brick, or planting the seed.  

Journaling about a positive experience allows your brain to relive it. And reaffirms your abilities when the ugly head of self-doubt appears. The release of endorphins and dopamine will boost your self-esteem and mood. These reflections can become a catalog of personal achievements that you continue to go back to.  

This is why I developed "Get In The Habit - A 30 Day Guided Journal" so that you can start experiencing all the amazing benefits of journaling, without the confusion of how to start by staring at a blank page. Simply follow the questions and prompts to get going.

As with any new habit, as you work to incorporate journaling into your life, remember the elephant is best eaten one bite at a time. Patience and consistency are crucial in forming new habits. Begin writing perhaps three days a week, first thing in the morning and before sleeping.

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