How To Change Your Life With Inspirational Journaling
Wondering to change your life when something is missing? How can you get what you want out of life?
The answer may surprise you because the best way to fill the void and learn how to get what you want is to journal your way out of the abyss!
Are you skeptical? As it happens, many think journaling is a mundane and ineffective activity.
But that couldn’t be further from the truth.
This article explores how inspirational journaling can change your life!
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What Is An Inspirational Journal?
First, an inspirational journal is a safe place to record intimate thoughts and feelings. These are thoughts meant only for your eyes.
Inspirational journaling allows you to gather your thoughts in a manner that can be channeled into accomplishing a specific need. It helps you remain motivated and keeps you moving toward your goals while enhancing creativity.
What goes into the journal belongs solely to you.
But how does inspirational journaling work? Specifically, how does putting your thoughts into a book transform your life?
Inspirational Journaling’s Life-Changing Effects Explained
Benefits of Journaling for Personal Growth and Development
Research shows journaling sharpens the mind, increases mental alertness and self-awareness, and motivates you to meet goals. It helps you to live in the moment and can change negative mindsets into positive ones.
As if that’s not enough, learning how to write and maintain a journal increases Dopamine, the feel-good hormone in the body. This hormonal release creates a feeling of well-being and happiness.
Therefore, if you are struggling with a problem or are unhappy with your circumstances, learning how to write a journal can help you:
- Decrease stress
- increase gratitude
- increase productivity
- improve relationships
- create opportunities for self-improvement
Thus, inspirational journaling creates change and allows you to live an improved and happier life. But these changes can take time. So it’s essential to keep it simple and enjoy the journey to reach your full potential.
It’s best to train the mind to think differently by journaling daily.
When journaling for inspiration, positive life change is your end goal. This goal originates from an inspirational idea. By focusing on at least one positive thing daily, you draw nearer to the goal.
This thought process helps build a healthy mindset and fosters a sense of well-being.
Get the unique “Journal Your Way To Inspirational Joy” offer at no charge to you by clicking here. When you sign up for my weekly newsletter, you’ll receive a link to download or print the form.
When the form is downloaded, it can be digitally filled on your screen! (Or printed – your preference!)
How Do You Get Started With An Inspirational Journal?
Before learning how to write in a journal, it’s crucial to understand your purpose. What do you want to accomplish? Once you have an end goal in mind, you can decide what type of journaling you want to pursue.
The best way to create a clear, obtainable goal for your journaling adventure is by using the SMART Goals strategy. SMART Goals is a process of forming a detailed goal with an itemized plan to prevent loss of motivation. It allows you to remain focused while driving toward your goal.
Additionally, it’s imperative your goal is a compelling one that you look forward to achieving.
Next, you must decide on a structure. The structure is the type of format you want to use. Do you want to buy a beautifully designed journal or just a notebook with lines you fill in with collected images, photos, handwritten notes, or diagrams?
Do you want to decorate it? Or go paperless and use a digital, printable option?
The beauty of starting a journal is you can set it up any way you want.
If you want to try out a beautiful, short-term option, I suggest my seven-day, no-cost offer above, which can give you an idea of what will work for you.
How To Write An Inspirational Journal That Changes Your Life
After choosing your goal and obtaining a journal, you must decide on the time you plan to journal every day.
Remember, journaling doesn’t have to be time-consuming. Spending too much time every day may begin feeling like work and cause possible burnout.
To avoid burnout, it’s best to journal for about five minutes daily. This short amount of time gets directly to the “meat” of your thoughts and feelings. Thus, it forces an increase in productivity by quickly prioritizing what’s important.
You can start by writing three to five things for which you are grateful. Include small events and experiences, such as spotting a beautiful butterfly or the sweet scent of a perfect rose, as well as more significant blessings.
This practice stimulates the hypothalamus, which is the part of the brain that regulates emotions, behaviors, and motivation. By practicing inspirational journaling, you will train your brain to look for the good in your day and turn away negative thoughts. Therefore, instead of missing or taking blessings for granted, we are in the moment and able to enjoy them.
Paradoxically, it’s helpful to include something negative from your day and figure out how to avoid or handle it more efficiently in the future. Not only does this force you to grow and develop personally, but you become resilient and more fully equipped to handle future setbacks.
In addition, using inspirational quotes and positive affirmations will further encourage your brain to function in a way that improves your life.
Tips For Effective Journaling
To achieve results that change your life for the better, it’s best to develop the right journaling habits.
This includes using positive affirmations, which propel the brain to work in positive thought patterns. The brain recognizes the truth behind a thoughtful affirmation and quickly moves to understand it. As a result, your mind focuses on the message behind the affirmation.
When deciding what time of day you will journal, remember it’s highly effective to do in the morning before starting your day. This is when your mind is fresh and rested. Hence, your journal can shape and motivate your thoughts for the day.
However, journaling at the day’s end allows you to put the events of your day in perspective. It helps you to examine your thoughts and feelings from the day and come to terms with them.
Upon first using a journal, it may feel awkward. However, if you stick with it, journaling will soon become a natural part of the day. As a result, you might even begin to look forward to it.
11 Examples of Inspirational Journaling Prompts
For ideas on journal prompts to help get you started, I’ve compiled a list of examples:
- What do I want to accomplish and why?
- Describe what I did today to bring me nearer my goal.
- What can I do today to accomplish my goal?
- Describe how I helped someone today.
- What kind of person do I want to become?
- What is my greatest hope in life?
- What do I want to learn, and how can I do it?
- Who is someone I admire? Describe what draws me to them and a quality they have I can emulate every day.
- Describe one thing I want to change about myself and how I can do it.
- The most painful thing I’ve ever experienced is…..What did I learn from it?
- If money was no object, what would I do with my life? And how can I accomplish it on a smaller scale?
Facts About Inspirational Journaling
Inspirational journaling lowers stress because writing down stressful thoughts is similar to verbally venting to someone about something upsetting. Unaddressed prolonged stress usually grows and becomes worse.
This is because anxious thoughts occupy more space in the brain. Then the mind has less room for personal growth and happiness.
But daily journaling allows you to gain perspective and make adjustments as needed by documenting and observing your thoughts in print.
As you continue your inspirational journaling adventure, it’s good to check your progress towards your goals. Once a month or so, read over your journal entries to assess if you are getting closer to your goal. If needed, you can make adjustments or change direction.
Notably, people and goals often change over time.
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Concluding How To Change Your Life With Inspirational Journaling
When feeling stuck, inspirational journaling often helps with creating new life strategies. It can propel you past possible ruts in which you find yourself. Problems are often easier to see when laid out on paper, allowing you to take the necessary steps to address them.
As you progress in changing your life with weekly journaling, your mental clarity and productivity often improves. Moreover, personal satisfaction increases as you take positive action in moving toward your goals.
Furthermore, think of your journal as a private club where you, the only member, will grow in maturity and well-being.
So, I want to leave you with this challenge:
I ask you to commit to two weeks of inspirational journaling. I believe this will prove to you that it is an efficient and positive way to change your life for the better. Afterward, you may just want to continue this truly rewarding and inspirational activity even longer!
After all, what have you got to lose by trying?
References
I’ve been wanting to start journalling for some time but never known how to start. This post makes it seem simple, yet effective! Thank you
I’m so glad to get this positive feedback! I hope my post encourages you to give journaling a try!
Good ideas and tips though I’m not very good at writing journals, maybe I should give it a try.
I’ll bet you’ll find it’s a lot easier than you think! Try my Inspirational Journal as it will guide you every step of the way!
Thank you. I love writing, but sometmes I forget “the basics” of how to write a simple piece; just for me.
When it comes to journaling, always do what makes you happy. I’m happy you enjoyed the read!
Journaling is such a good practice! So many benefits
Yes, it’s hard to count all of the great benefits from journaling!
Journaling has been very therapeutic for me. Great article and information
Thank you! It’s the next best thing to having a therapist!
Journaling is a huge stress reliever for me! It helps me get out of my own head and back into my soul. I love looking through my days later and seeing how much I have grown.
Sounds like you’ve got it down pat! Your comment is spot on!
Journaling has helped me so much with my own mental health. I love that I can dip in and out of journaling too.
Journaling helps us in so many ways! It’s a great activity to do!
I really need to start journaling. I think it is a great way to reflect on what God is teaching me. I love your prompt ideas. They got me thinking!
So glad you liked them! Journaling can definitely change your life!
I used to journal when I was in middle school. I loved it I definitely need to journal again.
I hope you do get back to it. It helps relieve the stress of blogging!
i love journaling
And it’s such a great activity to do!
Journaling is a wonderful way to process things and work through your emotions. Sometimes, just writing things down and coming back later to read what you wrote gives you a whole new perspective.
I journaled quite a bit as a teenager and young adult. I missed it as I got older and busier and well, life happened. I’m finding my groove again. Great post!
Thank you so much! And you are so right about gaining perspective from journaling!
I love the idea of journaling and have spent time in the past doing it. In 5th grade, our English teacher required us to write a journal throughout the whole year. It was a great experience and have journaled at times in my life for mental health and wellness. Great ideas to get me back in the groove of journaling. Thank you for sharing.
Awesome, Debbie! Hope you try out my inspirational journal for joy to get back in the swing of it!
I agree with every single thing you’ve mentioned. There is nothing more motivating than a journal entry filled with self-love and sound plans. Nobody can inspire you more than yourself and a journal is the best way to do this. Thanks for this post.
Good point! And so true!
I used to do this all the time and definitely have to get back into it. When you write thoughts in a journal you feel relief and less tense about what is happening. Thanks for the inspiration!
Yes, you do. It’s a great activity to relieve stress from your day! And thanks for the compliment!
Great tips! I haven’t started journaling, but I really think it would help me with motivation.
It could help more than you think! I encourage you to give it a try!
My favorite post yet, I love reading about journaling! One of my goals this year is to have a consistent journal practice. I love what you have to say about inspirational journaling. I look forward to reading more articles!
Thank you, Julie! And I always look forward to hearing your kind words!