Journaling has completely changed my life.

It's created a daily habit for me, which if you know me, is a big deal.

It's helped me to release the thoughts in my head.

It's helped me to deal with problems.

It's a safe space where I can be myself.

Journaling is one of my favourite things to do each morning and today, I want to delve into what goes into my journal so maybe give you some inspiration to start one of your own.

Gratitude

I like to write a list of everything that I'm grateful for that day, but I also like to write why I'm grateful for it. Having a reason behind your gratitude makes it more relevant to your life, therefore making you think more about how it's impacted you as a human being. "I am grateful for wonderful friends because they always pep me up and keep me happy"

Affirmations

I write little affirmations about how I want to feel, but I write them in the present tense like I already have them to help me believe that much is true - they give me a positive energy for the day. I go into more detail about affirmations in this blog post. "I am enough, I am loved "

Florence Scovel Shinn

I like to write a little mantra based and inspired by the words of Florence Scovel Shinn: "What is mine by divine right shall be mine in its perfect way. I trust the universe completely". Florence shows us that self development isn't just a new modern fad, and that it's been around for years, and it's teachings are absolutely timeless and actually haven't changed much. I write this little inspired quote of mine, every single day to show trust in the process and that I'm happy to wait till the time is right for things to happen. 

Daily Wins

At the end of every day, I like to write about things that have gone well today even if it's only small. Even on the worst of days you can always find something to be positive about, you may find it trivial, but sometimes the smallest things are victories in your day - "I had a shower this morning, I got out of bed". The smallest of things for some people are the hardest, and it's important that you celebrate the small wins as much as the big ones.

Positive Lists

If I'm feeling especially low about a situation, then I try to create a list of ways that I can see it in a positive light - I will write at least 10 positive factors about my situation, and oftentimes, seeing something in a good light will help you to think about your situation in a different way as you're not focusing on why you are negative about everything. I talked about this in my post about dealing with stress at work.

Free Writing

Sometimes I just like to write about what's on my mind, whether that's how I've been feeling, what I've been doing, or anything that just pops up into my head at the time. There are no rules or regulations about how or what I write, I just do it. Sometimes I draw or decorate around my writings to help my creativity flow, but sometimes I just write solidly for a couple of pages, it all depends on my mood on that particular day. 

Negative/Positive

I have been journaling regularly for a couple of years now, and my journal has definitely evolved. I used to use it as a diary; writing about things that happened to me and how I felt about them. I found that through doing this, I had made my journal into a hive of negativity where I would just rant about how bad I felt, how x was awful for doing this to me and how I was just generally resentful towards most things in my life. Now, I'm not saying that I've stopped this completely, because it's completely natural to let things out in your journal, it's your safe space after all, but like the positive lists, I liked to analyse my situations once I'd got it out of my system and really think about how I could make it into a positive, or how I could use this "negative" to my advantage, or what lessons I could learn from it. I now turn my negatives into positives.

As aforementioned, my journal has evolved over time, and I'm sure this time next year it will have changed again, and there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. As human beings, we're forever changing and that's just a process of life. Do you journal? How do you do it?