Journaling: Worthy or Waste of Time?
Let's find out.
For those who love a bullet point:
Journaling aids in emotional regulation & stress reduction
Inherent in its space for self-reflection, it provides mental clarity and Self-awareness (we are going to come back to this one below)
There are claims on its physical benefits in that some claim it to: increase immunity and improve sleep! (I can see why this works)
🔗 Positive Psychology goes on and on…
In fact, based on client self-reports, research suggests a wide range of physical, cognitive, and emotional benefits from expressive writing (Baikie & Wilhelm, 2005):
Lowered blood pressure
Improved lung and liver function
Less time spent in hospital
Better moods
Improved psychological wellbeing
Fewer depressive and avoidance symptoms
Reduced stress-related visits to the doctor
Less work absenteeism
Less time out of work following job loss
Higher student grade averages
Let’s talk about it.
There are some very big questions being mumbled about what it is to be a human. Ok, maybe people aren’t all mumbling them out loud, in every circle — but my email headers are more and more asking me to let AI do the work.
Why?
The first inherent question is what is Work? What is creating? Why should I bother journaling? Kate, can you keep on one topic?
It’s all related.
I was making a quite lovely East Coast sandwich with turkey and lettuce and chips — upleveled by the cilantro, avocado and this amazing sriracha sauce I found. Yum. I clicked on a friend’s IG feed and she was talking about cleansing, as a I crunched a salt & vinegar chip. Comedic timing, since I am starting her Spring cleansing tincture this weekend 🤣. I ate the sandwich anyway. Lunch is rarely a meal I have time for, so I stayed on the track I started —
🔥 but, I agree with her that cleansing is needed. Now more than ever. Many of us are suffering from poor digestion from over consumption: of thoughts, foods and emotions. Too much scrolling, snacking and sitting.
Journaling in the morning is like taking an after dinner walk. Both help the body get moving. NIH says, “Research shows that brisk walking for 30 minutes post-lunch and dinner is more effective than waiting an hour.” Journaling in the morning, gets those stagnant thoughts flowing and alchemized, or at least out in the open and not multiplying in the dark.
I asked my grandmother, who is still playing bean bag in her 90’s and won her bacchi tournament, what would be her recommendation for aging well, “My parents always took a walk after dinner and they were both in excellent health, so I do the same.” Still.
I’m a walker, too. Always have been, and definitely not because of the NIH. I do it because I like it, and I have a dog, but I also have a dog because I like to be active. Why all these staccato sentences? Because if you pay attention to what feels good to your body, you will know what little things to do for you! It’s when we are overwhelmed, we can’t hear, and when we can’t hear ourselves things get a little wonky. When we over-eat, we sit down and shut down. Right? When we overthink we shit down and move on auto-pilot. A little bit of oxygen, a little bit of movement can create real, real change.
Enter journaling.
Wait, wait — before you say you have to much to do—
By the way, ARE you saying that?
ACTION STEP:
I would love to know if this is audience that :
Already Journals
Would love to journal
Left the chat when journal was mentioned
Would you 🛑 & Scroll down and let me know, so I can learn more about you? Thank you!
So back to journaling and why I think it is such a profound way to start your mornings. Yes, I am a journaler. I buy multi-section mead notebooks and reserve 2 sections for my morning scribbles, dump, vent, or brainstorm. It’s not the same every morning, and I don’t do it every morning because that is not the season I am in, but a solid 4-5 mornings a week it happens & my day is all ways, always, better for it.
Morning writing helps me land into my body & into my day.
Going from waking to doing — provides no time for anchoring. Not time to set your mind. Journaling helps you clear our and decided where to set you mind for the day.
The mornings that I master look like this:
I make my coffee, light a candle, read something inspirational (flipping between Bible and Serviceberry right now),and write some. I am committed to morning pages right now because of a conversation I had with a friend, artist and mother. It went like this..
She said: “I uncovered something in my morning pages that I was really working through.”
Me: “What?”
Renee: “Well you know I was unraveling the constraining thoughts about responsibility,” [ sidetone reader, she is exquisitely responsible, kind, soft — a whole-heartedly lovely human] “and what came out in my pages is that it is my responsibility to bring out my gifts to the world” to use them and share them.
Friend, I have heard this sentence over and over again my head since then, and I had to share with you: It is my responsibility to bring forth my gifts.
In a time when the world’s wonkiness could be interpreted as a time to shrink or plink into the logical, it is a true fulfillment of responsibility to share our gifts. But if we go from bed, to alarm to get out the door — we leave the elemental muse waiting, wings hanging, hoping to catch you the next morning.
If you aren’t sure what to create — start with a morning journal. Make space to hear, dump, clear, & ignite what you have inside. Chances are it’s a jumble of all of it . Start without expectation — start because you are worth your own time.
Want to do it together for 5 mornings?
Upgrade to paid subscriber! That’s it.
You can do it in your own time.
To tap into the group vibe: April 28 - May 2nd up level now:
You’ll wake you to an email, because birds that fly together go further. It’s in the draft wind and the uplift of togetherness.
I’ll send it out 3am every morning so all time zones are covered.
Let’s get it going, inside first, each day & see what happens.
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