Passion for Growth: Why Journaling Is the Key to a Stronger Relationship With Yourself

Journaling is a way to stay in tune with your thoughts. It’s a way to express and examine your feelings. Journaling cultivates a healthy and well-adjusted life. It’s similar to therapy because you can pour out your thoughts. You can even examine them to see if they fit your standards and beliefs.

When journaling, you capture your thoughts in real-time and learn how your thought patterns work, what is most on your mind, and how you can correct bad thought habits. Writing can be a therapeutic journey that allows you to explore your innermost feelings. Here are 5 things you can gain by journaling.

Focus

Sometimes our thoughts are everywhere, and we need to reel them in. Writing may not be your passion, but journaling provides a space for you to confront issues.  It gives you room to problem-solve and discover solutions. It forces you to communicate with yourself.

Journaling encourages you to deal with things that you may prefer to hide in the deep crevices of your mind. When you journal, you’re free to be honest. You are the audience, so you can say whatever you want and express every emotion you feel.

Being focused sharpens mental accuracy, which causes you to make better decisions. I had a student who confessed he was angry about a situation at his job. He decided to write a letter to his boss, but before sending it, he read it out loud. And it was filled with I’s. I this and I that. He came to realize that the “I,” he, was the problem.

Confidence

Writing helps you gain confidence, which improves your long-term relationships with others. When you journal, you write out your feelings, opinions, interests, and so on. No topic’s off the table. Becoming comfortable with your thoughts and feelings gives you the confidence to share them. This increases your passion for communicating with others.

You have the opportunity to express your feelings and make them crystal clear. You can discard any toxic thoughts or thought patterns that don’t serve you well. When you know that your ideas, opinions, and concerns are reasonable and practical, you can express them to others passionately and confidently.

Clarity

Improving mental clarity through journaling is another important attribute. Clarity helps to improve your mental wellness. Through journaling, you can relieve stress, anxiety, and even break free from depression. When you can’t talk to anyone else, you can talk to yourself by journaling. The power to change your life may lie in your pen.

Clarity can also increase emotional intelligence. You’ll maintain long-term relationships by becoming the best version of yourself. Having a favorable relationship with yourself prepares you to form good, long-lasting relationships.

Intellect

It has been proven that writing promotes creativity and imagination. Writing makes us think. There is no way to write well without thinking. Writing is putting your thoughts and ideas on paper. Journaling activates the right hemisphere of your brain associated with creativity. The hippocampus, or part of the brain that enhances memory and learning, is also involved when you write.

These improve your intelligence as a writer, which is an advantage when writing academically. Just as reading helps you become a better writer, the more you write, the more it improves your writing abilities. This may increase your passion to keep writing.

Relaxation

We all desire more relaxation, and journaling removes stress and anxiety, thereby relaxing the mind, soul, and body. When you’re able to express negative or troubling thoughts, you’re capable of thinking through them. Additionally, you can approach them in a non-threatening way because you’re viewing them as an observer.

When distancing yourself as an observer, you think more objectively. When you’re able to process your thoughts through journaling and handle them in constructive ways, it stimulates healing: emotionally, mentally, and physically. Depression and suicidal thoughts can fly out the window.

You’ll have more passion for things that interest you, and perhaps more time to enjoy building a long-term relationship with someone new.

Start Journaling Today

There are so many benefits to journaling that you should step over any excuse you may have not to do it. You can gain such powerful advantages that will improve your life, like focus, clarity, confidence, intelligence, and relaxation. It’s time to get passionate about improving your life and your long-term relationships with yourself and others through journaling.