A Beginner's Guide to Keeping a Journal

Are you thinking of starting a journal? If so, then you are not alone. There are many people that keep a daily journal of some type.

So why journal? Well simply put: keeping a journal is good for you. Keeping a journal is something that can help you relieve stress by "writing away your worries", or writing about a physical or emotional ailment. There has been research done that journaling about a physical or emotional ailment can help you to feel better about it, and it may connect you with insight about how to manage this illness.

It can also give you a place to record things that happen in your daily life that you will want to remember. Lots of people like to journal about their daily lives in a journal and then look back over their journals to see how their lives have changed.

If you are the creative type, a journal may also help to inspire you to be even more creative - and even if you don't think you are creative, a journal may inspire you to become creative. Julia Cameron, the author of The Artist's Way suggests that people write three pages in longhand - she calls this your morning pages to do each day - of just whatever comes into their mind - their thoughts and concerns and even if they have "I don't know what to write" to write that also. Her program The Artist's Way, and the morning pages have been credited with helping connect many people to their creativity.

Select a journal that you feel comfortable with. There are so many pretty journals out there, sometimes it feels so hard to choose just one. But a number of books about journaling caution that the challenge about selecting one of those pretty journals - actually causes you to feel a lot of pressure about writing in it, that everything you write in it needs to be just as "pretty" or "perfect" as the journal is. So some journaling experts suggest actually journaling using a ninety-nine cent notebook because there is no pressure about what you would write in one of those! Whatever you select to journal in, find something that you are comfortable using on a regular basis.

Encourage a regular journaling habit. Starting something new into your daily life can be kind of exciting, the first few days are kind of fresh and new. But after that, just about anything can feel like a chore and before you know it - two weeks have gone by and you haven't touched your journal. To encourage a journaling habit find a good time in your daily life where you can journal each day for at least five to ten minutes. Would this time be in the morning? At lunchtime? Or maybe right before bed? Chances are that once you start journaling there will be times that you will want to journal for a longer period of time, but start the journaling habit with a small period of time.

Keep your journal in a private place. If you live with other people, then privacy could be an issue. Many people write things in a journal that they don't want other people to read. If you are concerned about someone in your living space reading your journal - like a younger sibling, or maybe a roommate - then be creative about finding a good hiding place for your journal. Don't write "private" on the front of your journal, something to tip people off that this notebook is something that is very personal, and will therefore make them just too curious about considering reading it.

Find things to journal about. You can make yourself a journal jar, full of journaling prompts and pull one out each day. You can use images as journaling prompts, and journal about what the image inspires. You can journal by using family photographs and journal about your impressions. You can go to different locations and journal about them. If you feel that you are journaling about the same things, try some different techniques to get some new and fresh insights with your journaling.

Read about journaling to continue learning and deepen your understanding of the power of journaling. There are some great books and websites about journaling. Two great books about journaling are: Journal To The Self by Kathleen Adams, MA, and Writing to Heal the Soul by Susan Zimmerman. There are several websites listed in the resources section of this article.