The power of journaling (part 1) - what is journaling?

What's this new miracle cure everyone's talking about, "journaling," all about? Today we want to get to the bottom of this and other questions.

Isn't a journal the same as a diary?

You might think "journaling" is a new German term for "writing a diary." It's simply cooler these days to say "I'm journaling now" instead of "I'm writing a diary now." But while that's true of many other terms that have been adopted from English into German, it's not the case with the expression "journaling" for once. Journaling refers to a specific type of diary writing. Unlike the traditional form, journaling (weird word, right?) focuses on the individual. ) mainly on positive thoughts, events or plans.

Most of us have probably tried writing a diary at some point. For example, I remember having an orange "My Friend Conni" diary with a lock as a child. I confided my deepest secrets to this book, and it was kept well hidden like a treasure. I think I managed to write an entry every day for six days straight. Then it all became too exhausting for me, and I only use it sporadically. I admire my friend, who persisted with writing a diary even back then and now has at least six fully written diaries sitting side by side on her shelf. She can now look back on how she spent her days as a primary schooler, which boys she thought were "cool," and, of course, which classmates were "just plain awful." Oh, what a wonderful memory...

What is the goal of journaling?

But seriously, for many people, writing a diary seems to have a cleansing effect. And that is precisely the goal of journaling. The difference is that it's less about writing down the events of the last day, with all its good and not-so-good moments. When journaling, you want to concentrate on the important and positive things. It's about consciously dealing with your own thoughts and feelings and thus promoting your own personal development. Of course, not everything has to be "peace, joy, and happiness" - after all, you don't want to lie to yourself if things aren't going so well. But you don't want to dwell on the negative things; instead, you want to reflect on them and - if possible - transform them into something positive.

Your journal should be a book you enjoy opening. It should reflect your strengths and successes. At the same time, you can use it to manifest goals and put plans into words. Your journal is essentially your happiness book; your daily dose of inspiration, filled with love.

And what does that mean specifically?

Journaling allows you to channel your thoughts in a specific direction. As Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "You become what you think about all day long." Journaling gives you the opportunity to start each day with a completely new energy, allowing it to become more and more established within you and your everyday life. You spend time with yourself and your thoughts, shifting your perspective to a positive one. You can also organize your thoughts and gain more clarity about what you want. This makes it a very powerful tool for me.
So, the idea is that you should use the journal daily or regularly. However, how you go about it is up to you (more on that in the next blog post).

What has journaling changed for me?

Since I have had a fairly extensive morning routine for a long time, it initially seemed impossible to schedule another 15 minutes or more for journaling. Therefore, I started with the 6-minute diaryFor me, this was the best way to access journaling, as it succinctly captures the essence of what journaling stands for. After about a week, I couldn't live without it. It provides clarity and focus. As soon as I got up, I focused on positive things and focused my attention on the abundance in my life. This gave me a lot of strength. It helped me start the day motivated and approach everything with a can-do mindset. In the evening, you reflect on the day and end it on a positive note.

Gradually, I felt the desire to freely write down my goals and plans in order to manifest them. So I expanded my journaling for myself, combining the 6-Minute Diary's stimuli with my own concerns to create my very own personal journaling "method." I now use a simple notebook that I design and fill as I please.

Since I've incorporated journaling into my morning routine, I've been more grateful and less irritable. I handle critical situations much more optimistically and am more aware that I am the creator of my own life...

You can find out more about what you need for journaling, what to write about and how to journal “correctly” here.

If you would like to learn more about mindfulness, healthy eating or sustainability, take a look here over.