L'ART DE VIVRE: Benefits of Expressive Writing: Why You Need to Start Keeping a Journal Today!

"Anything worth remembering, is worth wrting down"

-McNair

Oh! How I love this kind of post!!! I can't emphasise enough on the importance of reading. I myself am a confessed avid reader and I love how because of this blog, my friends and even strangers, now turn to me for reading material. I was at a small gathering the other day when an old friend (and male reader of this blog!) approached me and showed me one of my usual book recommendations downloaded on his phone. I decided to test the waters, and to my surprise he had definitely read it! I was ecstatic. You'd be too if you knew what book it was...

As much as I'd like to spend my days cuddled with a good read, one of my resolutions for this new year is to write more. Don't worry, I won't bombard you with meaningless posts everyday (just occasionally). To be more specific, I'll be writing more for myself. Ever since I can remember I've kept journals. Problem is, I usually start them and at the beginning, am pretty rigorous about my writing, but I never seem to finish them. A new year comes, or a new stage or project in my life and I'll end up with a pile of unfinished journals. I have confessed before how intimidating a blank page can be for me, or probably for most of us for that matter. I am however a firm believer in the power of writing things down and how jotting down your ideas, feelings or anything for that matter, can aid your brain, your soul and your heart.

Writing can have endless benefits for your personal growth. It has been shown to have concrete health benefits, both physical and mental, and according to some studies can even help heal wounds (the kind of the heart and the kind of the body). According to a 2005 study cited by the Huffington Post, expressive writing can improve mood, well-being, stress levels and depressive symptoms, lower blood pressure, and improve lung and liver function.

If this didn't get you out the door to purchase a new journal, here are other known benefits of expressive writing and keeping a journal:

1. Writing is a great way of expanding your vocabulary and improving your communication skills; both written and verbal. Whether you end up using them for business e-mails or love letters, writing can help you express yourself better.

2. Writing helps you keep track of your goals and dreams. By writing them down, you will have a constant reminder of what you've set yourself to achieve, holding you accountable for your success or your failure. Having and keeping them written down will give your goals a more serious and formal meaning. It'll give you a sense of accomplishment. It will also keep you motivated and and will help you keep moving towards fulfilling them. Writing can help you review your progress in achieving your dreams and refocus when you've wandered down the wrong road.

3. Writing will keep your brain sharp. It's a good way to exercise your brain and your memory. As you start writing things down you will begin to recall small details that would easily escape your attention otherwise. Suddenly you will remember things you've done, people you've met and haven't though of in a while, or places you've been to. You'll want to keep written track of everything, the big things and small, coming back to mind. It is also a great way of fueling your creativity.

4. Writing will help you build a life record and keep track of significant and memorable events. Journals make great heirlooms to pass down to your children and grandchildren.

5. Writing can help you pause, take a step back and look at the big picture. Here's a simple exercise: hold the palm of your hand an inch away from the tip of your nose. It's hard to see and tell apart those fine lines right? Now, extend your palm to arm's length. You get a better picture of all the small lines running through your palms, your veins, spots, that freckle between your fingers you'd never spotted...Writing helps you keep things in perspective and seeing them in a new light. It can also help you focus on the larger (and brighter) scheme of things.

6. Writing can help you achieve clarity in your thoughts, goals and actions. It can force you to pause, order your thoughts, gain insight and ask the bigger and more important questions, and come up with better strategies.

7. Writing can help you learn from past mistakes. It can help you identify past wrongdoings, negative behavioural patterns, and use this information on past events to take better decisions for future moves.

8. Writing can help you practice gratitude. Count your blessings and write everything you are thankful for. It can help you appreciate what you have, instead of focusing on what you don't have.

9. Writing can help you build better and stronger relationships. Writing down your disagreements, arguments, fights and frustrations with your relatives or colleagues can allow you to vent without hurting anyone's feelings and sensibilities, and gain new perspectives on how to manage situations and relationships. It will allow you to order your thoughts and feelings towards that someone and shed new light on how to solve your differences and express your emotions.

10. Writing can help you reconnect with your heart and soul. It has the undeniable power of allowing you to get to know yourself better, and explore your inner self.

What to write about?

-How your day went

-Significant events
-People you've met, you miss, you admire, you love
-Memories
-Feelings: hopes, fears

-Milestones
-Failures and victories
-Goals (Long and short term)
-Ideas you've had
-Anything that caught your attention

Tips for Best Results

1. Commit. Set aside the time to write everyday. Find a specific time of the day that best suits you. If you fail to write on a say, a given morning, make some time on that same evening.

2. Begin with Baby Steps. Jot a line a day, start with a sentence, even a word, and work your way up. There will be days you'll find it will just flow and you'll end up with paragraphs or even pages! Others you'll struggle. Remember it is not about quantity,

3. Write by hand. You couldn't imagine how much your handwriting can tell when looking back at your entries.

4. Use different colors and styles depending on what you are writing and how you are feeling. Use red to express rage, blue to express sadness, bold to express determination or closure, italics to emphasize anything, exclamation marks to express excitement and happiness.
5. Write for yourself. Write as if nobody is reading. Remain true to yourself.

In my attempt to actually stick to this resolution I found these great aids to keep me on track.
Gretchen Rubin's The Happiness Project One-Sentence Journal is an easy way to kick off this habit for the long term. It's actually a five-year record! Each page allows you to write a brief four-line sentence for the following five years, and I swear the quotes at the top of each page for each day are scarily on cue!

I can't tell you how many times I've heard friends with children say, "I wish I could write down everything they say". Well, now you can! My Quotable Kid is a fun way of recording your children's funniest and cutest remarks. Each page has fun colourful bubbles to be filled with Who, When, Age, Where, and the Quote you wish to record. The Grandkid version also by Chronicle Books would make the most awesome gift!

My Mom: Hes Stories, Her Words (My Dad version is also available) is probably the most fun, beautiful project I've been working on for my daughter. It's basically an album with my whole life story, told by me, gathered in one same album for her to read and get to know me better. From basically the house where I grew up in, to childhood anecdotes, advice, family recipes, to favourite memories it pretty much sums up who I am, my family, where I come from, the kind of parent I aspire to be, and the Mother I've been and I wish for her to know, love and remember me for. A gift I most definitely want my daughter to pass down to my own grandchildren one day hopefully!

I was recently gifted this journal by someone who knows me all too well. 642 Things To Write About! I am having so much fun completing this journal! Chronicle Books do make the best journals. Try their Listography series as well.

I amass journals. No, really. Last time I counted I had over fifty (Can anyone say hoarder?) If you prefer no guidelines as to what to write about, I buy these classic Composition Books in bulk.