Journaling increases mental wellness

Keeping a journal has many positive benefits and can help with personal growth and development. By regularly recording your thoughts you will gain insight into your behaviours and mood.
Many people treat journaling as something they “know they should do” but rarely ever take up or keep up the practice but what are the real benefits of writing down your thoughts?

• You can gain clarity and a heightened self-awareness, learn what makes you happy and confident and what situations and people are difficult for you.
• It can help you build empathy, look at things objectively and better understand other’s points of view. Rather than stewing on things it can help you resolve disagreements.
• Writing about the way you feel can release emotions, making you feel lighter, calmer and less stressed.
• Journaling can help you track and solve your problems. Determining the patterns in your thoughts and behaviour can help you design innovative, creative and often unexpected solutions.
• You can improve your memory – Thinking about the events of the day and going through them is a structured way of practicing retrieval.
• It can help to increase your self-esteem and confidence and your ability to take the bad with the good. Writing about positive things releases the feel-good chemicals endorphins and dopamine to your brain, making you feel better.

Try it and see if it works for you. Even five minutes a day can have positive benefits for your mental wellness.