How to Start a Self Care Journal

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A journal is a place where you can be honest with yourself and write about your thoughts, feelings, successes, failures, worries, fears – anything that comes to your mind. Journaling for self-care is a way to take care of yourself by writing down what you feel and what you want from life.

In this article we will discuss 5 ways to start a journal for daily self-care to help you gain control of your thoughts and feeling, and focus on simple ways of improving your life.

It doesn’t matter if you are a stay-at-home mom or corporate C.E.O., we all need to get more in tune with our physical and emotional self-care. Creating the daily habit of writing in your journal can help the way you think and live in a more positive way.

Write What You Feel

The great thing about a journal is that it’s meant to stay private. It’s not for anyone else, it’s just for you. Getting to know yourself through your writing can be incredibly transformative and can help you to understand yourself better.

Write what you feel, good or bad, and use that to learn about yourself. Put all of your thoughts, feelings, and deepest desires in your journal. In the future you can look back in your
journal to read how you felt at that time.

Empty Your Mind

Journaling is amazing for those times when you have so much on your mind that you can’t focus on anything else. When you feel overwhelmed or unhappy, go ahead and get it all out. This would also be referred to as a brain dump.

Set a timer for 5 or 10 minutes and just let it all flow out of mind and body onto the paper. Don’t worry about your handwriting, incomplete sentences, or incorrect spelling. Just empty your mind onto the paper.

Include Gratitude

There is plenty of research that shows when we think about what we’re grateful for, it can help us feel good. Try to write down at least three things that you are grateful for each day. Maybe you’re just grateful for coffee because it puts you in a good mood. Whatever it is, write it down.

When you can see the things you’re grateful for on a tangible list, you get to remind yourself how much you have to be thankful for any time you re-read your journal.

Put Your Dreams to Paper

We all have hopes and dream for the future. The thing about dreams is that they can come true, and there is nothing preventing you from making them happen. Don’t let anyone tell you your dreams are too big or too silly.

When you write your dreams down on paper, they seem more realistic and even more attainable.
Perhaps you want to do something amazing like start your own business or travel the world. Write it down. It can be useful to write down affirmations to keep your mind focused on your dreams and ways to achieve them.

Writing down your dreams and believing in yourself may provide you with the bravery you need to
get out there and make all of your dreams come true.

Practice 5-Minute Journaling

This popular journaling method only takes 5 minutes per day to complete. It truly is as simple as it sounds! Keep your journal next to your bed so you can write in it as soon as you wake up and right before you go to bed each night.

Each entry starts with an inspirational quote, intention for the day, or daily affirmation followed by a “morning routine” section and a “evening routine” section.

Morning Routine

In the morning start by writing:

• Daily affirmation, intention or quote
• 3 things I am grateful for today
• 3 ways I can take action and make today great

Evening Routine

Then at night before bed write down:

• 3 amazing things that happened today.
• How could I have made today even better?

The 5-minute journal is perfect for people who are new to journaling or who struggle with finding time in their busy day to sit down and focus on themselves.

Final Thoughts

Journaling has many benefits. It can help you feel better, it can help you get in touch with your emotions, and it can teach you about yourself. Journaling is the act of writing what you feel and putting your dreams on paper. Some people journal every day for 5 minutes or more, while others do it occasionally when they need to process something that happened during the day.

Journaling Tools to help you get started

You can see more of my favorite tools and gadgets here in my Amazon Affiliate Page. I earn a small commission when you purchase through my links, at no cost to you, so I can continue to bring you more helpful articles!

• Leather Journal Writing Notebook – looks like a journal they would have used at Hogwarts!
• Moleskin Classic Notebook
• Classic Notebook
• No Bleed Pens
• Glittery Writing Pens for Women
• Fine Liner Color Pens