What is a Journal?
A journal is a creative outlet for ideas. There are many benefits to journaling, especially if it is done consistently through a routine.
8 Benefits of Journaling
There are many benefits to journaling, especially for students. Here are nine benefits of journaling:
1) Improvement of your Mental Health:
Getting all of your thoughts, worries, and problems onto a piece of paper helps relieve the tension of too many anxious thoughts in your head. Writing all of your thoughts down can help you find the roots of an internal conflict. By prioritizing and organizing your fears and problems, your anxiety levels will reduce immensely. In addition, Journaling is an opportunity for positive self-talk.
2) Boosting your Social and Emotional Intelligence:
Journaling about others helps you make sense of how you feel about them. You’ll figure out whether they are a good or bad influence on you, and whether you’ll feel happy having a relationship with them, whether that’s friendly or familial.
3) Self Discovery:
Journaling about yourself and tracking what triggers certain emotions within you (whether that’s through environmental or social causes) will help you find out where you thrive most (physically, mentally, and emotionally), your strengths, and your weaknesses. You will feel content with who you are and change some behavioral or environmental factors that may help you become a better person.
4) Goal Achieving:
The act of writing your goals down often motivates you to complete them. Not only can journals be used for creating goals, they can be used for tracking your progress.
SMART:
SMART, an acronym used to create efficient goals, can help with the goal-creation process.
SMART goals make the goal completion process easier, as each goal you create will be timely, possible, and impactful for you and your peers. In other words, you won’t be wasting your time completing goals that don’t benefit you.
5) Inspires Creativity:
While journaling, you will need to channel your creative energy to write down your thoughts, feelings, and ideas in the most meaningful way possible. Sometimes, journals can be used to dump any ideas in your brain onto a sheet of paper. At other times, you may need prompts to get your creative juices flowing.
6) Enhances Critical Thinking Skills:
Reflective journaling helps you connect any learned concepts to the real world, and how you can improve yourself and your environment. These practices help you sharpen your critical thinking skills, as they are needed to reflect on yourself and the world around you.
7) Improved Academic Performance:
Using your critical thinking skills to relate any learned concepts to the real world helps you apply those skills in class, whether it’s used on assignments or tests. In addition, having a journal to write facts down can seal them into your memory. This comes in handy when studying for exam. Students have reported higher grade point averages after journaling.
8) Positive Effect on Physical Health:
Journaling has resulted in many physical health benefits, including an improved immune system, lower blood pressure, better lung and liver function, and fewer stress-related doctor visits.
5 Types of Journals
There are many types of journals to help you get started on your journaling expedition. Below is a list of 5 different kinds of journals:
1) Bullet Journaling:
A bullet journal is simply a journal full of lists, whether that’s tracking goals and progress, or organizing your ideas and thoughts.
2) Gratitude Journaling:
Journaling what you’re grateful for helps with stress management, as it distracts you from the bad and reminds you of the good.
3) Change Journaling:
Writing down your thoughts about a concept helps you gain more insights and knowledge about them.
4) Question Journaling:
Write down any questions you have, whether it’s personal, environmental, or academic. Answer the questions when you find the right response for them.
5) Creative Journaling:
To get your creative energy flowing, try dumping all of your ideas into a journal. If you need to jumpstart your creative juices, try using prompts. Creative journaling can help you express yourself in the most impactful way to you.
Journal Prompts
Need to jumpstart your brain? Try answering these journal prompts!
Bullet Journal Prompts
1) Write down SMART goals you want to achieve in the next year.
2) Create a list of motivational quotes that keep you moving.
3) Make a study plan/plan for each day of the week.
4) Write a to-do list of what you need to do today.
5) Craft a playlist of your favorite songs.
6) Create a mood tracker to record your moods during the day.
7) Make a bucket list of what you want to do in the future.
8) Write a list of all of your thoughts and worries.
9) Craft a list of books you want to read or movies you want to watch.
10) Create a list of memories that made you smile throughout the year.
Gratitude Journal Prompts
1) Write down one thing that made you smile this week.
2) What was the last thing thing that made you laugh?
3) What is one thing you love about yourself?
4) Who is someone you look up to?
5) Write about the best day ever.
6) What is the best thing that happened today?
7) What is one hobby that makes you feel peaceful?
8) Who is someone you can always count on?
9) What is the best quality of your best friend?
10) What is one obstacle you achieved? Why are grateful that you achieved it?
Change Journal Prompts
1) How do you feel about change in general?
2) What are some significant changes that occurred in the past?
3) What is one thing you would change about yourself?
4) Does everything happen for a reason?
5) What is the hardest change you had to accept and why?
6) Why does change have a bad connotation even though it’s needed at times?
7) What challenge is stressing you out right now? Do you think you have to change your approach to that challenge?
8) What is one thing you would change about the environment around you?
9) What is one thing that changed your way of thinking?
10) What is something you changed for the better and why?
Creative Journal Prompts
1) What changes would you make to this world if you ruled it?
2) What if everyone lived underwater? What would life be like?
3) If you found a billion dollars in your backyard, what would you use it on?
4) If you were stranded on an island, and you could only take one book, what book would you take?
5) Would you rather be lost at sea with your enemy or with a shortage of food? Why?
6) What would happen if your worst fear was a person? How would you overcome them?
7) What would happen if there were no rules?
8) What profession would you be famous for?
9) If you were a teacher, how would your class be? Would your students like your class?
10) If you owned a store, what would you sell? Would your store be successful?
