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By: Anna Hallett, Director, The Writing Party (Keeping a Journal: Writing for Yourself in the New Year)

Part 2

Keeping a Journal

January is time for a fresh start and setting new goals. Journaling is a useful habit you can begin this year.

Benefits of Journaling

There are a variety of benefits to journaling. Recording your experiences, thoughts, ideas, goals, and feelings can help to reduce stress and boost your immune system. It can help you to work through intense or painful emotions. Writing about an event can also help you to put it in the past, move beyond a mistake or regret. Write it and forget it. Live beyond it. Your journal will become a record of your personal growth.

In “The ‘Write’ to Heal,” Julie Ayn Discenza, M.Ed., M.S., Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist, describes the therapeutic process of writing to heal emotional wounds.

Goal Setting in Your Journal

You can also use your journal to list your goals and then reflect on your progress as the year goes on. Journals are a valuable place to engage in the power of positive thinking and goal visualization. When you write in your journal, remember to focus on the good things in your life. Write about the people, things, and events for which you are grateful and those which give you hope. Your journal is also a great place to record ideas, brainstorms, and creative inspiration.

Make Journaling a Habit

Writing in a journal is an opportunity to organize your thoughts, record your experiences, vent, and rejoice in your triumphs. To get the full benefit of a journal, try to make it a habit. Establish a regular time and place to write, making it a part of your daily routine. Take some time to write about your day, your feelings, and your reactions. It can also be fun to add sketches and doodles to your journal and really make it your own.

Feeling blue? Read our article “The Holiday Season: Red, Green…And Blue?” for a description of writing exercises to lift your spirits this winter.

When You’re Stuck

Of course, some days the blank page of your journal is too intimidating. If you don’t feel like writing, don’t. Journaling is for you and should be a pleasure and not a chore. On those days when you’re in the mood to write but don’t know where to begin, journal prompts can be helpful. These prompts are meant to help you explore your thoughts, memories, feelings, and state of mind.

Get more journal ideas from our article “Journaling: Why You Need to Journal.”

Journaling Prompts

• Write your goals for this year.
• List ideas for stories, inventions, projects, art, or any other creative or work-related inspirations.
• Write a letter to yourself to be opened on Jan. 1, 2022.
• Describe a healthy relationship.
• Write about your best friend.
• Describe the perfect day.
• List habits you want to break and habits you want to start.
• Write a conversation with your younger self. Write a conversation with your older self.
• List eight things for which you are grateful.
• Write about yourself in the third person.
• Describe the best gift you ever received.
• You board a plane going to __. Describe your adventure.

For more writing ideas, order The Writing Party Inspirations or Contact Us to schedule a Writing Party event in your area, for your private group, or as a corporate team building event.

To see other writing inspiration ideas like Keeping a Journal: Writing for Yourself in the New Year, check out The Writing Party Articles Page.

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