Journaling is a written record of our thoughts & feelings, a way of figuring out what’s going on in our life (or in our business – more on this in a later post).

Like meditation, it is recommended to journal every day, but I have not mastered that practice (yet!) and I use journaling more on a punctual basis to create a bit of order when my life feels a bit chaotic (like right now, when back to school and back to ‘normal’ are feeling a bit overwhelming).

I look at this as personal relaxation time, a time when I can de-stress, slow down, empty my head of all the thoughts that seem to be fighting each other to be the loudest, and get a sense of calm and clarity, and some perspective.

The benefits or journaling are immense for both our mind and body. It helps:

• Getting to know ourselves better

• Managing anxiety and reducing stress

• Coping with depression

• Relativising and prioritising problems & fears

• Identifying and bringing awareness to our triggers

• Identifying our negative thoughts and behaviours

• Clarifying our thoughts and feelings

There aren’t really any rules with journaling, but here are a few tips to get started in your practice:

•  Try to write regularly. If you can set aside a few minutes every day to write, great, but if this is too much, you can start small and build your practice up gradually (remember my post on microstepping) or use journaling as another tool to calm you down or gain clarity as and when you need it.

• Make it easy. Write in a place that's relaxing and soothing, maybe with a cuppa of your favourite brew? Keep a pen and paper handy at all times – if you’re like me (a bit of a stationery addict), buy yourself a beautiful journal so that you look forward to using it.

• Write (or draw!) whatever feels right. Write freely and without censorship! Your writing does not have to follow a certain structure or layout, and don’t worry about what others might think. Just let the words and ideas flow.

• Use your journal as you see fit. This is your journal, your private space. The topics you write about, your ideas and thoughts are yours to play with. You can share some of your writing … or not. You make the rules!

Over time, I have accumulated a list of journaling prompts - these are journaling ideas that can help you focus on what to write before you start and when I feel the need to write, I ask myself: “In order to feel calmer and more ‘together’, what would be a great question for me to write about”.

Look out for some prompts over the coming weeks on my Instagram feed @christellekerouedancoaching.

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