3 Reasons You Should Be Journaling Every Single Morning

TUNE IN: APPLE PODCASTS | SPOTIFY | GOOGLE PLAY

Journaling is a practice that I added into my life about 6 years ago and has been a constant source of comfort as well as inspiration in my life. Journaling has helped me to cultivate awareness of my deepest thoughts, conditioning, and limiting beliefs so that I could choose to make changes in my life to support my evolution.

I think back to when I was a kid and how I’d write my deepest most private thoughts in my diary and then lock it up with a little key and hide it under my bed. What I wouldn’t do to go back and read it. I feel like it would be really fun but also give a lot of insight to what I was going through back then which completely translates into my journey since then and even where I am at now and what work I need to continue to do.

Since this practice is so meaningful to me and has helped to change my life and the lives of my students/clients, I wanted to hop on here today and break down the 3 main reasons that you should be journaling every single morning + tips for how you can create your own journaling practice.

#1 Awareness

As I mentioned a moment ago, journaling has helped me to cultivate an awareness of my deep subconscious thoughts, conditioning, and limiting beliefs. Through writing in my journal I have excavated shame, self-deprecating thoughts/talk, and straight-up bullshit beliefs that I have held about myself. Awareness truly is the first step to recovery - in any capacity. Without the awareness of what is keeping you stuck - whether that be in an unhealthy relationship, a job you hate, or in an unhealthy habit or pattern - you will not have even the slightest desire to change it. Because you don’t even realize that it’s there!

As with meditation, writing also acts as a form of meditation, helping you to be present. It helps you to sit with what you are going through in the moment and process whatever is going on. When we allow emotions to sit inside of us, they bubble up and eventually boil over. Getting them down on paper allows you to deal with them right away and begin the work of processing them.

“In times of pain, when the future is too terrifying to contemplate and the past too painful to remember, I have learned to pay attention to right now. The precise moment I was in was always the only safe place for me.”

— Julia Cameron

#2 Creativity

You may not want to hear this but YOU ARE CREATIVE. So many people put themselves in a box that they are “just not a creative person”. But we all have creativity flowing through our veins and creativity is essential to success in all areas of life. You need creativity to form a new business idea and decide how to implement it, you need creativity when coming to a compromise with a partner, you need creativity when figuring out how you will afford to renovate your home, you need creativity when painting on a canvas.

Creativity is not just for artists in the traditional sense, it’s for mothers, husbands, CEOs, people who bag at the grocery store… You get what I mean!

Writing is a creative expression in and of itself but it also sparks more creativity. By writing in your journal first thing in the morning, you are firing up your brain and getting all of the subconscious thoughts from your sleep out on paper. It helps you to enter a flow state to CREATE the life that you deep down desire.

Creativity, flow, adaptability - they go hand in hand. Writing in your journal every morning will help you to scale your business, heal your relationships, and creatively shape your world into the one that you want to see, not the one that you’ve been on autopilot unconsciously creating.

#3 Productivity

Writing in your journal first thing in the morning gives you a space to write down your goals for the day ahead. If we don’t take time to reflect on where we were, where we are, and where we want to be then, as I said before, we are unconsciously creating our reality which is a no-go. If you want control over the trajectory of your life, start journaling.

Journaling Tips

Many people become intimidated by journaling because they “can’t” or “don’t like to” write. That’s ok. Your process can be unique to you. You can free-write where you simply write whatever pops up into your head for a set amount of pages. You can use specific prompts. You can draw what you’re thinking! It does not have to look a specific way but I am going to share with you the most powerful journaling tools that I’ve uncovered over the last few years.

#1 Stream of Consciousness journaling

This simple form of journaling is extremely powerful for cultivating awareness and creativity. Simply open up your journal and write whatever comes to mind for 3 pages. It can be challenging but it is important for getting deep into your psyche. If nothing comes to mind you can write “I don’t know what to write”. You’ll be surprised at what comes up. It’s also a great way to get any negative thoughts out first thing in the morning so that they are not blocking your mind from your genius.
#2 Write a gratitude list
Filling up a page with what you are grateful for has multiple benefits. It puts you in a positive mood, it puts you into an abundance mindset rather than a scarcity mindset, and it energetically raises your vibration which will then attract higher frequency situations throughout your day.
#3 Insights, plans, and goals
This is a very structured way to make sure that you are using your journaling time in the morning to set your day up for success. I like to do this twice - I make a list for my personal life and then my business. Write down any insights that have come to mind, then your goals for the day, and then your plans for how you’ll achieve those goals. You can also do this at the beginning of every month to set bigger goals which you then break down throughout the month so that achieving them becomes more tangible.

What I like to do is wake up, get my journal out of my nightstand, and write right away. I first do a stream of consciousness journaling for 2-3 pages then write out what I am grateful for and then my insights, plans, and goals for the day. It takes about 20 minutes.

I hope that you found this helpful! If so, please leave a note in the comments sections!

Sending you all lots of love!