The powerful health benefits of keeping a journal

Here are the benefits of keeping a journal

Lesson summary

Hi there everyone, I’m Jeff and this is Plain English lesson number 481. Plain English is where JR and I help you upgrade your English with current events and trending topics. JR is the producer and he works behind the scenes to bring you these full lesson sets every week. And if you haven’t yet experienced the full lessons, you can see today’s full lesson at PlainEnglish.com/481.

Coming up today: Back in lesson 431, we talked about mental health apps . And as I was researching that lesson, I stumbled upon an app called “Journal,” which helps users keep a short written journal every day. I had read about the benefits of journaling before and was looking for a way to get started. On today’s lesson, I’ll start by sharing what journaling is, I’ll then talk about the benefits of journaling, and I’ll close with my experience over the last month or so.

In the second half of the lesson, I’ll share the English expression, “get off on the right foot.” And JR has a song of the week.

Benefits of journaling

Charles Darwin did it. So did the artist Frida Kahlo. Marie Curie, one of the most famous female scientists in world history, was a fan , too. I’m talking about keeping a journal , or the practice of journaling .

This is simply the practice of writing your thoughts and feelings to understand them more clearly. In the age before modern technology, many famous diaries were focused on professional as well as personal thoughts. Today, journaling is most associated with relieving stress , anxiety and depression .

If you think journaling involves writing long entries late into the night…well, you can do it that way, but that’s not how most people do it. You don’t need to devote too much time to experience the benefits . Here’s what experts say you should do.

First, do something every day. You don’t have to spend much time, but doing something every day helps. Second, make it easy. Smartphone apps help with this by sending reminders and giving you prompts to help you along . But if you prefer pen and paper, keep your journal somewhere easy to access.

What should you write, though? This can be anything , obviously . But whatever you write should align with your life objectives . For example, if you’re feeling lost and aren’t making progress in life or in your career, you can pledge to write three goals every morning. If you’re dealing with stress or depression, gratitude journaling can help. Just write three small things you’re grateful for. It’s hard to be angry and grateful at the same time, so starting your day with gratitude can help get the day off on the right foot .

You can record your mood and your emotions. It’s easy to be overcome with emotions without recognizing what they really are. If you set aside just a few minutes to identify the emotions you’re feeling, you might find it easier to cope with them . And finally, if you journal at night, you can also write the best thing that happened to you that day. That can help you stay focused on the positive things in life.

Why should you do this? Writing down your thoughts, experiences, and hopes can help in a number of ways. It can help you keep perspective and prioritize your problems. It’s very common to make a big deal about small things. By writing down the emotions you’re having, you can see what’s bringing you down and determine whether it’s worth it.

Journaling can also help you find ideas. You see, writing down your thoughts is not just a way of recording the thoughts you’ve already had. It’s also way of generating ideas and inspiration for the future.

If you’re experiencing negative emotions, journaling can help you put a stop to an endless negative loop in your head. Often , an unexpressed emotion can just replay over and over in your head. But if you end the day recording the emotion, you can let it sit in the journal instead of in your head.

You can use a blank page to record this, or a blank document on your phone. But I like the app called Journal because it makes the process even easier. Here’s how I use it. First, I get a reminder in the morning to start the day’s journal. At that point, I record how I’m feeling in the morning: it’s just a simple choice of five options. Then, it prompts me to enter three things I’m grateful for. And then it asks what I’m going to do to make the upcoming day great .

There’s also a section called affirmations . This is where I choose one pre-written statement that I want to keep in mind. I wrote these myself. One of my affirmations, for example, is “Do less, but do it better.” You can write your own—just pick a few statements that are important to you and repeat them in the journal.

At night, I also use the Journal app to record the best things that happened during the day. This is a nice way to close out the day on a positive note . You can also program special questions that you want to answer about yourself.

This won’t be for everyone. However, if you’re on the fence about it, I would encourage you to give it a try. I was skeptical at first, but I’ve found it to be very helpful.

Practice writing English?

The one thing I like about using an app is that the prompts are right there. I don’t have to think about what to do: it just puts it right in front of me. I like the structure of having an app. And Journal lets you turn features on and off , or change them, based on your preferences and goals.

And by the way, I don’t write a lot of words. It’s just a handful of words, a handful of choices in the app, and it takes maybe two minutes in the morning and the evening. Check it out – Journal is the name of the app I use and it has a yellow logo.

You can even do a journal in English and get some writing practice…how about that?