Journaling—the practice of writing down personal thoughts and insights—can be traced back to the days of Hippocrates. Long before peer-reviewed studies were touting the benefits of journaling, humans recognized the cathartic effect of putting pen to paper.
How journaling can benefit your mental health
Writing about stressful events, traumatic memories, or even just day-to-day life can improve your mood, help you set goals, and enhance your well-being. Many therapists recommend journaling as a way to change perspective on tough situations and to find patterns in behavior, or simply to relieve daily stressors by transferring them from your mind to a physical piece of paper.
Some of the research-proven benefits of journaling include:
- Decreased anxiety levels: A study showed that people who were dealing with physical health problems alongside anxiety had fewer depressive symptoms and increased feelings of well-being after journaling for just 15 minutes, three days a week, over a 12-month period.
- Breaking away from spiraling thought patterns: When you experience a painful or difficult event, it's normal for the brain to become obsessive about what happened. Journaling can help put a stop to obsessive thoughts. The timing of when you journal about traumatic issues matters, however, as some research shows that journaling about traumatic events immediately after they happen may increase trauma symptoms.
- Increased awareness: Writing about day-to-day events can help you see situations from a new perspective, and can have a similar effect to going over the day's events with a friend.
- Emotional regulation: Research has shown that people who journal about their emotions gain higher levels of emotional control.
- Increased vulnerability: Writing about feelings in a journal may help you feel more comfortable sharing your emotions with others, and can create space for deeper, more honest relationships.
Writing prompts to support your mental health
When you sit down to journal, it can be tough to figure out where to start. Try following these prompts to help get your thoughts flowing.
Daily prompts for self-reflection
- What parts of your day are you grateful for?
- What was the highlight of your day?
- Did you learn something new today?
- If you could go back and live today again, what would you do differently?
- What are three things that you're looking forward to tomorrow?
Prompts for self-discovery
- What are your biggest strengths?
- What are you most afraid of? What's a step that you can take to help you move through your fear?
- What are your core values?
- Imagine that it's the end of your life, and you're looking back over the decades you lived. What are some things you'd look for to know that you've lived well?
- How is your life today different from how you'd imagined adulthood as a child? How is it the same?
Prompts for people living with depression and/or anxiety
- What's one way you can practice self-compassion today?
- Write a letter to your childhood self, offering humor, comfort, and advice about what's to come.
- Write about a place, person, animal, or other important part of your life that makes you feel loved.
- Imagine waking up tomorrow and being free from depression or anxiety. What would your day look like? Is there a way you can incorporate some facet of that day into your reality tomorrow?
Gratitude prompts
- List three things that made you smile today.
- Think about a time when you made someone smile today. How did that feel?
- What's one way you can help someone in your life who is going through a difficult time?
- How did you add positivity and joy to someone else's life today?
Prompts for shaping the future
- What are some things that make you feel powerful?
- What is something that you'd like to start doing? What steps can you take today to make it a reality?
- Choose a challenge you faced today, and describe how you solved the problem and moved forward.
- Imagine that your younger self time-traveled to your life today. What would they celebrate? What would they want to change?
Quick-start tips for getting into the habit of journaling
Habitual journaling can help you experience the catharsis and mental health benefits that come with the practice for years to come.
Try these tips to stick with journaling over time:
- Set an alarm on your phone to journal each morning or each evening, away from the hustle and bustle of the day.
- If you feel comfortable, place your journal in an area where you'll see it regularly. For example, if you plan on journaling at night, it might make sense to place your journal on your pillow after you make your bed in the morning.
- Don't let a single setback throw you off track. If you forget to journal for one day, that's OK! Get back to it, and write about the differences you noticed in your mental well-being on the day you forgot to journal.
Continue your journey of self-discovery
Ready to look for even more journal prompts to help you take self-reflection to the next level?
Try these resources:
- ChatGPT: AI-powered tools like ChatGPT can provide an endless number of prompts to help get your thought processes moving.
- 5 Minute Journal: This app offers guided prompts and gentle reminders to help you make journaling a daily habit.
- Daylio: Daylio is a journal, diary, and mood tracker that can help you understand how your moods change over time.
- Reflectly: Designed to support positive thinking, the Reflectly app uses AI-powered software to help you reflect on your daily moods.
- Dabble Me: This private journaling app can help you reflect on the past and focus on the present.
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