Journaling has become a popular form of self-discovery; helping people to identify what they want and more importantly how to get it.  Through journaling you can discover more about yourself and your goals than you ever thought possible.  Journaling will provide insights into your mind and thought patterns that you would never notice otherwise.  It then provides you with a tool to help you retrain your mind to help you achieve your goals and dreams.  But you can’t achieve them if you don’t know what they are.

The number one reason to Journal for Self Discovery is to live a fulfilled life.

Helping you identify with your inner thoughts and feelings

One of the main ways journaling helps with self-discovery, is it enables you to identify with your inner thoughts and feelings.  Understanding yourself is key to living a happy, more fulfilled life.

Journals allow you to write freely and openly.  You’re free from judgement, allowing you to...

What do you write in your journal when you can’t think of anything to write?  Well you can always jump online and find some prompts.  However, an alternative to responding to journaling prompts is to write lists. 

List can be quick, thought provoking and not intimidating as you can write down bullet points without worrying about wordy prose and correct grammar.  List can also help you achieve your goals and monitor your progress.

So here are a few lists to get you started.

1. Books you’d like to read or books you have read
2. Shows/movies you would like to watch
3. Your favourite quotes or affirmations
4. Places you want to visit or places you have already visited
5. Qualities you like about yourself
6. Your goals for the next 30 days
7. Your goals for the next 12 months
8. Your goals for the next 5 years
9. Goals you have already achieved
10. Activities you would like to do
11. Things you love about your partner/kids/pet
12. Gifts you need to buy for others or gift ideas
13. A wish list for...

My morning routine consists of waking up at 5.30am, going down stairs putting on the kettle, letting the cat and dog outside, a 10 minute meditation (thank you Calm App), make my cup of tea, then 40 minutes of writing.  Then the day really begins but this time is just for me.

You probably already have a morning routine but just haven’t noticed it.  Maybe the alarm goes off and you hit snooze a few times, then run around getting the kids ready for school and yourself ready for work.  Maybe you have time for breakfast or not, perhaps you feel like you are on a constant treadmill of running behind schedule.  Maybe you feel like you’ve a whole day’s work before you even head out the door and your thinking “You want me to add more to my morning!”.

Finding what works for you

I came across the concept of having a morning routine after ready Hal Elrod’s “The Miracle Morning” it is a good book that describes the benefits of...

As promised a short blog post about how I have set up my journal for 2021.  Let me start with the lessons I learnt from my 2020 journaling experience. 

As per usual my January journal was spectacular – a visual masterpiece (based on limited artistic skills) with regular daily entries, February wasn’t too bad, March had some bits and the rest of the year was fairly hodge podge without any real system.  

The problem was I never seemed to find the time to set up the month in advance and once the month had started I didn’t really see the point. 

So, the lessons learnt were as follows:

• I like a monthly double page spread for each month – these need to be set up ahead of time.
• I make better and more regular use of a weekly spread rather than a daily spread (note my journal is used purely for personal use, not for my day job)
• I prefer to track weekly rather than daily or monthly
• I needed a journal with thicker pages

So how have I set up my...

As we begin the new year and people are preparing their new journals (ahh is there a better feeling than opening a fresh blank page in a new journal!) a lot of you are thinking about what you want to achieve in the new year.  We often like to allocate a word or phrase to the year that gives us some focus and sets our intentions for the 12 months ahead.  This becomes our Mantra. 

What is a Mantra?

The word Mantra is derived from two Sanskrit words—manas (mind) and tra (tool). Mantra literally means “a tool for the mind.”  Historical Mantra’s have been used during meditation to raise vibration through the repetition of the sound or phrase.

Your Mantra should be a word that resonates with you, an affirmation, a war cry or a go-to phrase to repeat when you are not feeling inspired. 

Do you need a Mantra?

Of course not, but once I tell you the benefits of having and repeating your mantra, you may be asking yourself how you...

It’s no secret I love to journal.  It provides a creative outlet, helps me organise my life and my thoughts which in turn, improves my mental health and helps me achieve my goals.  However, those are just a few of the benefits of journaling.

Below are 15 of the top reasons to start journaling today.

Spark your Creativity

Sitting down with pen and paper and just writing whatever comes to you is essential to promote and enhance your creativity.  Writing in a personal journal that no-one else will see, giving you a freedom of expression that does not occur during conversation or writing for someone else.  It will reveal your processes, how you think, learn, create and use intuition.  You will find yourself planting seeds of ideas that will flourish.

Achieve your goals

Achieve your goals and bring your vision to life. Studies have found that you become 42% more likely to achieve your goals and dreams, simply by writing down your goals on a regular basis. I...

Do you ever get to the point in your life when there is so much going on, if one more thing is thrown on your plate you might just scream!  If so, then maybe it is time to take a Brain Dump.

What is a Brain Dump?

When you are busy and you have thousands of things to think about if you don’t have a way to process all these thoughts you can begin to feel overwhelmed and anxious. 

A Brain Dump or download is an opportunity for you to put all your thoughts down on paper, organise them, get things done and move forward. 

The need for a Brain Dump can be triggered by a number of factors:

• A super busy schedule
• A big project deadline – either personal or business (or both)
• Random tasks that build up
• Holidays – that’s right holidays, as much as we all enjoy them the lead up to a holiday can be stressful, there is lots to organise and work to get done before you leave.
• Unexpected Events – when your schedule is thrown into chaos because something...

The most valuable commodity we all have is time, once it has gone, we cannot get it back and we all wish had more of it.  Well I’m here to tell you by changing one simple habit you can get two extra days a year.  Imagine what you could achieve with an additional 48 hours.  So, what is the big secret?

Stop hitting the snooze button!

That’s right, every time you hit the snooze button you lose 9 minutes out of your day.  If you do that every day, 365 days a year, that’s 3,285 minutes, which is 54.75 hours, which is 2.2 days!  So, you are actually getting back more than 2 days.

Getting up when the alarm goes off the first time will give you extra time to do some of those things you can’t find time for.  Journaling could be one of them. 

Not only will you have the extra time, there are other reasons you should not be hitting the snooze button.

Hitting the snooze button can make you feel more tired. 

By waking up and then...

“Gratitude is the best medicine.  It heals your mind, your body and your spirit. And attracts more things to be grateful for.”

Every time I start a new journal (and it doesn’t have to a be at the beginning of the year) I like to pick one word to inspire me during the time I use that notebook.  This time my word is grateful. 

My daily page layout in my new bullet diary includes a section to write down three things I am grateful for at the end of every day.  Knowing that I will be completing this section in my journal ensures that I am looking for things to be grateful for throughout the day.  It is a way of training myself to constantly be looking for things in my life to be thankful for.  I don’t want to be writing the same things every day – where’s the fun in that.

Gratefulness doesn’t always come easily, particularly if you are going through a trauma or suffering from depression but if you put in a little...