Reduce stress, boost your mood, improve your sleep, and reap other amazing benefits of journaling with these expert-recommended techniques.
With journaling, it takes getting started to know just how radically life-altering it can be. Studies show that journaling can alleviate anxiety and depression, improve your working memory, accelerate the process of healing from trauma, and even boost your immune system.
If you were sold at “alleviate anxiety and depression,” but not quite sure where to start, you’re in the right place. You can always keep a simple diary and write in it whenever the mood strikes you. But if you’d like a bit more inspiration or structure, there are plenty of other great, science-backed methods to use, such as these five expert-approved journaling prompts and journaling techniques.
1. To Clear Your Mind and Enhance Creativity: Try Freewriting
If your brain is constantly muddled by thoughts about grocery shopping, laundry, your relationships, or anything really, you might be creatively and productively constipated (pardon our French). The solution? Freewriting! It involves setting a time or length limit and writing your thoughts down as they come to you, even if you have to scribble “I don’t know what to write” over and over.
One popular freewriting method is the Morning Pages, created by the author of the seminal book The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron. “Typically, in journaling, one sets a topic. For example: ‘I’m going to write everything I feel about my mother.’ In Morning Pages, no topic is set,” Cameron tells DailyOM. You just write in a stream-of-consciousness style about whatever crosses your mind.
Morning Pages are done right when you wake up, by hand, on three sides of 8½x11-inch paper. Cameron advises against trying to write anything thoughtful or pretty. “[Morning Pages] are not intended to be ‘real writing,’ so they have no conventional rules,” she says. “They are strictly top-of-the-mind concerns.” It’s totally okay if you’re writing down whiny, petty, grumpy thoughts on your Morning Pages. This may seem to have nothing to do with creativity, but Cameron explains that the process clears your mind for the rest of the day.
Of course, you can invent your own method for freewriting — whether it be sitting down in the evening and typing for 20 minutes or taking a 5-minute break from work to jot your thoughts down in your Notes app. But there is something to be said for Cameron’s Morning Pages — after all, Leonardo da Vinci filled about three pages of his journal every day.
Interested in learning more? Check out A Year of Writing to Uncover the Authentic Self
2. To Work Through Difficult Life Experiences: Try Expressive Writing
What do Frida Kahlo, Emma Watson, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt have in common? They all used journaling as a way to express their fears, anxieties, and hardships, while Kendall Jenner shared on Instagram that she journals to “be more present and quiet [her] mind.”
Writing about difficult topics is called expressive writing, and it’s one of the surest ways to benefit from journaling. In fact, over 2,000 studies have said so, pioneering researcher Dr. James W. Pennebaker recently told DailyOM, and it may even improve your physical health.
“Writing about an upsetting event is a bit like going to a sad movie,” Dr. Pennebaker says. “You walk out and feel somewhat sad, but at the same time, you often have a better understanding of things. Writing can be like that.”
Expressive writing involves setting aside some time — Dr. Pennebaker recommends 15 to 20 minutes a day, three to four times a week — and journaling specifically about traumatic events or negative emotions. (According to one study, expressive writing is not something that should be done every day. Engaging with your trauma too often can cause you to ruminate on your negative feelings, leading to worse mental and physical health in the long run.)
When you do sit down to write, the most effective way to gain the benefits of expressive writing is to 1) describe the facts of a trauma, 2) express the emotions you have about it, and finally 3) write down your thoughts — about the trauma, about the future, and how you can find meaning in the experience going forward.
Lastly, research shows that typing your thoughts on your computer or smartphone is just as effective as handwriting them, so feel free to experiment.
3. To Boost Your Mood: Try Gratitude Journaling
The title says it all: Gratitude journaling simply involves writing about the things you’re thankful for.
What are you grateful for? Answering that question on a regular basis can help to reduce stress and depression, improve sleep, lower your risk of heart disease, lower fatigue, and the list goes on, according to a growing body of research on gratitude.
The Greater Good Science Center at the University of California, Berkeley, recommends setting aside 15 minutes at least three times a week for gratitude journaling. Because of its expanding popularity, there are hundreds of books and apps to help you get started — some great options include Even Happier, The Happiness Planner, and The Five Minute Journal — but you can also use a pen and paper or your phone.
The team at UC Berkeley also provide a few tips to help you get the most out of this practice, such as keeping your thoughts specific, focusing on people rather than things, and being grateful for negative things you’ve avoided on top of the positive things you received.
4. To Get Unstuck: Try a Thought Diary
Keeping a thought diary is a journaling method used in cognitive behavioral therapy. This method of counseling supports the theory that changing our emotions directly is really difficult (no kidding!). As a solution, it aims to change the thoughts and behaviors that contribute to our negative emotions.
Think of a thought diary as a snapshot, but in words. We use it to capture our thoughts when and where they happen, with the goal of revealing patterns that we can then change.
To begin, keep your thought diary with you at all times, and whenever you experience a negative emotion, take a minute to write an entry. Psychologist Jeremy Sutton shares a helpful journaling prompt for getting started. He suggests organizing each entry into four columns:
- The date of the emotion
- The situation
- The emotion and an intensity rating between 0 percent and 100 percent
- A thought and a rating between 0 and 100 for how much you believe in that thought
Then, go back and evaluate your emotion and thoughts on the same sheet of paper or a new one. Roz Shafran, professor of translational psychology at University College London and co-author of The CBT Handbook, tells DailyOM that the following prompts can be helpful:
- What went through my mind?
- What was it about the situation that disturbed or upset me?
- What did those thoughts/images/memories mean to me, or tell me about the situation?
- What am I responding to?
- What “button” is this pressing for me?
- What would be the worst thing about that, or that could happen?
- What is the one really upsetting or “hot” thought?
Before you move on, consider whether your thoughts have changed at all. And lastly, decide what you will do if the situation happens again.
5. To Heal a Relationship: Try Unsent Letter Journaling
If you have a lot of thoughts and feelings that you wish you could share with someone but can’t tell them — maybe you’re ashamed or the person you’d like to talk to has passed away — unsent letter journaling might be a helpful exercise for you.
Actually sending the letter isn’t the point (although you can if you want to), so don’t be afraid to let it all hang out. One 2017 study found that you gain the benefits of expressing your feelings of gratitude to someone whether or not you actually tell them. And psychotherapist and bestselling author Stephanie A. Sarkis says that sharing feelings of anger, frustration, or sadness can be cathartic, even if they stay between you and the paper.
So break out the good stationery you’ve been saving and make a night of it. You might even want to go as far as sealing the letter in an envelope and adding a stamp. Just make sure your roommate doesn’t accidentally drop it in the mailbox the next day.
The Bottom Line
Now that you know all about Emma Watson’s journaling habits — and five super-solid journaling methods — you have everything you need to get started. It’s that simple! So take a moment today to sit down and get your feelings out, even if all you have to report is … knowing about Emma Watson’s journaling habits.
