When you dipped your toe into the world of mindfulness, you may have initially felt loads of changes in your thinking from the start. Or, conversely, you may have felt a bit stiff as you tried to implement this new practice into your world and your routine. No matter how it felt in the beginning, settling into a mindfulness practice means that you may now be able to add new facets onto your routine in order to build on the progress you’ve already made. One of the most powerful additions you can make to your mindfulness practice is the addition of some journaling time. Here’s how adding in some journaling can help you:
Journaling Allows You to Bring Your Subconscious Into the Light
What you may not realize is that your subconscious mind is constantly working throughout the day. Your subconscious carries many of your truest feelings and opinions, as well as working to help you solve problems and navigate your day-to-day life. Completing some mindfulness journaling gives your subconscious mind an avenue to express itself. By taking some time to journal, you may find out what you truly think about a given prompt or subject. You may find that you have deeper reasons behind your opinions and your actions than you had previously thought. Taking this time provides you with an opportunity to get to know your own thought patterns better.
Journaling Lets You Look More Objectively at Your Thoughts and Feelings
Whether you are following specific mindfulness journal prompts or writing out your mindfulness practice as a more ‘stream of consciousness’ activity, mindfulness journaling gives you a written record of your practice for each writing session. Once you have achieved a rhythm as far as your journaling routine, take the time to go back over your last few pages of writing. Read through what you have written and notice the patterns within your own writing. Looking back at what you have previously written allows you to determine whether your reactions to events in your life are reasonable. This practice also lets you notice your priorities and your values in more detail than you might if you were just completing your mindfulness practice each day and then moving on.
Journaling Forces You to Take Your Time and Fully Engage in Mindfulness
Even when your mindfulness practice is a priority for you, it can be tempting to rush through your least favorite or more challenging aspects of your mindfulness practice. However, if you are journaling as a part of your mindfulness practice, you are more likely to take your time and actually complete every part of your mindfulness exercises. The act of writing things down causes your brain to complete thoughts and sentences more fully because your hands, your laptop or your pen simply don’t work as quickly as your brain does. So, if you want to ensure you’re thorough, add a journal to your mindfulness.