Many benefits of journalling

From newsday.co.tt

By Debbie Jacob

THERE are many personal benefits that come from writing a journal, and, surprisingly, they all help you to be a better student.

Journals offer the opportunity for self-reflection. The process of writing helps you to express your feelings, face anxiety and become aware of who you are and how you operate. Journalling requires organisation and discipline. Altogether, these benefits can help to prevent procrastination and focus your efforts as a student.

Today, your cyberlibrary explores resources that provide an understanding of the process and the benefits of journalling.

Positive Psychology lists 83 reasons why journalling benefits you at
https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-of-journalling/.

Written by Courtney Ackerman, who has an MSc, the site says journalling “improves your quality of life…boosts your mood…and enhances your sense of well-being.” The website offers tips and guidelines on how to journal effectively. It suggests you choose a theme for your writing and dedicate a certain amount of time to it every day.

Almost every credible article you will read on journalling says that it is a good way to combat depression and anxiety. It’s difficult to concentrate and function academically if you’re sad and anxious, so it could be one of your best tools for academic success.

 

Writing at the beginning of the day can help you to organise your thoughts and your direction for the day

It might be a good idea to begin each day with your journalling, but you will need to determine what time of day best suits your needs. Writing at the beginning of the day can help you to organise your thoughts and your direction for the day. Journalling in the evening gives you the opportunity to reflect on your day.

Consistency is most important. Journalling daily will help you develop discipline and organisational skills, two important skills for success in school.

It can also help improve your writing skills. The more you write, the better you become at writing, so the daily practice will give you much-needed practise. Over time, journalling will help you to settle into the writing process much faster. If you choose a theme, you will have daily practice in developing themes for essays and SBAs.

One of the first decisions you need to make is what form your journal will take. A hand-written journal will have the added benefit of developing the cognition skills involved in note-taking. The physical act of writing will also develop fine motor skills you need for careers such as being a surgeon, mechanic or engineer. You can find fancy journals in stationery stores, but a simple notebook does the trick too.

Online journals have their advantages. They provide daily reminders for you to write in your journal and some provide prompts, which give you a subject to write about each day.

This can be a fast, useful exercise in defining and developing themes.

If you google "journal writing" or "journalling," you can pick up many resources about how to tackle journal writing. These sites usually offer themes for you to write about every day.

All the websites I have looked at offered many reasons about how journalling helps your life. Surprisingly, few stated one of the main reasons I've already mentioned: discipline. The act of writing in a journal daily builds a sense of discipline, which is vitally important for success in your academic work.

Journalling records your actions and thoughts on a daily basis. It offers a record of your present life. In the future you will look back at your journals to see how you felt and how you worked through certain issues. You will have an important historical document on how you got through the year of covid19.

Check out the sites before you start journalling. You can also explore on your own. Just make sure you use the CRAAP test that you learned about last week to find credible sites.

Starting a journal is easy; keeping it up will be your biggest challenge. Penzu.com provides a good online diary. Type www.bustle.com + 11 journalling tips in the google search bar and you will find useful tips on how to be consistent.

If you’re still not convinced about the benefits, read an article called What’s All of This About journalling,which can be accessed at New York Times + journalling benefits.

Journals are fun to write, and they’re even more fun to reflect on in the future. Years from now you will look back on them as a huge accomplishment.

https://newsday.co.tt/2020/11/25/many-benefits-of-journalling/ 

 

 

 

 

Alan Rickman’s Diaries Spanning 25 Years To Be Published

 From unilad.co.uk

 

                               PA/Warner Bros.

Alan Rickman’s 27 diaries, spanning a quarter of a century, are set to be published in one book. 

The late Harry Potter legend, who passed away in 2016 at the age of 69, was known for keeping a record of his musings.

In the early 1990s, the actor began writing a diary by hand, with the idea it’d be published sometime in the future. Soon, his ambition will be realised.

The Diaries of Alan Rickman are set to be published by Canongate, with Scottish Review of Books editor Alan Taylor on-board to edit the ‘witty, gossipy and utterly candid’ collection.

Rima Horton, Rickman’s widow, said, ‘The diaries reveal not just Alan Rickman the actor, but the real Alan – his sense of humour, his sharp observation, his craftsmanship and his devotion to the arts,’ as The Guardian reports.

Taylor described the thespian’s writings as ‘anecdotal, indiscreet, witty, gossipy and utterly candid, they make compulsive reading and offer a peerless insight into the daily life of a remarkable actor who was as beloved in the US as he surely was in the UK.’

The diaries provide an insight into Rickman’s life, whether it’s his upbringing or reviews of plays he attended, ‘some rapturous and others scathing’.

Canongate said in a statement ‘More than anything though, the diaries reveal the real Alan Rickman, funny, passionate, occasionally provocative, and give fresh insight into his art’.

 

                        Warner Bros.

 

It added, ‘He wrote his diaries as if chatting with a close friend. They provide pitch-perfect vignettes: short, pithy paragraphs painting big pictures, and offering intriguing insights into himself, his peers and the world around him. They are intimate, perceptive and very funny’.

The Diaries of Alan Rickman will be published in 2022. 

https://www.unilad.co.uk/film-and-tv/alan-rickmans-diaries-spanning-25-years-to-be-published/

 

Derval O'Rourke: How to make your thoughts become actions

From irishexaminer.com

It is easy to feel gloomy at this time of year. Lockdown is not pleasant. We would prefer to be out and about meeting for coffee or a drink. There is a monotony to our lives. But you can still get out and exercise even in the rain, I promise! Every day is a chance to make new discoveries in your immediate surroundings and take this time as a phase in our lives that we can use to do other things. This week I’ll chat about journaling...

I have always loved journaling. Even before my training days, I used to keep a journal and have always found that writing down your thoughts and goals makes them seem so much more achievable. There’s something about having your goals down on paper that makes them real and more tangible. The world seems clearer. Journaling is good for keeping the spirit upbeat and focused.

Recently I launched my own journal! I’ve always wanted to do it but could never quite get my head around why my journal would be special. Then about two months ago I had a lightbulb moment where it started to come together in my head as a really practical but beautiful healthy lifestyle journal. 

     Derval O'Rourke's Healthy Lifestyle Journal

I used lots of practical resources such as portioning, shopping lists and goal setting but combined these with the beautiful illustrations of Belinda Northcote. My journal was designed and printed locally which I’m so proud of.

 

What is journaling?

You may have stopped using a diary once you reached adulthood. But the concept and its benefits still apply. Now it’s called journaling. It's simply writing down your thoughts to understand them more clearly. And if you struggle with stress, losing focus or the feeling of 'too many thoughts' in your head, keeping a journal is a great idea. It can help you gain control of your emotions and improve your mental health.

One of the ways to deal with any overwhelming emotion is to find a healthy way to express yourself. This makes a journal a helpful tool in managing your mental health.

Journaling can help you:

Achieve your goals
Once you have some clear goals, you then start working towards them. Revisit the journal throughout the day, but do not worry if you haven’t managed to achieve everything on the list. Be proud of what you have achieved and tackle what you can.

Keep you focused
By writing down all the thoughts in your head, you are putting them down on plain paper and this makes it 10 times easier to start organising them. Most of us have a near-endless list of tasks to get done every day and sometimes it can be overwhelming and difficult to know where to start. Seeing them written down, allows you to allocate a certain amount of time to them and set a realistic deadline to achieve.

Manage anxiety and reduce stress
By becoming aware of your thoughts and feelings, it becomes easier to take action. Recognising what is causing stress allows you to tackle it much easier. Journals help us to make our troubles clearer by identifying them and give us a sense of what needs to be dealt with, to help us feel our very best. Once you’ve identified your stressors, you can work on a plan to resolve the problems and reduce your stress.

Tips for first-time 'journalers' 
Writing down your thoughts and feelings might not sound appealing to you, or you might be very new to the idea of it and not know how to start. If that’s the case, you can try out a few other ways to use a journal to boost your productivity and wellbeing.

• Simplify the journal and use bullet-point format.
• Buy a journal that makes you want to write in it. I know when I have a fresh journal, I can’t wait to fill the pages with all my plans, tasks, and exciting projects.
• Track something of interest to you. Maybe log your sleep, how long you slept, how you felt going to bed and waking up. Start small.
• Bring your journal everywhere and jot down any random thoughts you have. Then at the end of the day, piece these smaller entries into a bigger one and summarise your day.
• Have a space for a fun list. This could be a list of dinner recipes you want to try or a list of fun activities you’ve always wanted to try — a bit like a bucket list.
• If your mind goes really blank and you have no idea what to write, look up some journaling prompts. Usually, by searching a topic and adding 'journal prompts' you’ll find a list of them. Pick your 3 favorite ones and answer them!

Fitness tip: Try to see if you can squeeze in a short workout before you go to work or your day starts. You can be so surprised with how much energy it will give you — and it can provide you with some mental clarity too.

Wellness tip: Treat yourself to a new journal and aim to write something small into it every day. Plan your days and write down your tasks to stay focused and reach your goals. I have a lovely journal on my online shop, available for purchase for €15. Visit my new exciting online shop Shop.Derval.ie

https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/food/arid-40080824.html