There are lots of questions people ask before they start journaling…questions like:

What should I write? How long should I write?

What kind of journal should I use? What’s the right way to journal? What if I get it wrong?

What if I run out of things to say? What if I’m a terrible speller?

How often should I journal? What if someone reads it?

These are all great questions – common questions – questions that I’ll be addressing in the Masterclass next month.

BUT the question you should be asking me (and yourself) is WHAT WILL HAPPEN IF I DON’T JOURNAL?

Now to answer that from personal experience – because I’ve been journaling now, daily, for about 17 years – what happens when I don’t journal is that I feel untethered, a sense that something’s not quite right. I typically write every morning and if there’s a day when I have to do something like catch an early flight or respond to an early phone call and then I go about my morning jobs I can get to mid-morning and wonder ‘what’s the matter?’ and I’ll realise I haven’t done my journaling! So I feel a bit disconnected from myself and ungrounded.

I could liken it to how people feel if they meditate each day or practice yoga or run, and when they don’t do it they don’t feel right

Bigger picture what it would mean for me if I didn’t journal is that I wouldn’t:

Have written Note to Self or Find Your Way.

Have started Seeker & Sage.

Have been able to tend to and heal the woundings I have experienced over the years.

Understand how I tick or why I get so upset about certain things.

Be there for myself like I can be and am now.

Know what I needed and what I really wanted.

Be able to express how I feel.

Be able to process the challenges of life or find answers and solutions.

Or be in touch with my dreams and desires – not like I am when I journal.

So if I don’t or didn’t for all these years I wouldn’t have gotten through the painful and despairing times I’ve had with physical illness, with my kids, with my work, with my family, with relationships.

I wouldn’t be so comfortable with who I am and I wouldn’t be so comfortable with where I’m at.

I also know I would’ve missed heaps of joyful momentous occasions – moments that I am so grateful for, and appreciated and loved and enjoyed – because when we write about those we prolong the feelgood emotions which boost our mood.

All the growth, all the healing, all the ideas and insights, the creativity, the kindness, the compassion for myself and others… none of that would be so prevalent in who I am as a person and a lot of what I have experienced in the world wouldn’t have been so valued and appreciated!

So the question you should be asking yourself is WHAT IF I DON’T JOURNAL? WHAT WILL BE THE COST?

From a research perspective, studies have shown that:

Journaling helps improve well-being after traumatic and stressful events. It improves cognitive functioning. It can strengthen immune system response. It can counteract many of the negative effects of stress. And journaling before bed has been shown to decrease cognitive stimulus, rumination, and worry, allowing you to fall asleep faster.

And handwriting in particular (which I am a big advocate for) can: increase neural activity in certain sections of the brain, similar to meditation; it can sharpen the brain and helps us learn; and it forces us to slow down and be in the moment.

So the real question you should be asking me and yourself is:

WHAT IF I DON’T JOURNAL? What will be the consequence?

How will I feel if I don’t? What will be the cost?

And…can I afford not to journal?

Join me on November 13 to get the confidence you need to start your own personalised journaling practice. https://seekerandsage.com/product/journal-your-way-masterclass/