6 Reasons Why You Should Keep A Journal and Tips for Journaling

By Dr. Barrett Mosbacker

July 06, 2018

I never used to journal or keep a diary.

I suppose there are several reasons for this. Earlier in my life, I thought of journaling — keeping a diary — as something only girls did. I probably came to that false conclusion because my early exposure to journaling was always limited to female examples. The Diary of Anne Frank is one.

A second reason is that, sadly, reading and writing were not highly valued in my childhood home. My mother never went to college, and my father joined the military before graduating high school. They were good parents, but neither placed a premium on the development of the mind. The idea of voluntarily spending time as a teenager or young man writing in a journal — without being forced to by a teacher — was the farthest thing from my mind.

I was wrong. History is replete with famous people who kept journals: Thomas Jefferson, Charles Darwin, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Winston Churchill, to name a few. None other than George Washington kept a daily diary for much of his life, from his first surveying trip in 1748 until December 13, 1799, the day before his death.

The question is why. Why take the time and develop the discipline to journal? I believe there are at least six good reasons.

1. Journaling helps us remember the small daily events that compose the majority of our lives.

Life has its peaks and valleys, but we live most of it on the plains of our daily journey. Unless we capture, savor, and learn from the countless monochrome moments that compose the majority of our lives, they will be absorbed into the gray mist of life and history — gone, forgotten, and indistinguishable from all others.

It is easy to miss the small and seemingly insignificant events that continuously fill our lives. Because there are so many such moments, it is easy to lose sight of the arc of our life’s journey. These moments are precious not because they are colorful, unique, or profound but because they are life — they are the warp and woof of our imprint upon our families, colleagues, and the world, and their mark upon us. They are worth remembering and savoring. Keeping and reviewing a journal reveals our life’s journey in all of its plainness and grandeur.

2. Our lives are enriched, saddened — sometimes shattered — and redirected by peaks and valleys. They must not be forgotten.

These events must be embraced as opportunities for celebration, deep learning, and trusting God’s providence.

Having experienced many turning points in life, I have adopted Proverbs 16:9 as my life verse:

The heart of man plans his way, but the Lord establishes his steps (Proverbs 16:9).

While I remember some of these turning points, I have forgotten or failed to recognize others. And sadly, my recollection of them is imprecise. I wish I had captured the details of those turning points, reflecting on my feelings and the lessons learned from them.

Journaling captures these pivotal events so that we can remember and redeem them for our good and the good of others. Journaling helps us discover the good from bad — even shattering — events that at the time reveal only brokenness. It often takes time, and sometimes never in this life, to recognize the immutable but often mysterious truth that

…for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose (Romans 8:28).

The rearview mirror — our journal — is sometimes the best way to see God’s goodness in what the Puritans called “His frowning providences.”

3. Writing is good for you.

For those who do not like to write, journaling may be good for you — like eating your vegetables and exercising: unpleasant but worthwhile. Seriously, the evidence is overwhelming that writing is good for our brains and our souls. Writing can serve as a calming, meditative tool. Stream-of-consciousness writing exercises, in particular, have been identified as helpful stress-coping methods. Keeping a journal or trying free-writing exercises can substantially reduce stress. Moreover, writing activates specific regions of the brain. The frontal lobe, associated with speaking and writing, is also responsible for movement, reasoning, judgment, planning, and problem-solving. The parietal lobe, which interprets words and language, is equally important; patients with damage to this area often have difficulty spelling and writing by hand.

Judy Willis, a neurologist and teacher-consultant, expands upon the benefits of writing:

Consider all of the important ways that writing supports the development of higher-process thinking: conceptual thinking; transfer of knowledge; judgment; critical analysis; induction; deduction; prior-knowledge evaluation (not just activation) for prediction; delay of immediate gratification for long-term goals; recognition of relationships for symbolic conceptualization; evaluation of emotions, including recognizing and analyzing response choices; the ability to recognize and access information stored in memory circuits throughout the brain’s cerebral cortex that are relevant to evaluating and responding to new information or for producing new creative insights — whether academic, artistic, physical, emotional, or social.

4. A journal helps you celebrate your successes and learn from your mistakes.

I use a template for my journal entries. One section of the template is titled “How did I do today?” Answering this question prompts me to reflect on what I did well, what I did not do so well, and what I learned personally and professionally.

5. A journal fosters gratitude if you write down at least one thing for which you are thankful each day.

To prompt me to focus on my blessings, I include “I am thankful for/that” in my journal template. Counting one’s blessings at the end of a day — no matter how difficult the day was — is good for the soul and fosters a good night’s sleep.

6. Your children and grandchildren will learn more about you.

A journal serves as an autobiography for your family. They will learn a great deal about you — things you never thought to share or that they have long since forgotten. Think of your journal not so much as preserving your memory as offering a gift. I certainly wish I knew more about my parents and grandparents now that they are gone.

A Word of Caution

I recommend that you not include negative, private, or sensitive information about others in your journal. There is always the risk that your journal will be found and read by others. Recording confidential information runs the risk of damaging reputations or causing hurt — a risk that extends beyond your own lifetime. Assuming you want family members to have a chronicle of your life, keep the content generous and circumspect.

What Tool to Use

There is an abundance of paper and digital options for journaling. What one chooses depends a great deal on the purpose of the journal and on personal writing preferences. Some people think and write better with pen and paper; others prefer a digital format that allows quick searching and writing from any device. Based on my own purpose and preferences, here are the criteria I applied in selecting a journaling tool.

• I prefer digital journals because I can quickly make new entries, correct mistakes, search prior entries, and write from any of my devices wherever I am. A paper journal can be lost or destroyed more easily than a digital version backed up in the cloud, and it is inherently less secure.
• The journal must not be dependent on particular software or hardware, so that if I change platforms my journal can travel with me.
• The file format must be timeless and software-independent — future-proof, in other words. Proprietary formats such as those used by Microsoft Word, Evernote, Apple Pages, or Google Docs run the risk of becoming inaccessible if the format is abandoned or significantly altered. This is why I write in plain text, using Markdown — a simple formatting syntax compatible with nearly any program or platform.

Other Tips

Here are a few additional tips to keep in mind as you journal:

• Copy and paste text messages and other meaningful communications from family and friends that are particularly significant to you.
• Include your location to remind you of where and when you made the entry.

Create a Journal Template

Consider creating a journal template to use each time you begin a new entry. A template provides a consistent structure for thinking and writing without being unduly confining. One can always skip sections and add other thoughts as desired. I use the following template:

Date — formatted as year-month-day, which makes it easier to sort entries chronologically.

Where — indicates where the entry is being written: on the beach, in another country, in the backyard.

Highlights — brief bullet points of key events since your last entry: the birth of a child, the loss of a friend, an encouraging word received, or a particularly significant news story.

Thoughts — unlike the Highlights section, this is the space for deeper reflection. How did this event or this person affect me? How did I affect others? What is God teaching me? How am I feeling? What insights have I gained?

I am thankful for/that — as noted above, this is where you take time to count your blessings, naming them one by one. Although some entries will be general — thankfulness for family or health — try to identify more particular blessings, however small. I recently wrote in my journal that I was grateful for my dog Charlie, who “sits on my lap or lies next to me whenever I am home. He also loves to play fetch with his bunny and share snacks with me in my recliner. He never leaves me; he is my constant companion.”