Journals & Logs for Personal Growth

Many people thing that bigger changes + bigger results, but Stephen Guise's tiny little miracle of a book proves this theory dead-wrong. He recommends logging your habits of course which can be enormously helpful for accountability. But we would also add to his concept, and say that combingin Mini-Habits with daily Writing can be especially powerful. While change happens incrementally, Infitnite Banking teaches us, compounded growth is POWERFUL!

Because there are so VERY many types and reasons to journal, let's start with my top 3 favorites!

Gripe Journals

So many of us are told to "stop complaining" when growing up, or feel we have no one to listen to our complaints as we get older. People just assume we have a partner or spouse to commiserate our troubles with. But many of us don't, for whatever reasons. Enter "GRIPE JOURNALS!" Just complain to the blank page. Get that crap out of your spirit. Complain about a sister in law, complain about the neighbors. You don't have to keep it for years and years. Burn it each time if you'd like. But DO NOT hold that stuff in. Gripe Journalling is an excellent way to get it out of you in a healthy way. 

Self-Discovery Journal

Remember the old "Get to know you in 20 questions" posts? It's most similar to those just longer. You pick a prompt/question, and begin, but with the specific aim of learning something new about yourself! I really enjoy picking up this journal "randomly" when I have an afternoon come free and just seeing where it leads me -- for the fun of it. This one is not meant to be anything heavy like "self-healing", just for the sake of taknig the time to get to know yourself and not lose touch.

Trigger Journals

For the purpose of personal growth these are my absolute favorite. You will learn an ENORMOUS amount about yourself and your life through this simple act of tracknig what Triggers you when you experience any unpleasant or "uninvited" emotion. 

These are usually done at the end of the day, after someone has done or said something earlier in the day that had you feeling dis-regulated, but you didn't know exactly why in the moment.  You simply list out:

• What sparked you to feel off-center.
• What you felt emotionally, or sensed in your body physically.
• How you reacted (launch into action? shut down? kept silent?) 
• Why you think it happened
• Anything you learned about yourself through it. (Like, how you can get re-regulated faster, or what technique worked for you, or didn't work for you) 
• Fun fact: if you're able to do it in the moment -- while you're triggered -- I like to call them "Purge-to-the-Page" sessions! Or if the emotion is anger, I like to call it "Rage-to-the-Page". It was very helpful to me in my early days of unpacking emotional baggage.

PRO-TIP: 

If you desire to have more consistency in your journalling (or any area of life, really), try using the "Mini-habits" method! For journaling more consistently, you just commit to not getting into bed until you Journal a mere FIVE words per day...and see where it leads you.

That's it. That's all it takes. Seriously, if you've never read Stephen's Guise's book called Mini Habits, you MUST! It's truly fantastic and will change how you approach forming any habit in life. (And no I'm not an affiliate for him; his book is just fantastic!) 

OTHER COMMON TYPES

• Tears / Grief Journal (if you cry easily, these help you notice what sparks it)
• Meditation Journals, Yoga Journals (to track progress
• Therapy Journal: Track your own "progression" thru your sessions
• Reflective Journals or Nostalgia Journals, to keep Memories alive
• Period Journals (menstrual cycle changes, moods, etc)
• Fertility / Pregnancy Journal (for all sorts of reasons/benefits unique to you)
• Inner Child Journals (logging and working thru early-memories as they arise)
• Friend Journal (great for kids to observe/learn what it means to be a "friend")
• Poetry / Nature / Symbolism Journal (just for the fun of reflecting on nature)
• BrainDump / Overwhelm Journal (to help you notice what's sparking it)
• Gratitude Journals  (text or scrapbook style)
• Dating / Marriage Journal (your relationships are a GREAT source for personal growth material to learn from LOL)
• Vision Journal (AKA Vision board"; or can be a daily scrapbook/collage style)
• Parent-Child Journal (two-party; two way journal to feel connected)
• Art Therapy Journal (working thru specific memories/issues)
• Art Journal ("Scrapbook" /"Sketchbook" style for the joy of sensory-play)

LESS COMMON TYPES

Other uses of Notebooks and Journaling includes when you want to Log or "Track" various habits, or patterns:

• Dream Log
• Self-Care Log
• Food Log
• New Habit Tracker
• Appreciation Log
• Life-Quote Log
• Goal-Tracker
• Productivity Tracker
• Travel Journal/Log
• Seasonal Bucket List Log
• Grief/Memorial Logs to keep someone's memory alive. 

CML'S BRAND NEW METHOD

Try CML's "WAVE Journalling" brand new method, a simple 4-step method to process  your emotions quicker, and deeper...