Writing anything and everything = good
Journaling has way too many benefits. It's not only your autobiography in the making, it's your personal space to vent whatever, whenever.
When we have negative thoughts causing us distress, sadness or whatever bad emotions we feel, the thoughts swirl around our brains often uncontrollably. You can think of them as like an old corded set of earpods you'd carry around in your pocket during high school. The cord gets tangled in a terrible mess, and so before we can begin listening to our favourite music we have to untangle the cord. This is what journaling is like for our thoughts. We can't just cut them off, but we can unravel and organise them in a way that makes us become more comfortable with them.
Once we start tackling our bad thoughts, why not start adding some positive ones? This is where practicing gratitude comes in. Every single person has something to be grateful for, and most certainly the person reading this who has access to a device with the internet. By writing these thoughts of things we are grateful for down, we can literally train our brain to think with gratitude all the time.
Say someone were to declare that today was a bad day. You begin, often unconsciously, to consider this statement carefully. You remember how your alarm didn't go off, how you missed your class because of it, how you also had to skip breakfast so now you're starving. Before you know it, that person was right - today is a bad f##king day!
But, say someone were to declare today was a good day. Now you begin thinking about the beautiful sunny weather, the perfect temperature outside, the remaining afternoon and evening to do whatever you please. It's truly a great time to be alive. Today is a good day!
Why not start by writing just a handful of things you're grateful for every single day? It's super easy with the notes app, but using a pen and paper gives you more artistic freedom as well as separating this practice from distractions on your phone.
The J in our name represents journaling and the infinite possibilities of what to write about. I haven't even discussed its potential for goal setting, brainstorming, drawing or any other uses you can imagine. Our goal at JERMs is to try and get you into buying and using your first journal. Not to mention, it's pretty enjoyable!