Does Journaling Help?
I initially entered journaling as something you do when you’re 14 years old, and are writing your ‘feelings’ about the girl you met in the hallway after 2nd period in middle school. It has a little lock that you keep hidden from your Sister; probably something cutesy like the below product from Amazon (I don’t recommend buying this, I just wanted to post a source).
Journaling is so much more.
After subscribing to Austin Kleon’s blog, which was actually recommended from another blog I read named Out of Curiosity from Reza Saeedi.
I bumped across this beautiful post (from Austin) on Morning Pages. If you get the chance, I’d definitely recommend going to the source and reading this summary.
Skimming through net of articles and posts — the line I want to distill from Oliver Burkeman is:
I write, by hand, until I’ve filled three sides of an A5 notebook with words no-one else will ever see. The length requirement is fixed, but apart from that, anything goes. The rule is to keep the pen moving (and if you can’t think of anything to write about, just write about that). Simple.
I’m not really the best at writing straight prose, so I follow a bit more of what Austin does.
I do three pages minimum in my diary every morning. It’s not exactly freewriting, more old-fashioned diary, mixed with the occasional comics and diagrams. …It’s like emptying out the junk in your brain. The reason I sometimes prefer it to straight prose on notebook paper is that you can more easily see the connections between all the weird crap on your mind.
My morning routine.
At night — no phone in the room.
First and foremost, you can’t have a phone in the room when you go to bed (and thus wake up with it). Your brain is too fresh when you’ve first woken up to be tainted and polluted by all the WhatsApp nonsense, Facebook messages, Twitter notifications, and the slew of WeChat, Slack, and E-mails you have streaming to your phone.
What do you do for an alarm, you may ask?
I use our Amazon Alexa to set an alarm before I go to sleep. If you’re freaked out because Amazon will hear you sleep — then get an analog alarm.
Wake up at 6:30am.
I just like to wake up early, some folks like to wake up later. Everyone’s sleep cycle is different. That’s cool. Just find your own routine — and follow it.
Make something hot.
I love something warm in the morning, whether it be tea or coffee.
Morning Journal for 3 pages.
As Oliver mentioned, I just write 3 pages. I take out my ReMarkable tablet (which has been a godsend), and just write. Below are some examples of things that I’ve written in the morning.
They’re random.
A fire that we experienced the night before, an excerpt of how happiness works from The Blue Mind: The Surprising Science That Shows How Being Near, In, On, or Under Water Can Make You Happier, Healthier, More Connected, and Better at What You Do (an amazing book, that I’d definitely recommend you pick up).
After I’m done. Then I’ll pick up my phone.
All-in-all it takes about 15–20 minutes (maximum) in the morning to write this. It’s just like making a coffee, taking a shower, it’s part of my mental cleansing routine, just like taking a shower. It’s amazing how many things are swirling around my head, and just getting them out allows me to better focus throughout the day. It’s been a release to be able to just get my thoughts down — just me, my mind, and this piece of ‘paper’.
This is day 3 of my #90DayOfProse challenge.
