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• It develops strong writing skills and practices: Journaling progressively reveals the hidden writer inside.

   

• It improves communication skills: Journaling is a form of written communication to oneself. Since writing has critical interconnections to speaking, the frequent revisiting of written thoughts translates into actual vocalization.

   

• It improves sleep: The act of writing down whatever causes concern and conflict imparts a feeling that it is being addressed. It allows you to finally relax.

   

• It provides a life-changing activity for parents and grandparents to conduct with their children and grandchildren until they are old enough to perform it themselves;

   

• It subconsciously impacts behavior, personality and character: Daily recording and reflecting on events, problems and objectives will gradually carry over into other aspects of your life. For example, journaling has been credited to reduce procrastination, increase self-esteem and foster self-confidence.

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• It calms and distracts feelings of isolation; 

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• It is potentially the most life altering routine you can add to your daily schedule: If you were to change one thing in your life right now, look no further.

   

In addition, it facilitates:

• self improvement by:​

  • strengthening:​

    • self-discipline. Setting time aside to write is an act of discipline. Habits and discipline formed in one area of life have a tendency to spread. Discipline begets discipline;

    • self-confidence. Journaling about positive experiences allows your brain to relive it. It reaffirms your abilities whenever self-doubt appears. The release of endorphins and dopamine boost your self-esteem and mood;

    • self-promotion. Never be at a loss for words when the unexpected 'elevator pitch' moment arrives? Avoid stumbling through questions such as: 'Tell me a little about yourself?' 'What have you accomplished?' 'What do you want from life?' 'What motivates you?' 'Who are your heroes?...your idols?' 'Tell me some life-lessons learned.' 'What's your story?'

    • the ability to recognize the need to pivot. By writing about what worked and what didn't during the day helps identify which activities and practices should be changed or eliminated and not repeated out of habit;

    • emotional intelligence, the ability to perceive and manage your emotions and that of others;

    • self-trust;

    • physiological functioning;

    • speaking in public;

    • management skills;

    • your marriage;

    • your friendships.

• increasing:

  • spirituality.

  • productivity;

  • gratitude;

  • optimism;

• reducing:

  • self-centered tendencies and the preoccupation with self;

  • feelings of envy;

  • procrastination.

• self-discovery by:

  • documenting and reviewing past experiences, you will tend to plan better for tasks ahead;

  • processing your own emotions and becoming self-aware promotes empathy to understand what others are experiencing;

  • stretching your IQ. Journaling is an exploration of language. It expands your vocabulary, one of the best measures of overall intelligence;

  • evoking mindfulness and engagement of your thoughts;

  • helping to develop your personality;

  • making you friendlier;

  • providing a form of therapy which enables returning in a better and smarter state;

  • boosting your career;

  • spending more time achieving your own goals rather than submitting to the agendas of others;

  • revealing and tracking patterns and cycles;

  • acting as your own counsellor;

  • improving self-awareness;

  • re-framing your approach to life;

  • directing intention and discernment;

  • improving sensitivity;

  • interpreting your symbols and dreams;

  • building your identity and sense of self;

  • becoming comfortable in your own skin;

  • offering new perspectives;

  • integrating peaks and valleys in your life;

  • exposing your place in the whole picture;

  • offering balance and harmony;

  • bringing things together;

  • helping to discover your voice;

  • helping to fully experience and understand your emotions;

  • identifying clarity and incongruities in your life;

  • forming your path in life;

  • improving decision making;

  • bridging inner thinking with outer events;

  • offering the opportunity to communicate your feelings in a tangible way;

  • unlocking the thoughts and feelings you might be disregarding;

  • recording subconscious breakthroughs and creative bursts;

  • acknowledging and dignifying all events;

  • being honest, trusting, non-judgmental;

  • the triumph of consciousness over the unconscious.

• memory by:

  • capturing ideas when they occur, which otherwise would be forgotten;

  • logging memories and recording your life history;

  • increasing brain development through the act of writing down;

  • forcing engagement in cognitive recall hence boosting comprehension;

  • reviewing frequently and reconstructing past events.

• problem solving by:

  • improving your decision making ability through frequent review;

  • using experience gained bouncing back from challenges;

  • avoiding procrastination;

  • creating plans of execution.

• healing by:

  • translating experiences into language makes them understandable and provides emotional, physical and psychological routes to healing;

  • freeing yourself from becoming mentally tangled in traumas and baffling situations;

  • dealing with death and other tragedies;

  • addressing relationships;

  • addressing the past;

  • improving feelings of well-being;

  • improving mental health and happiness;

  • soothing troubled memories.

• additional benefits of maintaining a daily diary:

  • children who keep diaries are more likely to plot out their own life, long before graduation;

  • other people tend to stop planning your life for you;

  • unsilence events that otherwise stay silent;

  • create a first hand historical account for yourself as well as generations to come of life during global events and crises such as the Corona Virus Covid 19 pandemic and the Trump presidency.