by Leo Wiles
14 August 2015
Posterity, self-indulgence, self-awareness, mindfulness… there are a million reasons why die-hard journal-keepers put pen to paper. And studies show that while it can be great for your health, it’s also widely believed that writers who journal become, well, better writers all round.
It’ll probably come as no surprise that the more you write, the better you become at it – and the very nature of journalling serves up an impulsive, no-pressure way to let go and play with your craft.
When, as a gangly 13-year-old, I began putting pen to paper in my Kaz Cooke diary, not even a nosy stepmother crowing over my misspelt entries could put me off. Journaling was where I straightened my thoughts and poured out my horse crazy (then boy crazy) thoughts. It tracked me through my Grand Tour, the birth and death of my first marriage and was a witness and testament to the painful journey of leaving the father of my children. Writing those lines nightly in bed enabled me to put the relationship in perspective and rid me of any doubts about striking out as a single mother.
I for one share avid journaler and poet Virginia Wolfe’s viewpoint that diaries are indeed a bridge between our present selves and our future ones. They offer a safe place to harness your goals and create blueprints for them. Even scientific research shows that when we write something down it is a red flag to our brain that this information is more important than feeding the dog or buying new shoelaces.
Rather than being a narcissistic tool, I feel that on the rare occasions I have dared to open their dusty pages these books, with their photo bookmarks, come into their own to see how I have grown as an individual. That being said, I won’t be using these 30-plus books as how-to handbooks for my kids. In fact I have a burn-on-death agreement with my family, as these novellas are highly intimate minutia outpourings. Through those pages I view the way in which my writing physically and intellectually has changed, along with my world view and the areas of my life I am most interested in.
These pages have also offered up irrefutable proof that this too will pass and offers that change is the only true constant. Or as the fabulous Oscar Wilde lightly commented: “I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read on the train.”
According to University of Texas psychologist and researcher James Pennebaker’s the real benefits of journaling is the opportunity to be honestly reflective. Indicating in his paper that writing about stressful events helps you come to terms with them, and that regular journaling for 20 minutes a day strengthens immune cells, called T-lymphocytes, thus reducing the impact of these stressors on your physical health.
One will never know what solace young Anne Frank possibly the world’s most famous diarist received from her writings. For the brave young writer who shared her life in The Diary of A Young Girl died never knowing the power of her musings: “For someone like me, it is a very strange habit to write in a diary. Not only that I have never written before, but it strikes me that later neither I, nor anyone else, will care for the outpouring of a thirteen year old schoolgirl.” How wrong Anne was.
So there you have it: words can change lives, even those written under the light of a bedside lamp and offered to an audience of one.
These days my diaries are less concerned with the day to day forms of self fulfilment. Even the annual check up on finance, spiritual, children, family, health and wealth has taken a back seat and lies buried in the back like a bad habit I still can’t kick. Instead, my diary is geared like my touchstone the Artist’s Way – towards being more creative and artistically fulfilled. Tonight I even downloaded the new free app Morpholio Journal: Write, Sketch, Note, Draw and Organize Ideas in a Paper Sketchbook as a way to track those thoughts that can so easily escape you, especially at 3am.
Do you write a journal and notice the tangible benefits in your life? We’d love to hear from you…
Photo by Kelly Jean, Unsplash
Lovely column 🙂 They can also prove excellent spaces to ‘draft’ letters to people you need time to brew over. Even if you’re not aware of it. My thinking is these days so tied to the process of writing, I have to write to kick of the thinking process. When my partner and I split many years ago – and fortunately, got back together – I workshopped everything in my journal and my letters to him were, as a result, pretty clear and self-aware. I admit i don’t keep one now … unless I’m travelling. We travelled for 7 months about 3 years back and together journalled about our travels every night. We’d have competitions over who could capture the crazy days the best (he’s a writer too). Now, we have 3 journals stuffed with our travels that bring SO much more delight than millions of photos we never look at. We’re just regretful we didn’t do it on all our other journeys.
Dear Kate,
Thank you for your lovely feedback. I am in complete agreement about those drafts. Although I often like doing those on a separate sheet so that I can then cathartically burn them and let go.
Unlike your travel diaries which sound like they should be kept in a fire proof box along with all your other valuables.
Hi Leo
Great post. I am a huge believer in journal writing. Now I am more erratic than a few years ago when I wrote daily. But it is such an important way of understanding ourselves and finding clarity on the deeper issues. It is also helpful as a way to get rid of the ‘mental dross’ so we can then write the stuff we get paid to write with more clarity. It’s as if we need to get out of our own way and journalling does that. I love James Pennebaker’s work, too. One of my courses is ‘Storytelling for the Soul’ and it’s amazing how techniques like journaling can open gateways. Have you ever tried journaling with your non-dominant hand? for most people that’s the left hand. It’s revlationary!
Thanks for the post,Claire.
A woman after my own heart Claire – I find it’s like a mental filing process where sometimes we can bin the unhelpful before keeping it forever. old
Oops, typo there. That should be ‘revelationary’.