New Year Beginnings: The Power of Journaling

Raise your hand if you’ve decided to try something new for 2023 🖐🏽

At the beginning of the year, I’m curious about exploring new things—or even different ways to do old things. This year, I’m diving into the latter–exploring new ways to do an old thing: Journaling.

But first, I’m curious: Are you in the pro-journaling group or the no-journaling group? Because over the years, when I’ve brought up journaling in classes or on social media, I’ve found there are three responses that generally appear:

1. Groans and a sense of dread rises up. They have tried journaling or haven’t tried it, but they don’t like it or it “doesn’t work.”
2. Isn’t adverse to journaling, but they don’t really know how to do it.
3. Loves journaling and would like to do it more often.

None of these responses are “wrong”—I know I struggled with journaling for a long time. In fact, if you asked me 7 years ago if I journalled, I would have definitely been part of Group 1.  However, my perspective on journaling changed when I signed up for an intuitive intensive that required you to journal.  I had paid a lot of money for this class, so I diligently followed the plan and discovered a whole new world of introspection. Journaling has become one of the most powerful intuitive tools in my toolbox and I use it for just about everything:

• Writing about my tarot and oracle cards pulls
• Keeping track of my cards and how they connect to my day/month/year
• Automatic writing with my Spirit Guides and Angels
• Diving into my shadow side
• Discovering what my Soul wants me to know
• Connecting to my Intuition
• Tracking my mediumship and intuitive work
• Writing or processing my day

Some days journaling consists of paragraphs upon paragraphs. Other days it’s a list or a series of notes. If things are slow, I might just doodle or draw circles while my soul settles in. It doesn’t look any one way. And all of those ways serve a purpose. This year, I plan on playing with watercolors first and then seeing what that opens up for me in terms of writing.

For those of you in the no-journaling group, I get it. If it isn’t your thing, that’s ok, but I also know the struggle to start something different is real. You don’t:

• Know what to write
• Have time
• Enjoy writing with ink and paper

So, I thought I’d drop in a few different ideas you can play with journaling, if journaling is on your list for 2023:

1. ‍Set a timer to remind you to journal. Our days get so busy. I don’t know about you, but time gets away from me. It’s morning and then all of sudden the sun is setting. Where did the day go?!? Setting a timer is an easy way to help you bring your intention to journal to the forefront and make sure the day doesn’t slip by.
2. Only journal for 5-10 minutes when you first start. I know this doesn’t seem like a lot of time, but we often don’t start something thinking we don’t have time for it. This is because we make it harder than it is. Just find 5 minutes every day to open your journal and write a few lines or doodle. We’re not looking for quality–we’re looking at creating a new pattern or habit. Make it easy to do that.
3. Be open to what your journal wants to become. Believe me when I say this—your journal does not need to have amazing, profound bits of wisdom in it. The goal isn’t what you write, it’s that you gave yourself space to sort your stuff out. Interestingly enough, I was cleaning up my office recently and found an old journal. I opened it up and landed on a page that was a series of pen stabs and aggressive circles. Clearly some anger needed to be processed–and I bet I was really grateful at that time to have a safe space to do it.

One final piece of advice: Your journal should be as unique as you are—an expression of your journey. Don’t compare yourself to what you see on Pinterest or online.

P.S. Curious about learning more? Sign up for the Spring waitlist for Spiritual Evolution Collective. We dive into all kinds of tools, techniques and topics that help you transform and evolve–not just on an intuitive level, but on a soul exploration level.