Journaling as a well-being practice

Jan 6

Written by Ani Hovhannisyan, PhD

Today, I am writing my very first blog post with a heart full of gratitude and excitement. Seeing how well-being is becoming a more and more important topic both for individuals and organizations fills me with hope and gives me the energy to create and be a part of this meaningful mission.

We are fortunate to live in an era where science-based well-being tools and practices are abundant and keep evolving and improving. How great is this?! This prosperity of options, however, sometimes may feel challenging and make it difficult for us to choose where and how to start our intentional well-being journey. When it comes to well-being practices, it is no news that there are no “one size fits all” solutions. Our task is to determine which one of those practices works best for us, considering our needs, intentions, and current life circumstances.

My life quality and overall well-being levels have significantly enhanced since I discovered that daily journaling is one of the main activities that fits me most of the time. If you are also pursuing a good fit or want to upgrade your well-being game, let this article guide you on your purposeful journey.

Types and benefits of journaling

Journaling is a relatively new term. However, writing for self-awareness, self-improvement, and recording life events has been common for centuries. History is full of names of people who kept diaries. My personal favorite is Marcus Aureliuse’s “Meditations”. He journaled to build character, to be more self-aware, to reflect on his thoughts, emotions, and actions as an emperor, father, husband, brother, philosopher, and to thrive in those areas of his life.

Nowadays, thanks to the development of psychological science, journaling has become a structured, evidence-based, and accessible practice for anyone who wants to engage in this practice.

Expressive writing

One of the most researched types of journaling is expressive writing, which was introduced and first studied by Pennebaker and Beall (1986). Initially, this form of writing has been performed in controlled research settings, where people would write down their thoughts and emotions about their most traumatic memories or intensely stressful and disturbing events. It usually took 3-5 uninterrupted writing sessions, each lasting 15-30 minutes (Krentzman et al., 2023). This protocol is called written emotional disclosure (WED) and is used to study its effects on various physical and mental health-related topics among different groups or people (Pavlacic et al., 2019).

Indeed, the list of positive benefits of expressive journaling includes but is not limited to (Baikie et al., 2005)

Health benefits

Improved immune functioning
Reduced blood pressure
Improved lung function
Improved liver function
Fewer days in hospital
Improved mood/affect
Feeling of greater psychological well-being
Reduced depressive symptoms before examinations
Fewer post-traumatic intrusion and avoidance symptoms

Social and behavioral outcomes

Reduced absenteeism from work
Quicker re-employment after a job loss
Improved working memory
Improved sporting performance
Higher grade point averages among students
Altered social and linguistic behavior

Nowadays, various individuals also practice expressive writing independently to overcome stressful, conflicting, and worrisome experiences.

Interactive Journaling

Another evidence-based form of journaling is called interactive journaling. It is a trademarked practice of The Change Companies. These journals aim to support efforts to achieve behavioral change (Krentzman et al., 2022). They are mainly used in addiction and mental health treatment and have remedial or rehabilitative purposes. However, they can also engage with positive psychological interventions and be used in various frameworks, such as educational and corporate (Bagley, 2019).

Other types of journaling

Many other forms of journals serve our well-being in one way or another. Among those is reflective journaling, primarily used in educational contexts to improve learning and foster critical thinking. Journals are used for mindfulness, others to cultivate gratitude, or to improve learning and reflective thinking. More widespread options are goal-oriented journals/planners, which support habit-building and goal achievement.

Love of handwriting

As a journaling nerd (I have been journaling for more than a decade already...), I have tried all the abovementioned journal types. Initially, it was mostly diary entries, but with time, I have adopted new writing strategies that serve my well-being. I journal for various reasons: to create a calm headspace and set clear intentions to start my day, to regulate my emotions, to reflect on my actions, to sit with my thoughts, to appreciate my achievements, and to plan for new ones… Thanks to these regular journaling practices, I significantly enhanced the quality of my life, strengthened my mental health, established meaningful and nourishing connections, and achieved my goals. Well, most of them… Besides all these benefits, I write simply for its own sake; I savor the writing process per se, and I love that feeling when the pen touches the paper.

With time, my love of journaling grew so much that it transcended into something new and independent, a science-based well-being journal I was happy to create in collaboration with BBA Organic, a clean beauty human-centered company and an advocate of holistic well-being.

I have named the journal be.come. Let me guide you through what it stands for and how it can enhance your and your loved ones’ well-being.

be.come an eclectic well-being journal

Sometimes, in our pursuits of happiness and self-improvement, we tend to be mostly future-oriented and/or focus on what we don’t have yet (I will be happy when I am…, when I have…, etc.). Even if we get what we want, we quickly try to move towards the next one. Sometimes, we are so busy about our becoming that we simply forget to be. We are absent from our present, and our happiness somehow ends up staying in the future.

The be.come journal aims to balance these states of being and becoming and serve people to build sustainable well-being. The core message of be.come is expressed in the title itself.

The ‘be’ is about living the present fully, freely expressing our authentic selves, savoring various experiences, showing mastery in our craft, nourishing our relationships, enjoying our achievements, and being connected with things bigger than us.

The ‘dot’ is about slowing down to create space and time for deep reflections, appreciation, celebrations, self-discovery, learning, dreaming, and goal setting. This is the place where one’s past, present, and future selves meet and have a soulful conversation.

The ‘come’ is about diligent goal pursuit, discipline, trying, learning, effort, and progress. It is the execution and completion part.

This is a continuous and iterative process that keeps evolving throughout our lifetime. To anchor this core message, the be.come journal provides a carefully structured path in the form of evidence-based worksheets and reading chunks to safely and fully experience all the stages of be.coming mentioned above.

Being primarily a well-being journal, be.come is based on positive psychology theories and interventions. Aiming to provide an optimal journaling experience, it contains elements from the abovementioned journaling practices, such as expressive writing and interactive journaling. This eclecticism makes be.come a comprehensive and solid well-being tool that provides evidence-based guidance on self-awareness, mindful self-care, meaningful goal pursuit, and flourishing.

Your turn?!

I leave you with some questions that may help you think about the various areas of your well-being and at the same time serve as a good starting point for your journaling practice.

You can start as simple as

How am I feeling right now?
What have I savored today?
What am I thankful for?
What am I anxious about?
What emotions/experiences/conversations am I avoiding?
How am I treating my sadness, anger, confusion…?

If you want to reflect further, choose a particular life domain and reflect on the following questions related to five core well-being areas.

How often do I feel positive/negative experiences? What makes me experience these emotions, and how can I intensify/alleviate them?
How engaged/disengaged am I in this life domain/activity? What gives me energy, and what drains it?
Which relationships are nourishing and supportive, and what brings discomfort and discouragement? How can I nourish/minimize them?
What is my bigger purpose? Are my daily activities aligned with it? How can I strengthen this connection?
What are my main achievements in this area of my life? Are they aligned with my values? Do they bring me fulfillment? What do I want to achieve next?

Whatever you decide, I hope you will start from a deep, appreciative perspective. Journaling may be a new activity for you, but your journey toward well-being started much earlier. You have already done and achieved so much. Give yourself credit for your efforts and celebrate your accomplishments. I hope journaling will further enrich your journey of well-being and lead you to flourishing. Have fun!

Notes

* you can order the be.come journal on the BBA Organic LLC webpage or by directly contacting the author Ani Hovhannisyan, PhD via LinkedIn.

References

Baikie, K. A., & Wilhelm, K. (2005). Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing. Advances in psychiatric treatment, 11(5), 338-346.

Bagley, V. (2021). Interactive Journaling as a Positive Intervention: Examining an Established Practice Through the Lens of Positive Psychology.

Krentzman, A. R., Hoeppner, B. B., Hoeppner, S. S., & Barnett, N. P. (2023). Development, feasibility, acceptability, and impact of a positive psychology journaling intervention to support addiction recovery. The Journal of Positive Psychology, 18(4), 573-591.

Pavlacic, J. M., Buchanan, E. M., Maxwell, N. P., Hopke, T. G., & Schulenberg, S. E. (2019). A meta-analysis of expressive writing on posttraumatic stress, posttraumatic growth, and quality of life. Review of General Psychology, 23(2), 230-250.

Pennebaker, J. W., & Beall, S. K. (1986). Confronting a traumatic event: toward an understanding of inhibition and disease. Journal of abnormal psychology, 95(3), 274.

About the author

Ani Hovhannisyan, PhD is the Education and Scientific Advisor at Wellbeing Designers. She contributes through counseling, science communication, and creating various wellbeing-focused, evidence-based trainings, courses, or other educational materials for individuals and organizations. She is also the author of be.come, an eclectic wellbeing journal based on positive psychological theories and interventions. Being an advocate of mental health since her undergraduate years as a psychology student, Ani dedicates a lot of time educating young people in her home country, Armenia, on various wellbeing and learning-related topics and practices.