Journaling Your Way To Happiness

Oprah has said it and so will I, keeping a daily journal is
an excellent way to help yourself to a generous dose of
Happiness.

In studies conducted, it has been found that writing the
events of the day in a journal drastically increases your
powers of recall and memory. It also helps to ‘unload’ all
the baggage you’ve collected during the day. It helps you
to remember all the blessings you’ve been sent and the new
ways you learned to overcome an obstacle. It allows you to
see all the wonderful things that happened today and reminds
you to be grateful.

Congratulate yourself on all the good you did, the lessons
you learned and even just getting through the day to the
best of your ability.

Journaling helps you to go back through each event that
happened during the day and analyze your reaction to that
event. This way you can gain valuable information that
slipped past in the rush.

You see interactions with others (good and bad) and can
learn from them.
-Was reacting in that way the best way to handle the
situation?
-If you’d approached him from this angle, would a better
result have been achieved for all parties involved?

You reinforce your memory by reviewing the day’s
happenings.
-By going over the day’s events your memory is forced to
recall details that you would otherwise have forgotten.
This re-enforces the path of your memory and you’ll find
it easier to recall specific events.

You also see the gifts you were given during the day
-A smile from a stranger or a compliment from the cute
guy in the lift.
-That taxi pulling up just in time, when you knew you were
going to be late

You can keep a record of anything new that you learned.
-This helps to show you that you are, in fact, learning
something new every day, which gives your self-confidence
a boost.

It’s also good to look back over previous journals and
see how you’ve developed as a person and to reminisce.
This way you can see how all the hard work you put into
improving your life, is paying off.

Journaling allows you to write down what you’re grateful
for, which gives you a profound sense of humility and
gratitude in amongst all the thoughts of ‘lack’.

Here’s how I get the most benefit out of journaling:

I got myself a ‘day per page’ journal and made a deal
with myself that I would write in it every night, before
going to sleep.

I write down everything that happened during the day.

The good and bad (be careful to use positive language
and always give a good side to a bad event). How you
handled situations, things you learned, people you met,
gifts you received (a hug from a friend or your daughter
waving goodbye as you go to work)

Writing everything out helps clarify a situation, put
things into perspective, clears the negative and affirms
the positive.

At the bottom of the page I summarize the new things
I’ve learned and the things that happened today that
I’m grateful for.

I’ve found this to be a wonderful way to remind myself
of all the good things that happen to me every day. In
a world where we habitually tend to think negatively,
a journal can be our own little ray of sunshine.