how to write in a daily journal
Food Log
If you are health-conscious, a food log will be an excellent option for you. You can arrange your meals day-wise or week wise and have a year-long record of the calories consumed. You can also pre-plan your meals and journal some meal ideas for future reference.
Exercise Log
Another exercise for the health-conscious people is to maintain an exercise journal. You can include your workout plans, schedule, moves, trainers or even videos to work out to. It can be used for cardio, yoga, running, Pilates, dance, swimming, or even martial arts.
Creative Writing
One of the best uses of a journal is for creative writing. Creative writing can include anything from personal essays to articles on current events. This is a great way to let your imagination run free and be your best artistic self.
Long Term Plans
Journals can also be used for making long term plans. These can be your yearly goals or a five-year plan. You can write an in-depth article on your vision for the future or make a list of things to achieve by a certain time.
A letter to Self
You can write a letter to yourself in a journal. This can be a letter to your past self or future self. It is known to be a very therapeutic technique of releasing inner limiting beliefs and open up a dialogue with your mind.
Past Mistakes
If you are carrying a lot of guilt around, you can journal your past mistakes. This makes it easier to put the guilt down on the paper and gives you a chance to move towards forgiveness.
Daily Goals
A journal can be a great way to keep track of your daily goals. You can make a to-do list in your journal and write details or the sub-tasks required to be performed during the day. You can add a little creativity and make it artistic. Or you can choose to have a simple organized structure and keep it minimalistic.
Weekly Plans
A lot of journals come with in-built planners. Or you can make a simple table planner by drawing seven boxes and labeling them with the days of the week. This can be your handy time table and keep your schedule organized. You can even schedule in the appointments or make a time slot style plan for the week.
Important Events
A journal can be used to mark important events like examination dates, birthdays, anniversaries, etc. Having this important information stored in a journal makes it easy to access and portable. You can refer to it anytime just by opening your journal.
Poems
Poetry is beautiful for creative journals. You can write poetry from imagination or use some writing prompts to write poetry. You can write poems with a rhyme scheme or a more generalized structure.
Short stories
Short stories are another creative addition to the journal. You can combine these with poetry or make a separate journal for short stories. These can be on any genre of your choice and can be of any structure that you think suits your writing style.
Anger Management
If you find yourself getting angry frequently, you can consider journaling your angry thoughts. It has been found that people who journal their angry thoughts tend to calm down and manage their anger better than those who react directly. This will make you a more organized, balanced and emotionally stable person.
Habit Tracker
Many people who enjoy journaling also use their journals, especially bullet journals for tracking their daily habits. You can track habits like reading, water levels, yoga, study, etc. You can stay on track and use this as an accountability partner to keep you motivated.
"The road to success and the road to failure are almost exactly the same." -- Colin R. Davis
Compliments
Writing down compliments works like writing down the good things. The difference here is when you are writing about the compliments you are boosting your self-esteem. Having a list of compliments serves as a reminder of our strengths and the good people in our life.
Writing Prompts
Writing Prompts is a great journaling tool for creativity. Writing prompts help you improve your writing skills and make a great versatile journaling topic. With writing prompts, you can write about your real-life events as well as fiction content.
Lessons of the Day
Lessons of the Day is another excellent topic for journaling. Writing lessons of the day makes you more knowledgeable with experience and writing. When you are focused on what you are learning, you become smarter and gain wisdom.
Daily Mood
A journal makes an amazing mood tracker. It is shown by scientific studies that noting down your mood in a general promotes psycho-social well-being. Tracking our moods make us aware of our feelings and maintain a record of your life.
Gratitude Diary
Gratitude is the number one factor associated with our individual levels of contentment. Keeping a gratitude journal promotes happiness and a sense of satisfaction. Just writing down 3 things you are grateful for every day makes you a more grateful and happy with the current state of life.
Review of the Day
A journal can be a good way to write a daily review. A daily review can include the day’s events, your routines, your overall emotions and activities during the day. It can work like a life record where you store all your memories.
Good things that happened to me
Writing down all the good things that happen to us promotes a sense of optimism. When we are feeling down, we can refer to this list and find joy in these happy memories.
Journalling is one of the best habits for a healthy mind. Journaling helps one distress and relax. It also helps in improving self-awareness and promotes psychological growth. Journaling is easy and has a lot of benefits for one’s well-being. If you are new to journaling, here are 20 ideas to write in a journal.
1. Daily Mood
2. Gratitude Diary
3. Review of the Day
4. Good things that happened to me
5. Compliments
6. Writing Prompts
7. Lessons of the Day
8. Poems
9. Short stories
10. Anger Management
11. Habit Tracker
12. Daily Goals
13. Weekly Plans
14. Important Events
15. Long Term Plans
16. A letter to Self
17. Past Mistakes
18. Food Log
19. Exercise Log
20. Creative Writing
Journaling is a very healthy habit for the mind and the soul. These ideas will help you get started on a great path of self-awareness. You can implement all of these or try them one by one. And soon, you will become an expert at journaling.