How do writing and happiness go together?
On our journey towards living a happier life, writing can be a great ‘support tool’ – a way of keeping track of our progress along that journey.
Writing can also help us to get back on track with the positive changes we are making in our lives, when we lose track of the path we have chosen. So writing and happiness can be very much linked.
There are many ways of writing: poetry, stories, letters to friends, letters to yourself, etc. My favourite way of using writing to explore my happiness (and my life in general) is to keep a journal. I would like to suggest that you give it a try too. And don’t forget that a journal can include the things I mentioned above, like poetry, if you wish.
Many people keep a journals in which they write down experiences, thoughts, ideas or feelings. Your journal can be formal or informal, daily or whenever, following guidelines or random, and private or public.
Keeping a journal will absolutely change your life in ways you’ve never imagined.
– Oprah Winfrey
There are many good reasons for keeping a journal. One of them is that it allows you to reflect on what your recent thoughts and behaviours have been – this raised awareness will help you to interrupt any patterns of negative thinking and behaviour and instead help you to create and maintain new, more positive, ones that make you happier.
If you aren’t convinced how writing and happiness can go together, via keeping a journal, here are some other benefits of keeping a journal:
A journal can help to clarify your goals. As you write down your thoughts and ideas each day, it will help you to gain clarity on what is important to you; what you want in life.
A journal can strengthen your relationships. It can give you a private place to express your feelings and clarify things in your mind. This will help you to understand and be patient with others.
A journal can affirm the reality of your life. Writing about life gives it more meaning and power. Journalling important events adds substance to them, and provides a treasured memento to look back at later.
And a journal can simply feel good! Perhaps by using quality paper and an ink pen it can become a wonderfully sensuous, delightful experience. Alternatively, you might take great pleasure in keeping an on-line blog (whether private or public), and making the layout and graphics look beautiful.
Clients sometimes tell me that they don’t have time to keep a journal – try it for 30 days, spending just 10 minutes a day, and see what a difference it makes….
Write about your successes, things you are grateful for, what you have done, what you think about things, and anything else you feel moved to write about. Look back through some of the posts in this blog to get ideas for some themes you might explore in your journal – there’s plenty of writing and happiness here… Write about anything and everything, but above all, just write!
Good luck!
And, tell me what you think – share your thoughts on writing and happiness, and how you have got on with keeping a journal – what difference has it made? – it’s great to hear your experiences, and I feature some of them in my newsletters (another place where writing and happiness go together!).
Leave a comment here, or email me: Mary@Coach-me-Happy.co.uk