10 Amazing Journals for Self-Discovery

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"Writing in a journal each day allows you to direct your focus to what you accomplished, what you're grateful for and what you're committed to doing better tomorrow. This, you are more deeply enjoy your journey each day." 

- Hal Elrod The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)

What is Journaling?

If you have ever written a diary, then you might know the many hidden benefits of how writing a journal impacts your health. At the time, you might not have realized it, but writing down your feelings helped you to balance your emotional and psychological wellbeing. However, as adults with long-term goals and ambitions for personal-growth, having a journal can have a powerful influence on your life. Journaling is very often linked to mental health because it can reduce stress and anxiety. It will help you to organize your thoughts and feelings.

 

The Benefits of Journaling

Journaling is sometimes overlooked, and most people don't know the many health benefits that come with writing your thoughts down. Here are a few reasons why journaling is so important:

Clarifies your mind

When you are feeling overwhelmed and unsure how you feel, taking a few minutes to write down your thoughts and feelings will instantly help you to make more sense of whats going on in your head and heart. Journaling brings your drifting mind back and allows you to be more self-aware of how you react to certain situations.

 

Reduces stress

Studies have observed that expressive writing, such as journaling, assists with improving mental health when we face stressful situations by encouraging us to deal with challenging circumstances more peacefully. Writing about your emotions, such as anger, sadness, and other painful or stressful emotions, helps to lessen the depth of these feelings. When you are in control of your feelings and feel in harmony with yourself, challenging situations will feel more comfortable to overcome.

Allows you to get to know yourself better

Not knowing yourself, it will lead to confusion and a lot of self hurting, but when you are aware of who you are, then you can support yourself in ways that you didn't know you could. When you begin to journal regularly, you start to discover more about yourself. Ultimately, you will begin to see the improvements in yourself, and then you will be able to look back and see how you overcome so many obstacles that you thought you couldn't do it.

 

Helps with self-development

Writing your goals down in your journal gives a sign to your mind, Writing down the thing that you want to achieve somehow stimulates your brain, and you will be more productive in chasing that dream. In fact, the more specific you are when you pen down your goals, the more prone you are to achieve them because your brain will be set on the best route to fulfilling every finish line. Adding a deadline to your goals can be a better way to ensure that you accomplish them faster.

It can help you to heal

Emotions can have a massive impact on your health. And when we are dealing with excruciating moments, sometimes we restrain to tell others how we feel, because the truth is that we don't understand it ourselves. But with journaling, you get to take all the pain out and still do it confidentially. You will have the chance to heal those wounds with the help of a pen and paper as you write down your tears, pain, and sadness. It's okay to let go of that to heal, and journaling is an excellent method to do just that.

 

“Whether you're keeping a journal or writing as a meditation, it's the same thing. What's important is you're having a relationship with your own mind.” - Natalie Goldberg

Final Thoughts

It doesn't matter if you are good or bad at writing to start journaling; in fact, you can forget the punctuation and even the grammar mistakes. The important thing is that by writing it down, you will be taking care of your mind, heart, and soul all at once. Writing down for only 20 minutes a day or so, can help you to make amends with years of self-neglecting your own happiness.

 

The 10 Best Personal Journals to Start Journaling

The Five Minute Journal: A Happier You in 5 Minutes a Day

Using the science of positive psychology to improve happiness, The Five Minute Journal focuses your attention on the good in your life.  Improve your mental well-being and feel better every day. The Five Minute Journal helps you cultivate gratitude. It changes how you feel, alters the actions you take, and therefore the results you will create...negativity be gone!  With a simple structured format that takes just 5 minutes, The Five Minute Journal is simple, quick, and effective. Whatever your excuse for not keeping a journal is, this journal will eliminate them

 

 

Present, Not Perfect: A Journal for Slowing Down, Letting Go, and Loving Who You Are

A beautifully illustrated guided journal that helps women slow down and enjoy life rather than pushing for perfection. Most women today are frantic, lost in an endless cycle of busyness caused by constant pressure to perform up to unrealistic expectations of perfection, many of which are self-imposed. This journal cuts to the heart of the problem by showing women how to reconnect with their inner selves through solitude, introspection, and contemplation of what's truly important to them as individuals and family members. 

 

 

Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice

With this journal, Michelle Obama now provides you with the encouragement to find value in your own personal journey of becoming. Printed on cream writing paper, with a grosgrain ribbon, foil-stamped cover, and removable half-jacket, Becoming: A Guided Journal for Discovering Your Voice includes thought-provoking prompts designed to help you reflect on your personal and family history; your goals, challenges, and dreams; what moves you and brings you hope; and what future you imagine for yourself and your community.

 

 

 

Burn After Writing

How honest can you be when no one is watching? Tumblr, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, texting, Snapchat, YouTube…the world has become one giant confessional. In a reversal of this trend, Burn After Writing encourages you to share nothing. With its incisive questions and thought experiments, this private journal challenges you to play a game of Truth or Dare with yourself.

 

 

 

Start Where You Are: A Journal for Self-Exploration 

Where You Are is an interactive journal designed to help readers nurture their creativity, mindfulness, and self-motivation. It helps readers navigate the confusion and chaos of daily life with a simple reminder: that by taking the time to know ourselves and what those dreams are, we can appreciate the world around us and achieve our dreams.

 

 

 

Present, Not Perfect for Difficult Times: A Journal for Hope, Healing, and Comfort 

Not Perfect struck a chord with readers looking for a way to slow down, take a breath, and focus on what really matters.  Present, Not Perfect for Difficult Times is specifically geared toward people struggling, whether it’s with loss, grief, anxiety, or other difficult circumstances. 

 

 

 

 

Gratitude: A Day and Night Reflection Journal (90 Days)

Gratitude: A Day and Night Reflection Journal will help you center your day around positive feelings and gratitude. It’s the perfect place to record and celebrate anything that you are grateful for and to preserve important memories. This 90-day journal gives you a path to creating a habit of daily gratitude that you can carry with you throughout your life. Cultivating gratitude is one of the most potent and important mindfulness exercises, and thankfulness has proven to have a positive effect on a person's mental health and general well-being.

 

 

Zen as F*ck: A Journal for Practicing the Mindful Art of Not Giving a Sh*t!

Monica Sweeney offers the perfect gift of mindfulness with this beautiful, uplifting guided journal for when you just don't give a f*ck. The road to serenity is ahead, and it’s paved with a f*ck-ton of profanity. When quiet meditation and peaceful mantras aren’t enough to cut through the bullsh*t and brighten your day―hold close the pages of Zen as F*ck. On each and every page, you can give the good around you a warm f*cking hug and kick the bad on its ass. Journal your way through positive affirmations and cathartic-as-f*ck activities on your liberating journey toward something pretty close to happiness.

 

 

The Book of Myself: A Do-It-Yourself Autobiography in 201 Questions

Have you ever wanted to create your own autobiography or wished you could read about the life of a relative or friend? The Book of Myself is a do-it-yourself memoir that helps you record and preserve the experiences, relationships, and lessons that define you. Created by a grandson who wanted to capture his grandfather's life story for future generations, The Book of Myself offers 201 memory-evoking prompts on family, friends, and the journey you take through all of life's stages. It is the perfect way for you -- or someone close to you -- to record life's highlights and everyday moments that can slip through your fingers if not written down.

 

 

Made Out of Stars: A Journal for Self-Realization

From the bestselling author of Start Where You Are and My Friend Fear, a beautifully illustrated journal that celebrates what makes each of us uniquely amazing. Meera Lee Patel's first guided journal, Start Where You Are, has inspired hundreds of thousands of readers through a rare combination of stunning watercolor art and thoughtful, empowering prompts and quotations. Her next journal will pick up the journey, encouraging readers to recognize and embrace what makes them truly special. A booster shot of self-care when you need it most, this beautiful, intimate book will be a touchstone for anyone looking to better understand themselves so they can clear out the "noise" and be who they are.