Keeping a journal isn't just for teenage girls. The benefits of writing in a journal on a daily basis are various and great. You can get true insights into hidden parts of yourself, look back and notice patterns or habits, and receive wonderful therapeutic benefits. It's a wonderful way to release anger, or other emotions that you need an outlet for. Let's take a look at some information about self discovery through journal writing.

What is Journal Writing?

Journal writing is when an individual keeps a log of his daily or weekly activities, thoughts, feelings, emotions, and dreams. This can be done in a fancy leather bound journal, or an ordinary spiral notebook. The result is the same whether you use expensive writing tools or cheap pens and a notebook. You don't have to write everyday, although it is an excellent thing to do. You could write every few days or every week.

You simply write as if you were unloading your troubles or thoughts to your best friend, except you have the added benefit of your journal not being able to squeal to anyone you write about! Need to blow off some steam about your boss? Is your spouse driving you up the wall and back again? Get those feelings out, without compromising wonderful relationships. Writing about your problems is therapeutic, and can become one of the highlights of your day.

How Journal Writing can help with Self Discovery.

Writing in your journal will help you express wonderful emotions of happiness, love, fulfillment, and peace. It can also help you to shed your feelings of anger, hate, depression, anxiety or stress. It's a great way to let go of things that are bugging you, or driving you nuts! After writing for a while, you will begin to notice patterns within yourself.

You can track the things that make you feel a certain way. For example, reading your journal, you've noticed that you usually become really upset and depressed around a certain time each year. Further reading has helped you to realize that you get upset and depressed around the anniversary of your job. Why are you becoming upset around this time? Are you subconsciously thinking, 'Another year in the same dead end job." Do you have unresolved issues about your job, or are you unhappy in your job?

Another example could be that on some days you seem to be absolutely elated for no reason. Reading further, you realize that you're always happy and ecstatic the day you've seen a certain 'someone.' Uh oh. What's going on there? Writing in your journal can truly help you discover things about yourself that you never would have known otherwise.

What Process Should One Use?

Simply write about your most prevalent feelings in a day, what your thoughts were, any important events, things that you thought were interesting. Just write what you feel is relevant or that deserves to be noted. You are your own guide, and it doesn't matter what you write, because no one else is reading it. Most importantly, try to write at a certain time, like once every day or at least once a week. This will help you discover things about yourself more easily.

The Benefits one can Experience.

There are so many great benefits of journal writing. You can really use writing as an outlet to let go of anger, depression and anxiety. Don't let anger build up inside of you until you blow up and create a potentially terrible situation. Write about it. You can let go of stress about certain things, and we all know how damaging stress can be. Use journal writing to discover things about yourself that you never knew. You can learn so many things from writing in a journal. The benefits are wonderful, and there's really no reason not to do it.

You can write in a journal even if you're not gifted as a writer. You don't have to make the words pretty or descriptive, because you will automatically feel the feelings associated with the writing. No one else will be reading it, so you don't have to write a certain way, just write what you want. Good Luck!