Silence the Chatter: Find Your Focus with Morning Journaling

June 30, 2024

by Cathe Friedrich

What do you do when you first wake up in the morning? Many people reach for a cup of coffee, hit the shower, and then shuffle to the kitchen for breakfast. But there’s another habit that should be part of your morning, one that will get your day started on a positive note. It’s journaling! Writing in a journal isn’t just a satisfying practice for its own sake, studies show that morning journaling has benefits.

Journaling is a way to organize your day, track your thoughts and emotions, and determine what you want to tackle or accomplish in the upcoming day. You can journal any time of day but there are added benefits to journaling as soon as you awaken. For one, morning is often the quietest time of the day, giving you a chance to tune in to what’s going on in your head.

So, what are the benefits? Journaling is a way to prioritize your day and track what you did the day before. If you’ve ever forgotten what you did yesterday or last week, then journaling will help you remember and help you gain new insights. It’s a chance to write about what’s bothering you, getting it out of your mind and on paper. By reviewing past entries, you’ll gradually gain a deeper understanding of yourself.

And what about those dreams that move you at the time, but you can’t remember a week later? If you don’t write your dreams down, they slip away quickly, never to be recovered. But if you write about your dreams in a journal, you can revisit them and see if they connect to any waking experiences. This can unlock hidden aspects of yourself and even spark creative ideas.

Gain a Better Understanding of Your Emotions

One of the benefits of morning journaling is getting in closer touch with your feelings and emotions. When you document your inner thoughts, you begin to see patterns that help you understand them better. Journaling is also helpful if you’re dealing with problems or trying to make difficult decisions. Writing can help you see things more clearly and break apart connections, so you can examine each element more closely and come up with solutions.

A journal and a quiet spot give you a dedicated space to deal with your thoughts before the day’s busyness takes over. Make your journaling spot comfy and keep your favorite beverage close by.

Morning Journaling Can Boost Your Creativity

Journaling is a creativity booster too. When you grab a pen and journal in the morning, you capture raw, unfiltered thoughts before you get the chance to overanalyze them. When you get your thoughts on paper, you start to see new connections that bring about new ideas. Writing your thoughts and ideas is easier than speaking them because writing silences your inner critic. Your journal doesn’t judge you. So, take the challenge by journaling, even if it’s only 10 minutes per morning. Journaling in the morning can be a simple yet effective way to boost your creativity and add more clarity to your life.

Journaling Helps Tame Stress

Who doesn’t deal with stress? If you do nothing to tame the stress monster, it may eventually affect your health. That’s where journaling is your friend and a source of therapy. A 2018 study found that a form of journaling called positive affect journaling (PAJ) improved anxiety symptoms in people prone towards it.

With positive affect journaling, you write about positive aspects, like gratitude and joy, rather than focusing on negative thoughts. Journaling could even affect your immune system in a positive way. One study of medical students found that journaling improved the immune response to hepatitis B vaccines.

Getting Start with Morning Journaling

If facing a white page in a journal frightens you (what will I write about?), you can always use a prompt. For example, you can find lots of sites online that offer journaling prompts like these:

How am I feeling this morning?
What dream did I have last night, and is there anything I can learn from it?
What am I currently avoiding, and why?
What limiting belief is holding me back today? How can I challenge it?
Is there a situation I need to forgive myself for?
What can I do today to step outside my comfort zone?
If I could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Another way to approach morning journaling is to free associate. Let go of rules and write down whatever comes to mind. If you’d like, add sketches, doodles, or even emojis. Here’s an example:

“This morning, as I sipped my coffee, a familiar feeling of being stuck washed over me. Lately, I’ve been going through the motions – work, errands, sleep – and nothing feels particularly exciting.” (add stickers and emojis)

Then you could follow up with questions to help you sort through that feeling of being stuck
What specifically feels stagnant in my life right now? (Career, relationships, hobbies?)
Is there anything I’m afraid to change or pursue?
What small step could I take today to break out of this routine and inject some novelty?

But this is only one example. You write anything that comes to mind. After all, it’s YOUR morning journal. It’s not like writing an essay that other people will read, so it doesn’t have to perfect. What you put on paper should come from your heart.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you’re ready to start your own morning journal. There are no rules when it comes to journaling. Create your own structure and do it in a way that works for you. Even if it doesn’t feel natural at first, keep at it. But be consistent. The more you write, the more benefits you’ll reap in dealing with your deeper problems.

References:

10 Good Reasons to Keep a Journal. Psychology Today. Published 2023. Accessed June 23, 2024. https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/modern-minds/202301/10-good-reasons-to-keep-a-journal#:~:text=Writing%20about%20your%20experiences%20and,to%20send%20them%20some%20love.
‌ Smyth JM, Johnson JA, Auer BJ, Lehman E, Talamo G, Sciamanna CN. Online Positive Affect Journaling in the Improvement of Mental Distress and Well-Being in General Medical Patients With Elevated Anxiety Symptoms: A Preliminary Randomized Controlled Trial. JMIR Ment Health. 2018 Dec 10;5(4):e11290. doi: 10.2196/11290. PMID: 30530460; PMCID: PMC6305886.
“The Power of Journaling | Psychology Today.” 20 Sept. 2020, https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/supersurvivors/202009/the-power-journaling.
“How Journaling Can Help You in Hard Times – Greater Good.” 18 Aug. 2020, https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/article/item/how_journaling_can_help_you_in_hard_times.
“APA PsycNet,” Apa.org, 2024, .