Every night for the past year I’ve written something in my journal. Some days it’s drafts of this blog, some days it’s a poem, and others it’s a few random lines. Doing this has changed how I do things for the better and improved my sleep.
The first way it’s changed how I do things is it has forced me to process what has occurred during the day instead of going to bed without thinking about it. This conscious effort to remember what happened and how I felt about it has improved my memory and, surprisingly, increased my restful sleep because I go to bed feeling calm. While I’m not sure that is truly correlated, it has certainly been something I’ve noticed.
Another thing I’ve noticed is that writing down my thoughts allows me to more mindfully observe certain patterns in my thinking. For example, I noticed that I write about the future a lot— and not always in a negative way—sometimes it’s pure excitement.
But you don’t need to be writing in a journal to feel those effects. Even just taking a minute to breathe and be mindful before you go to bed will allow you to be calmer and more attuned to your thoughts. I might not be the most mindful person, but writing in a journal certainly helps, so I heavily encourage people to do it.
Until next time,
Ella Greene
