8 Good Things That Happen When You Start Journaling

Writing to yourself is an important means of self-expression. Discover how keeping a diary can be healing and help you know yourself better.

Whether you call it a diary or refer to it as a journal, having a place to write down your thoughts, feelings, memories and personal impressions about life can be healing and teach you to know yourself better. It can also unlock the power of your creativity, and inspire you to manifest dreams that might otherwise stay hidden. If you don't keep a diary already, here are 8 good things that will happen when you start writing diaries.

1. You'll Know Yourself Better

History tells us that the Greek philosopher Socrates, often credited as the source for the famous adage Know Thyself, used a method of teaching which involved dialogues, questions and answers between individuals going back and forth that whittled an issue down to its deepest level of truth. When writing a diary, it is very common for us to engage in similar forms of inquiry on paper, writing out questions about life and then answering them ourselves.

Whether you come to a final truth in the end is less important than the actual process of giving voice to your own inner reasoning and various points of view. Witnessing the richness of your human experience and being able to see it on paper truly helps you to, as the great philosopher said, know thyself.

2. You'll Express Yourself

Expressing yourself is another important aspect of keeping a diary. Beyond simply offering a means of self-expression through the written word, often diaries are full of doodles and drawings that accentuate the actual text of what is being written.

Regardless of the actual content, this mirror of expression allows you to say what otherwise might be too challenging to say and give voice to emotions that may otherwise be repressed. Having the blank page to fill up is in many ways an analogy to life, seeing yourself be expressed one letter and one doodle at a time.

3. You'll Work Through Hard Choices

When life sends you any kind of challenge, you can work through those options in your diary, noting the moral implications as well as the emotional pains of decisions that are difficult to make. As an extreme example, you can explore historical accounts like the Donner Party timeline to see how people have used diaries in the most challenging of times.

4. You'll Develop Emotional Intimacy

Keeping a diary is a process not only of self-expression but also self-reflection. As you read what you have written, it becomes a means of listening to yourself and uncovering the emotional landscape of who you truly are. By developing this sense of intimacy with yourself, it opens the possibility for greater emotional intimacy with others.

5. You'll Feel Better

Often, a diary is that safe place where we can unleash thoughts or emotions that might be too uncomfortable to express in a more public setting. Whether it is venting anger, writing about a romantic crush, or grieving the loss of a loved one, having a safe place to release your thoughts usually makes you feel better as a whole.

6. You'll Build Memories on Paper

Sometimes even the smallest details of events in our past are items we grow to cherish as we get older. By keeping a detailed diary you are documenting those moments in your life that are worth writing about.

7. You'll Brainstorm New Ideas

Having the opportunity to brainstorm and toss out ideas without being attached to an outcome is a diary tool used by some of the worlds greatest artistic geniuses. It's a technique that allows you to arrive at creative solutions and new perspectives.

8. You'll Create a Map of Your Own Evolution

A diary reveals far more about a person than simply the details of what is written inside of it. Noticing how your handwriting or writing style changes as you grow older, when it is bold and confident versus when it is small and timid, is just one of the interesting benefits of keeping a diary over a long period of time.