Do you keep a journal?

To keep a journal means to regularly write in a notebook or diary over a period of time.

There are many benefits to journaling in English (and also your own language!) – and they are not just for language!. Journaling can also have great benefits for your mental health.

Watch the video for 5 ways you can use a journal to improve your English fluency and your mental health.

• how to create a daily habit to improve your writing skills and English fluency. 
• what to write about in your journal. 
• how journaling regularly can improve your speaking.
• how journaling helps with stress and mental health. 

What do you write in a journal?

• Write down your ideas and plans
• Write your thoughts and feelings
• Practise your English: write in new words
• Make sentences with new words
• Make a story in English with the new words. 

The Morning Pages (or stream of consciousness writing)

Consciousness is your awareness and responsiveness to the world around you.

Stream of consciousness, a technique that  the psychologist, William James used in 1890 for his psychology work.

This is also used by novelists and creatives to help them connect with their emotions, thoughts and creativity.

Writer, Julia Cameron coined this term as the morning pages in her book ‘The Artist’s Way’

How to do The Morning Pages:

After you get up in the morning, open your journal and start writing freely for 3 full pages, or about 10 minutes (or more).

‘Writing freely’ means write with the flow of your consciousness.

Don’t stop too much.

In this exercise, you don’t need to worry about correct grammar.

The point is to let your thoughts flow freely in English and practise thinking in English.

5 Benefits of Journaling For Your English
and Mental Health

A benefit is something that gives you a positive result.

1. Journaling in English helps you think more in English.

When you write in English regularly, you start to think in English. This helps you create a habit of thinking in the language more often and this helps your speaking skills.

This habit makes it easier to go out and talk to people in English.

2. Journaling forces you to learn new vocabulary and improve your English writing skills. 

3. Journaling forces you to use more complex (longer) sentences.

As you write more, you might start to realise that your sentences are a bit short and you need more vocabulary. This will motivate you to learn the vocabulary you need.

If you want to write about travel and holidays, you can focus on learning vocabulary and phrasal verbs for this topic.

You can build your vocabulary to talk easily about 10 popular conversation topics in my Real English Fluency Program. 

4. Journaling is a good for your mental health (stress release).

One cause of stress is the overwhelm of thoughts and problems that we have in our head. If these thoughts stay in your head, with no release, they can build up and cause stress, anxiety and other problems.

You can release these thoughts and problems onto your journal.

Writing out your thoughts and feelings helps you process what’s going on in your mind.

5. Journaling helps you come up with new ideas and solutions to your problems.

To come up with means to produce something, usually under pressure.

As you keep writing, you will often discover a solution to that problem you have with your work, your business, that annoying neighbour who won’t shut up (!) or your relationship problems (How do I stop shouting at my partner when he / she leaves the milk out on the kitchen bench!)

Grab a journal and start writing!

Tell me in the comments;

1. Do you keep a journal?
2. Do you use the stream of consciousness exercise?
3. Are you going to try it?