Journaling for Emotional Intelligence
There is an incredible freedom that comes with emotional intelligence. The daily practice of journaling leads to it.
Journaling is the exercise of exploring your daily thoughts and feelings by writing them down. It allows you to consciously connect with and sort out your emotions, experiences and perceptions of life.
Your feelings need to be acknowledged and identified for they reveal who you are in the present moment and how you care about all aspects of life.
Don’t be afraid of your emotions. The reason people often suppress them is because they feel guilty or ashamed for having them. Anger, depression, fear, hate are often buried for that reason. To detach from fears surrounding your emotional state, look at your feelings as “valuable information.” When you identify strong feelings such as anger, you can then choose to channel it constructively.
How to Practice Journaling:
Find a quiet place to write in a notebook specifically designated for your private thoughts. Forget about spelling, punctuation and rules. Write spontaneously. How do you feel about particularly troubling spots in your life? You will find that you’ll choose words that intuitively express your honest feelings.
Some people prefer journaling after work or late at night. Some people like journaling right after waking up to take advantage of the free flow of spontaneous and unfiltered thoughts. Choose what feels right for you.
10 Benefits of the daily practice of journaling:
- Reduces stress and anxiety
- Strengthens your immune system
- Results in clarity and improved focus
- Improves decision-making process
- Provides personal and private insights
- Identifies negative thoughts and behaviors
- Heals relationships
- Solves problems
- Builds self-confidence
- Grounds you
Journaling is welcomed by many because it is a private and personal practice which leads to greater self-awareness. The daily practice of it will shed light on challenging areas of your life. It has the power to lift you above difficult situations and pave the way to workable solutions.
The daily exercise of journaling can help you to acknowledge and release disruptive thoughts and emotions. It can help you to detach from the past – to free yourself from troublesome beliefs, memories and patterns. The clarity that comes from daily journaling can reveal your life purpose, aspirations and the path to achieving them.
Journaling is a powerful tool, which requires just a single pen and piece of paper…
…along with your willingness to practice it.
“A personal journal is an ideal environment in which to “become.”
It is a perfect place for you to think, feel, discover, expand, remember and dream.”
~ Brad Wilcox
