The Divergent Journaler

Journaling is an incredible tool for anyone to use. It can help you manage your emotions, your thoughts and desires, your mental health, and so much more. A journal can also be a creative outlet that helps to build and expand on your creative abilities. Below you will find a list of ways that you can use your journal.

1. Project Management:
   • Brainstorm projects or ideas
   • Keep track of ongoing progress
   • Organize upcoming tasks that need to be completed.
   • Gain perspective.
   • Identify areas for improvement or changes.
   • Goal management : Making and reaching goals is more achievable by keeping up with the flow of activity related to each goal.
2. Problem Solving:
   • Any problem can become manageable when you break it down and look at it from different perspectives. A journal is a great place to do this.
     • Write out the problem. Try writing it from your perspective and then from the perspective of someone else.
     • Draw up a flow chart with yes and no steps.
     • Use doodles and sketches to manipulate the problem into a more fun and manageable situation.
3. Self-Discovery & Personal Growth
   • Learning about ourselves is one of the most fascinating things we can do. My journal journey has taught me so much about myself, my mental health, my understanding of myself. I can not recommend it highly enough.
     • Engage in self-discovery by exploring your passions and interests.
     • Use prompts geared specifically toward self-discovery and reflection.
     • Embrace different perspectives, even conflicting ones.
     • Use exercises such as pros and cons lists or “replace this with that” spreads.
     • Experiment with adding daily gratitude or prayer journaling.
     • Use a mood chart to get a better understanding of how your mood changes and grows over time.
4. Exploring Creative Aspects
   • Sometimes creative activities seem daunting or out of reach. Use your journal to test the waters. You may find that your abilities improve quicker by utilizing your journal as a sketchbook because there are no expectations, no judgements, no criticism.
     • Practice pattern doodles.
     • Improve your writing with writing practices.
     • Learn calligraphy and utilize it on your titles and quotes.
     • Draw your memories instead of just talking about them.
     • Include sketch notes.
     • Complete an art journal page and on the opposite page write about what it means to you, what you were thinking as you did it, how you felt when you were doing it.
     • Use different mediums that you might not otherwise feel like trying on a larger scale.

These are just the tip of the iceburg in ways to use your journal. The most important thing you can do with your journal is use it. Whether it’s a little bit or a lot, using it will improve your life. Don’t forget to throw dates in there as often as possible. When you look back on your journals, you will be thankful for them!

Happy Journaling!
Sarah G.