When it comes to self-care, journaling may have the biggest return on investment. The very simple task of taking pen to paper results in a significant pay out in all sects of life – emotional, mental, physical and spiritual.

Journaling is an acknowledgement of your thoughts and feelings. Your documentation reflects back to you and validates your emotions. The process of recording your inner workings helps to reorganize your story and prioritize your needs. This is exactly what we look for from the humans in our lives – credence and acceptance. We want our partners to be better active listeners and share emotions with us. We count on family to be in tune with our needs. From colleagues, we demand respect and fair treatment. We expect friends to commiserate and celebrate with us and we see our therapists to help us accept our situation and clear a way forward. But we can do much of this for ourselves, under our own volition, through journaling.

Drs. James W. Pennebaker and Joshua M. Smyth, pioneers in expressive writing, say that confronting personal thoughts by expressing them through writing can influence our basic values, thinking patterns and feelings about ourselves. Harboring negativity without creating an outlet to disperse it can significantly degrade our mental and physical well-being, according to these social psychologists who co-authored the book Opening Up by Writing it Down – a mainstay on any journal-writer’s bookshelf.

Writing about grief, sadness, loneliness, anger, fear – the biggies that we all experience at times – can ease the emotional pain even though expressing it can be hard to do. Simply writing about the big feelings will make you feel better able to cope and allow you to feel more in control, ultimately improving your mood. Doing this regularly will have a compounding impact over time. The act of writing about it honours the feelings but limits the power they have over your life.

Journaling is an opportunity to tell your story in your own way with no judgement. The idea behind journaling and expressive writing is to keep your thoughts private. In fact, some buy into the write and rip or burn after writing philosophies because the benefit is gained through the writing experience and there is no chance of exposure. Still, many experts believe the benefit can be stretched further if you not only simply write about feelings but attach possible solutions and actions steps to the thoughts in your journal. With this in mind, you’d need to avoid the destruction option, hanging onto your journals and finding a place for safe keeping instead.

Although journals typically remain private, consider the legacy they could potentially leave for family and friends. Mining your journals for memoir fodder could be valued heritage for your family and the record of memories, a treasured heirloom that could live on for generations.

Another benefit that journaling enables is tapping into greater productivity. Ryder Carroll, the Bullet Journal inventor and author of The Bullet Journal Method, says that with over 500,000 thoughts roaming our minds each day, we tend to focus on too many things at once. When this happens, we say we are ‘busy’ but being busy doesn’t necessarily mean being productive, he says. Instead, being busy, is being in a state of functional overwhelm. Carroll says that living with intention starts with reflection and taking inventory (aka journaling). By writing our thoughts down we can identify if they are serving a purpose or holding us hostage. About each thought, ask yourself; ‘does it matter to me or to someone I love?’ and if not then it is likely more of a distraction than something that needs attention. Carroll would say our journals are evidence of progress and development and he also feels that routine and accountability are born of journaling – all things that keep us moving towards our goals.

Writing down thoughts can help absolve the mind’s commotion. Less mind clutter allows a greater focus on the real work – planning, execution, decision-making and problem-solving. A clear mind creates the ability to be present and live more in the moment. Dr. Moshe Bar, Professor of Neuroscience at Harvard Medical School cites, in a New York Times article, that a study published in Psychological Science shows that original and creative thinking is significantly stymied by stray thoughts, obsessive ruminations and other forms of mental load. “Many psychologists assume that the mind, left to its own devices, is likely to follow a well-worn path of familiar associations. But our findings suggest that innovative thinking, not routine ideation, is our default cognitive mode when our minds are clear,” said Bar.

In addition to the ability to focus on what really matters, documenting removes the pressure to remember things. The brain is meant to be a factory not a warehouse, according to Mike Vardy, founder of Productivityist, who helps people stop doing productive and start being productive. Conducting a brain dump through journaling is like getting a helping hand in remembering all of the details you are likely to be upset about overlooking later. The irony is that journaling regularly boosts memory capacity and increases comprehension which reflects improved cognitive processing.

Studies show that journaling can improve relationships too. By pausing to write about your heated debate with a mate or the unfair treatment by a boss, the pent-up emotion is released, and you can address the situation in a more appropriate way with clearer, thoughtful communication. In fact, a popular journaling technique is to write a letter to someone that you never intend to send. This strategy helps to solve ambivalence about the situation, take control and gain fresh perspective in a safe way. Ultimately, by writing with imaginary intention, you can express the feelings but save the relationship.

Or you could try writing a letter to yourself to show self-compassion. Pretend to time travel and write to another version of yourself – younger or older – to help provide the support you needed or will require at a particular turning point in life. A nice way to stay connected to self and respect the joys and hardships in your own life.

Some would argue the biggest pay off from maintaining a journaling habit is the investment in your physical health. There is much research to show that the journaling gain is not solely psychosomatic.

There is ample evidence indicating that journaling about our emotions strengthens the lymphatic system which boosts immunity, improves wound healing, has been associated with drops in depression, anxiety and other markers of stress, lowers blood pressure, expands respiratory function, improves sleep and goes a long way to healing chronic pain.

Pennebaker and Smyth have been discovering the physiological evaluation markers for the ‘letting-go’ experience. They are identifying the degree to which confession is a clear release of inhibitions through measuring inhibition and activation in people and the results have been significant. Turns out that those who reveal their very deepest thoughts and feelings (through journaling or other outlets) experience the very real, immediate and long-term bodily changes mentioned above post-disclosure.

In fact, even simply keeping a gratitude journal can elicit positive health benefits in as little as two weeks of starting a regular practice. Dr. Laurie Santos, Professor of Psychology at Yale University and the creator and facilitator of The Science of Well-Being course (which is free and open to everyone – check it out here) says that it is more about the re-experiencing of what you are grateful for over simply identifying it that leads to improved well-being.

Not to mention, there are other forms of journaling that have an even more direct path to physical health gain such as weight loss journey journals, food diaries, physical activity affirmations, smoking cessation journals and the like.

So how do we get started? Well, journaling can be as simple or as complex as you wish it to be but one thing is for certain, there really is no one right way to journal. It is an accessible personal journey tailored to what resonates with you as you find your own journal vibe.

The key is to experiment. Here are some different styles of journaling that you can try:

Julia Cameron, author of The Artist’s Way and creator Morning Pages, suggests stream of consciousness writing. This is where you write, in long-hand, whatever comes to mind including any and all the thoughts that enter your brain space. Cameron, a long-standing guru when it comes to journaling, maintains that three pages of writing every morning helps you to overcome any obstacles from being your best creative self. This method, she says, cleanses your mind each morning and allows you to be more conscious as you move through your day.

Bullet journaling (or BuJo) is popular because it is more of a systematic approach to documenting and tracking your life. It brings your life back to analog. Using rapid logging, which is a faster way of writing, bullet journalers create bulleted lists, add signifiers to those items and organize the lists in a way that makes sense to them. You can also add doodles, word clouds, mind maps or a record of pros and cons if you see fit.

If dialogue is your thing, you can have a conversation with yourself. Sometimes processing a feeling or an event by trying on different viewpoints can be helpful so writing out a conversation between your current self with all of its emotions and a wise, compassionate imagined version of yourself can be enlightening.

Perhaps you need a nudge with this new practice. There are countless journal prompts that you can find online or at a book shop. Check out the 5 Minute Journal – a great starter that incorporates a gratitude practice and provides the gentle helping hand you may need.

Regardless of the technique you choose, there are a few other things to keep in mind when starting your journaling journey. The benefits of journaling are cumulative and are couched in the consistency and routineness of the activity so rewiring the brain in order for this to become habit is important. Cues matter when it comes to forming habits and cues are often situational. Choosing the same time of day to journal, sitting in the same place while writing as well as finding and repeating a writing process that resonates can all help to facilitate your journaling habit and ultimately trigger other positive changes. [Check out the work Katherine Milkman, expert in behavioral economics and professor at the Wharton School at UPENN is doing around the power of habitual activity and making good habits stick.]

A noteworthy consideration when beginning to journal is pen versus keyboard (or voice recording or private blogging). It may be tempting to jump into a flashy new journal app or keep a folder on your laptop but do what you can to try pen and paper first. The consensus among researchers is that the traditional method enables you to think more about your feelings than when typing on a keyboard. It is slower to write than to type but that means you are taking more time with your thoughts and taking the time to decide what is important to you. The physical element of writing stimulates your brain more effectively than typing and a huge plus is you get a break from your screen and eliminate the temptation that accompanies having your devices nearby while journaling. Having said that, journaling in any form is better than no journaling at all!

Your feelings are meant to be felt and by writing them down, you are essentially physically moving them from your mind elsewhere. This process gives legs to your emotions, breathes life into your feelings and authenticates your experiences whether good, bad or somewhere in between.

So let’s KonMari our minds and get writing!

Give yourself that great big hug (and we could all use one after what we’ve been through this year…) and consider the meditative mind-clearing therapy of journaling – the ROI is huge and you deserve it.