I’m a huge proponent of journaling ✍🏼 for so many reasons.
Studies show journaling ✍🏼 can have great psychological effects 🧠 including: resolving stress, helping you solve problems more quickly and effectively, clarifying your thought-process, etc.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “Remember Allah during times of ease and He will remember you during times of difficulty” (Tirmidhi).
Just as we remember Allah (swt) in times of ease, we also have to work towards becoming closer to Him through achieving excellence when life circumstances are easier.
I try to apply the same principle for journaling: when you clarify your thoughts and know exactly how you want to move forward in good times, times of hardship won’t faze you or throw you off track! 😎
Journaling is all about putting what’s inside your head on the paper.
It let’s you process and make sense of what’s happening in your life and around you.
It looks super amazing and easy when you see someone else do it…but the truth is for a lot of people it can be difficult to simply write everything down especially in the beginning. So, you might need some prompts or techniques to get going…
If you have been struggling to journal for sometime, and want to take it up seriously in 2022…
Here’s a list of techniques I’ve mastered over the years to get more out of this exercise.
So, Instead of staring blankly at the paper for minutes on end, try doing this…
Write about E-I-D…
No not the Muslim festival of Eid; But the acronym I came up for Enjoy, Improve and Discover.
Enjoy – write about something that you enjoyed on that particular day. It could be something that you do everyday and just realized how big of a blessing it is, it could be a simple pleasure of life that you’ve enjoyed after a while or it could be something completely new that you just tried that day.
The point of writing these things down is to remember the experience, recognize what makes you feel good and cherish the good times, so you can be thankful to Allah for these blessings.
Improve – write about aspects in your life that could use some work. It could be a project you’ve already started or something that you might want to work on in the future.
It’s a good way to measure your progress in projects, your own personal growth and any aspect of your life that you’re working on.
Discover – write about something that you’ve just learned. It could be something big or small. You might’ve picked up a new skill, memorized a new ayah or have a takeaway from a routine thing.
Writing down your discoveries is a great learning technique for you to remember and memorize what you’ve just learned.
Plus it allows you to celebrate little things in your life.
So, I invite you to apply these simple techniques and start 2022 by celebrating little things in life.
MyLife MyLegacy 