The Art of Journaling: A Guide to Self-Reflection and Personal Growth

Journaling is a skill that can help you grow. It can also help you learn about yourself and understand how to change certain aspects of your personality.

There's a few different ways to journal, but I'll cover the basic three types here.

1. Free-Form Writing

When you free-write, you don't have any particular goal other than to write. This is the best way to find out what you think about things.

Here's an example from one of my journals.

1. Reflection Writing

Reflection writing isn't meant to be an exact copy of what you wrote in a previous journal entry, but it's meant to help you understand how your thoughts have evolved over time.

This helps you discover your own growth mindset.

You may notice a trend between the two, where I will often start writing with a general question or topic, then write about it for a while, and then go back and reflect on what I've written.

1. Self-Evaluation

Self-evaluation is meant to help you evaluate your behavior and actions so that you can improve yourself.

I like to look back on my journals and identify patterns of behavior that I might not have noticed before.

These can help me focus on ways to change, such as ways to improve myself, ways to become more mindful, and ways to handle myself better with people.