Practice journaling to reduce stress and anxiety, increase immune response, sleep, memory, focus, time management, and decision-making. It helps process difficult emotions, transforming them into something meaningful and providing a sense of agency.
Shift your definition of health from blood results to how you want your life to feel right now. Ask what isn’t in sync with the life you need to live to feel good, then make changes, recognizing the porous border between “sick” and “well.”
Avoid “time traveling” to the future to solve unknowns, as this causes anxiety. Instead, focus on “solving for the now” to counteract anxiety (overfixation on the future) and depression (overfixation on the past).
Use journaling as a space for free writing and experimentation, especially for first drafts, to bypass self-censorship. This helps tap into intuition, generate unexpected insights, and overcome creative blocks by writing without judgment.
When meditating, recognize that struggles like distraction are normal and part of the practice, not a sign of doing it wrong. The point is to observe what’s happening in your mind to gain clarity and avoid being “owned by it.”
Commit to one creative act daily for 100 days, such as journaling, to establish a consistent practice. This structured approach provides accountability, helps push through resistance, and fosters creativity.
Use journaling to articulate feelings you might not say aloud, giving language to difficult emotions. This practice fosters connection, reduces shame by bringing hidden thoughts to light, and helps you find words to communicate with loved ones.
Engage in journaling within a community (known individuals or strangers) to generate accountability and energy. This “team sport” approach helps maintain consistent practice, overcome resistance, break repetitive loops, and draw inspiration from others.
Use journaling prompts to break free from repetitive thought loops and explore unexpected ideas. You can follow the prompt, write about why you dislike it, or let it spark an entirely different direction, allowing for new perspectives.
Practice “Mind Map” journaling by starting with a year in the center of a page, then free-associating big events, and from those, free-associating more events. This technique excavates deeper memories and insights by following subconscious connections.
If directly addressing a problem feels too heavy, try writing about descriptive or seemingly unrelated topics. This indirect approach can help you let go, leading you in a roundabout way to new angles and unexpected insights for unsolved problems.
Use George Saunders’ multi-step prompt to write a short story from different characters’ perspectives, especially someone you feel aversion towards. This exercise in inhabiting another’s point of view cultivates empathy and challenges your own narratives.
Write a letter to yourself from “the voice of love” or “dear love, what would you have me know today?” This practice challenges self-loathing, fosters a more compassionate internal dialogue, and helps you hear what you need.
For couples, write journal entries addressed to each other (e.g., three pages daily), then share them. This uncovers deeper thoughts and feelings that might not emerge in quick conversations, fostering connection and understanding.
For profound self-discovery, write not just what you don’t want others to know, but especially what you don’t want to know about yourself. This approach uncovers deeper, often uncomfortable, truths that are most valuable.