My Journal Process

I’ve been writing in my journal for a couple years now. However, it used to be just a recap of the things I did during the day. Sometimes it was only a short bullet list recording events, sometimes a paragraph or two narrative. I suppose I wanted a record of what I did every day so I could look back for some reason. You’ll be surprised to learn I never looked back at those entries.

This year I realized I already record my day with my Project 365 photos. In fact I was more apt to look through those photos to see what happened on a specific day then through my journal entries. Then, while reading about morning routines and the Zen Journal system of planning and productivity, I decided to try journaling in the morning.

Now the first thing I do every morning is sit down and write. Well, it’s really about the sixth thing I do after a drink of water, starting coffee, walking and feeding the dog, and reading my Daily Stoic meditation. I sit down with my computer and coffee, open my Journey app, and start writing.

I write about my yesterday, my plans for today, I reflect on the Daily Stoic meditation, sometimes discuss goals, thoughts, frustrations, etc. I really just sit down and write for about 15-20 minutes. I do this before I open anything else on the computer (or phone). No consumption of other people’s media or thoughts. I want to compose my thoughts first (#focusonme), then I can safely take in other people’s thoughts.

The Zen Journal is essentially a modified bullet journal, but really drives home the mindfulness of your choices and your planning. If you know me at all, you know I’m striving for more mindfulness in life!

In just two weeks of doing this regularly, journaling in the morning has become a practice I want to continue. It’s freeing, mind-opening, and transformative.

I don’t like to actually journal in my notebook however; partly because I type faster than I write and partly because I like the digital availability aspect. The bonus for me in using Journey is that I can upload my Project 365 photos from Instagram to Journey using Zapier. So now I have my morning thoughts from sitting and writing and my nightly daily recap with my Project 365 photo all stored safely in one place!

Screenshot of my Journey app:

That’s it, that’s my journal journey with Journey (giggle). Do you journal? If not, try it. If you do, what do you write about? Any tips for me?