Habit Stack Journaling
May is Mental Health Awareness Month which aims to build awareness around the reality that millions of people face mental health issues in America and while also helping more people understand the importance of reducing the stigma surrounding mental illness. One interesting insight is how art and creativity can benefit your mental health. This means being involved with this arts organization and following your passion for creating art may improve your well-being.
One easy access point to tap into your emotions while also doing something creative is journaling. Journaling is a ritual most creatives have relied upon somewhere in their journey. Whether it’s drawing in the trusty sketchbook, mumbling melodies in a voice memo app, or writing words with the classic pen and paper in your favorite Moleskin notebook, the process of dumping thoughts, emotions, and ideas out of our heads has many benefits.
I don’t think many would argue with the benefits of journaling, but the practice and habit of journaling is typically an exercise where most would say they wish they could improve. If we’ve tried it before, we typically start off strong for the first week or month and then look up from our busy schedules months later and realize that slowly our consistent journaling habits have faded.
One tip that I’ve found useful is the idea of habit stacking. James Clear explains habit stacking in his book Atomic Habits as a way to combine a desired habit, like journaling, with another good habit or ritual that is already in place. He uses the example of a person who desires to read more before bed each night. A habit stacking strategy for this person might be to consider making their bed in the morning and then setting a book on their pillow so that when they wind down for their bedtime routine, they will see the book and thus, trigger a response and reminder to pick up the book and read instead of turning on the TV.
I tried this technique out myself. I decided to habit-stack my desired journaling habit with my morning coffee ritual. Each morning I covet my quiet time with that first cup of coffee. My caffeine habit likely won’t be going away anytime soon. Now, however, my morning routine also consists of me typing away in my favorite journaling app, Day One, between sips.
Typically I follow Julia Cameron’s morning pages routine where you siphon off the thoughts and emotions in a kind of stream-of-consciousness writing. Other times, I will try writing to a prompt question like, “What is your favorite way to spend a lazy day”. I’ve also found it helpful to do gratitude journal entries, where I try to write about three things I am grateful for that day. There is something powerful about starting your day off on a positive note with gratitude.
Of course, journaling is just one tool that may be helpful to improving our mental health. Feel free to visit our Artist Member page to find many other upcoming creative community events like painting and poetry for you to explore. And let us know in the comments some of your favorite ways to use art to improve your well-being.
