Imagine starting your day with a cup of coffee and a notebook where you jot down various thoughts. What would you write? How would you fill the pages?
Numerous studies confirm that the brain, particularly the prefrontal cortex, is most active and creative immediately after sleep. While you sleep, your subconscious mind roams freely, forming different associations—unusual yet precise connections between events, thoughts, and people. That’s why, right after waking up, some of this information is still accessible to you.
Successful people often share that they keep a journal early in the morning. It’s part of their routine because the insights and ideas they reach are most original right after sleep.
An increasing number of people aged 18 to 44 check their phones within 15 minutes of waking up. This immediate exposure to external stimuli disrupts the subtle process of connecting with their subconscious, pulling them into their usual daily routine before they’ve had a moment to tune in to their inner voice. Instead of capturing fresh ideas or engaging in creative expression, they often become passive consumers of digital content.
How to Develop the Habit of Writing Early in the Morning
The goal isn’t to sacrifice sleep but to swap a few unproductive morning habits for just 10 minutes of writing. Building a new habit takes effort, even when it’s beneficial, but with gentle persistence, journaling can become a natural part of your routine. If you miss a day, don’t let it discourage you – just pick up where you left off. Over time, the practice will feel as comforting and familiar as catching up with an old friend.
One of the most popular methods for free writing is Morning Pages, introduced by Julia Cameron – a writer, poet, playwright, and lecturer. Right after waking up, you write down whatever comes to mind on three pages, without worrying about spelling, penmanship, or style. Julia Cameron calls this “noting everything that crosses your mind” and “keeping it just for yourself.” Morning Pages provoke, clarify, prioritize, calm, and synchronize your upcoming day. Many writers, bloggers, and creatives have successfully tried Julia Cameron’s method and testified to overcoming anxious and unproductive periods through free writing. For me, Morning Pages serve as a grounding practice, helping me navigate doubts and insecurities while honing my focus on what truly matters.
Give it a try – happy writing!
Writing in a journal is easy – we’ve all done it as children. When practiced regularly, its effects exceed expectations. Research has proven that journaling benefits both mental and physical health and improves our overall quality of life.
Here are just five of the many scientifically verified benefits of keeping a journal.
Benefit #1: Journaling Can Alleviate Depression and Anxiety
Numerous studies have explored the connection between writing and decreased depression levels. In 2006, Stice, Burton, Bearman, & Rohde found that journaling is just as effective in reducing the risk of depression in young people as cognitive-behavioral therapy. University studies suggest that regular writing reduces the frequency of intrusive depressive thoughts, aids students prone to depression, and lowers depression levels in diagnosed patients.
Journaling also significantly alleviates anxiety symptoms. A study by Hasanzadeh, Khoshknab, & Norozi demonstrated that personal journal entries reduce anxiety in women suffering from multiple sclerosis.
How exactly does journaling help with depression and anxiety? Both conditions are characterized by negative thoughts. Writing brings these thoughts “into the light” on paper, allowing them to be processed in a more analytical and less emotional way. Often, through the process of writing, the right perspective toward these thoughts emerges.
Social psychologist and professor James Pennebaker describes this process as follows:
“Emotional distress affects every part of our lives. You haven’t just lost your job or just ended a relationship. These things impact on your entire identity, your financial situation, relationships with people, and the way you perceive yourself. Writing helps you focus and organize your experiences.”
Through writing, we “test” our thoughts and beliefs, assessing whether they are realistic or simply the product of a temporary emotional state.
Benefit #2: Journaling Strengthens the Immune System
It may seem surprising, but research has shown that regular writing improves immunity and reduces the risk of illness. According to a study by researchers Karen A. Baikie and Kay Wilhelm from Cambridge University, individuals who journal for 20 minutes a day, three to five times a week experience the following benefits: improved immune system function, enhanced lung and liver function, and regulated blood pressure.
How can something as simple as journaling impact health? Writing helps us develop what is known as “coherent storytelling” of our lives. In other words, we perceive events as a whole rather than as fragmented negative aspects. This helps us cultivate a positive worldview and reduces susceptibility to depression and anxiety – both of which are linked to numerous health issues.
Benefit #3: Journaling Cultivates Gratitude for Life
Why is it important to develop a sense of gratitude? A large body of research confirms its direct impact on health. Gratitude is associated with better sleep, increased daily activity, and overall vitality. People who appreciate what they have tend to be healthier and happier. Gratitude reduces depression, aids in achieving goals, and fosters a more active social life. You can learn more about this from Robert A. Emmons, one of the leading researchers on gratitude and its effects.
When it comes to a healthy and happy life, personal fulfillment plays a key role. Regular journaling allows us to acknowledge the positive aspects of our lives. Without writing them down, we often overlook or forget the good things and instead focus only on difficulties.
Benefit #4: Journaling Aids in Recovering from Traumatic Events
Through journaling, individuals process their experiences and directly confront trauma rather than suppressing their emotions.
If you have lost a loved one, writing about them can provide gentle and healing support during moments of grief. You set aside specific time to remember the person, navigate the sense of loss, and gradually move forward.
A 2002 study by Provencher, Gregg, Mead, & Mueser found that regular journaling accelerates recovery in individuals experiencing psychological distress linked to persistent, intrusive thoughts. Writing helps us externalize these thoughts onto paper, process them effectively, and distance ourselves from them.
Benefit #5: Journaling Enhances Memory
It’s no surprise that writing supports overall memory function. Neurologist Judy Willis explains:
“Practicing writing enhances the brain’s ability to perceive, process, store, and retain information… it aids focus, supports long-term memory, sheds light on thought patterns, enables reflection, and, when intentional, becomes a source of conceptual development and knowledge.”
When you take notes, you not only summarize past events but also process them. In doing so, you recall details, which help preserve memories longer. Additionally, writing helps identify recurring behavioral patterns—both in yourself and in others. Once you recognize these patterns, you can respond to them in a healthier way.
If you haven’t started journaling yet, I hope these five reasons motivate you to give it a try. It will benefit you both physically and emotionally, helping you make sense of events, feel more whole, and navigate challenges with a forward-looking perspective.
Based on materials from holstee.com.
I chose the title of this article to be a metaphor. It illustrates how much knowledge about our emotions and life stages is embedded in the metaphors we use. We often don’t realize that, from an early age, we have integrated them not only into our speech but also into the way we perceive the world. Studies show that, on average, we use about six metaphors per minute in conversation. Sounds incredible, doesn’t it?
The word metaphor has Greek roots and originates from amphora – a vessel used to store valuable things. Metaphors often serve as our best tool for capturing abstract concepts, emotions, and states of being with precision. They clarify, yet at the same time, create a buffer between us and the confusion or pain they represent.
It was linguists George Lakoff and Mark Johnson who, in the 1980s, first developed the idea that metaphors are more than just a feature of speech. In their book Metaphors We Live By, they introduced the theory that the way we think, and act is inherently based on metaphors. “The essence of metaphor,” they state, “is understanding and experiencing one thing in terms of another.” More than that – from birth, we are “nurtured” with metaphors, using them from a young age to understand and explain feelings, time, space, and other people’s actions.
We associate the concept of love with a mother’s warmth.
We define time as moving “forward” or “backward”.
We describe success and happiness as “up”, while disappointment is “down”.
Over the years, neuropsychology has confirmed Lakoff and Johnson’s theories, concluding that metaphors exist within us long before they become part of our speech.
And yet, why should we strive to understand metaphors – both our own and those of others? What is the practical value of doing so?
Before you continue reading, I invite you to try a simple and playful exercise. On the left side of a blank sheet of paper, write “Life is:”. Then, on the right side, jot down all the words and phrases that come to mind as a continuation of this phrase. Give yourself a few minutes and write without stopping or overthinking. Don’t censor yourself – approach it with curiosity. Try to make the list as long as possible, but let it flow naturally without pressure.
Our metaphors change depending on our moods, context, and personal growth. One day, your list might begin with “life is a constant battle,” while on another, it could start with “life is a game.” This dynamic is important. When we pay attention to it, we not only get to know ourselves better but also approach challenges and difficulties with greater self-trust. And the best news is that by actively working to change our own metaphors, we can gradually change ourselves – in the direction we aspire to.
Psychotherapist Richard Kopp, author of the book Metaphor Therapy, claims that metaphor is a way to access the unconscious. He describes it as a mirror in which we see “our inner images – of ourselves, our lives, and others.” Through metaphors, we become aware of what is happening within us and begin to change in a healthy way.
If in the 1980s and 1990s metaphors were primarily used in psychotherapy to cope with traumatic experiences, in recent years, these techniques have been increasingly applied for personal growth, professional development, and achieving a higher quality of life. In one of my upcoming articles, I will share interesting methods and practices for experiencing the almost magical process of metaphoric writing.
In my seminars and individual sessions, I often incorporate work with metaphors. I truly enjoy sparking participants’ imagination and senses, encouraging them to enter enchanting worlds while gaining deeper self-knowledge and discovering new aspects of their lives and relationships.
If this topic intrigues you, try this exercise:
Take a handful of coins from your wallet or piggy bank. Examine them closely and describe their shape, size, color, and weight. Shake them in your palm – describe the sound. Now, write freely for a minute or two about what they mean to you.
Arrange the coins to represent yourself and your family or close friends. Assign a specific person to each coin and describe them.
Now, imagine that – due to circumstances beyond your control – one coin must be removed. Which one would you choose to take away, and whom does it represent? Write about what happens the moment you remove the coin. Now, place it back where it belongs. If there’s anything else you want to express, take a few minutes to do so.
Most likely, you had no difficulty associating people with coins – this is because metaphors are embedded in our cognitive system. However, for most of us, removing one of them provokes an emotional reaction, even though it’s just a coin. This shows that when we use metaphors, we unlock a much more emotionally charged experience than when speaking in abstract terms. Metaphors reach the core.
Pay attention to the principles by which you assigned a coin to each person. What influenced your choices – the size, color, inscriptions, or value? Each of these characteristics represents your relationships with others – and their significance to you.
Exercise by Penny Tompkins and James Lawley.
Today, I want to introduce you to a fascinating form of writing that has long been shrouded in mystery and debate. Automatic writing, also known as psychography, is based on our ability to let words appear on paper without consciously writing them. Many scientists and sceptics attribute it to the ideomotor effect, suggesting it reflects our own illusions. Automatic writing is entirely different from expressive writing, which is more beneficial, yet it remains an intriguing practice worth exploring.
The act of writing with closed eyes, without seeing what appears on the paper, was practiced as early as ancient China during the Song Dynasty by special mediums seeking to connect with and learn from spirits.
Simply put, automatic text does not come from the writer’s conscious thoughts. Instead, the writer’s hand moves across the page, leaving messages without them seeing or knowing what is being written. Sometimes, this happens in a trance-like state. More often, however, it is enough for the writer – fully conscious – to simply let their hand move freely without looking at the page.
In psychotherapy, automatic writing has been used since Freud as a tool for self-exploration, with particular attention given to the subconscious selection of words. It was also practiced by Pierre Janet in France and later by Morton Prince and Anita Muhl in America.
In spiritualism and the New Age movement, automatic writing is often used as a means of connecting with the souls of the deceased to receive inspiration and comfort. Such séances became extremely popular and widespread after World War I.
Many artists have experimented with automatic writing. William Butler Yeats, one of the most celebrated poets of the 20th century, produced over 4,000 pages of automatic text. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle believed that he communicated with his deceased father through this method. These conversations were published in his book Pheneas Speaks. The Surrealists also began many of their works using automatism.
Why try automatic writing? First, to explore yourself in a fascinating way. Or perhaps to receive confirmation of something from a special, more mysterious part of yourself – or even from the universe. The answers that emerge are often surprising yet meaningful, following an unknown logic of their own.
Here are some recommendations if you decide to try automatic writing. To shift your focus from logical to intuitive thinking – from the left hemisphere of the brain to the right – place your pencil on the paper as if about to write something. Then, look away. Stare into the distance or close your eyes. How long you write varies depending on your experience and desire. It does not need to be lengthy or exhausting – you will instinctively know when to stop.
Words, sentences, or even entire paragraphs may appear. However, the text is often illegible, the writing may look chaotic, and sentences may be unfinished. Keep in mind that some parts of the text might be in different handwriting or even in a language unfamiliar to you. There may be symbols or drawings that hold no immediate meaning for you. Some people instantly sense the origin of the writing, while others do not. If this makes you feel uncomfortable, simply stop writing or delay reading the text.
And most importantly – have fun and experiment!