You’ve probably heard of David Allen’s Getting Things Done philosophy, which (very broadly) states that the brain was not built to remember things, and so we should use other systems (to-do lists, etc.) to help keep track of all the things we need to do. It is probably one of the most mainstream and fundamental philosophies behind many productivity apps today. I think this philosophy, however, can be extended to mindfulness concepts like journalling. I approach journalling with a similar perspective – my brain is not equipped or built for the sheer volume of information that passes through it each day, and so by journalling I can offload some of this information and free my brain to do other things. In this article I’ll take you through two of the journalling techniques I use on a near-daily basis to achieve this.

I have a lot of thoughts. I am constantly thinking and dreaming, I think through writing, I think through music, I think about recent social interactions, I think about books I’ve read, or shows I’ve watched, or games I’m playing, or things I need to do, and so on. This can lead me to be highly anxious at times, as my brain gets overloaded with the sheer number of thoughts going on. Add to this that my brain, which evolved thousands of years ago, is not really designed for the modern hyper-connected world, and there can be a lot of other anxieties generated from these thoughts. I approach journalling as an info-dump, a chance to remove all of these thoughts from my brain and free it up to think about things which matter, and remove many sources of anxiety from my life.

The first and most fundamental practice I do is the AM and PM reflection, from the Bullet Journalling Method by Ryder Carroll. You don’t need to be familiar with the entire bullet journalling process to use this, all you essentially need to know is that in the method, you have a new section or page for each day. On this day, Carroll says you should do an AM reflection in the morning, reflecting on what you need to do for the day, anything you need to get off your mind before starting, and writing your list for the day. The PM reflection, funnily enough, happens in the evening, where you reflect on the day and anything which happened. Bullet journalling can go a lot further than this, which I will talk about another time. But these two daily reflections are a great and easy place to start with journalling, because you don’t need to write a lot for them. My AM reflection is often a couple of lines, often starting with “slept well” or “slept poorly” or “disturbing dreams”. 2 words starts the journal, and I write a bit more from there, using bullet points and short statements. The PM reflection is often longer, and I like to write everything I did during the day and any thoughts I have on it. I find this really helps me wind down before bed, as I can put everything onto a page so I don’t have to keep awake with my thoughts.

You might think that journalling will make you think things more. After all, you’re writing it down, and in a Western society we’re taught that written down things are more important. Writing it down might make a thought more “real” or “concrete”. In my experience, the opposite is true. Writing down thoughts reveals how minuscule and unimportant they are to the tapestry of my life, and gives me the freedom to stop thinking about them. When I keep a thought in my head, it seems worse because I allow my brain to think on it and ponder every possible implication and what it means. By writing it down, I realise “actually, this doesn’t matter as much as it first seemed”, and then I can forget about it, removing that source of anxiety.

The second practice that I do focuses on this more, and it’s called Morning Pages from Julia Cameron. I actually haven’t read her book yet, but I plan on doing it soon. Morning Pages are (ideally handwritten) 3 A4 sized pages written in freehand as soon as you wake up. Let’s go through each aspect in more detail. They’re ideally handwritten, because that connects your mind through an embodied process more than typing does. 3 A4 sized pages is just enough where it starts to really push you to think though things to write, where less might be too easy and more might take too long. “Freehand” means you write everything that comes to mind – there is no stopping to edit or think about what you are saying, instead you just write and write and write and let everything come out of you in whatever way it does. Finally, you write them as soon as you wake up as Cameron argues this is when the mind is most creative, when you are still coming out of the sleep state. These have been a game-changer for me, as the 3 A4 pages really gives you enough space to write about everything in your life currently and reveals your worries, and writing freehand means your subconscious will often come up with spontaneous solutions to your ramblings. It also just feels good to start the day with 3 pages, which is an accomplishment in itself, before you move on to anything else in the day. I handwrite mine as above, but if I’m travelling, then I often do it digitally as a substitute. For the digital version, I type 600-750 words. I typically write about 200 words on a handwritten A4 sheet, but 750 words I find is more equivalent to the mental space and time that handwriting takes. If I’m pushed for time I do 600 words, but if I can I try and strive for 750. Cameron says you should delete your morning pages afterwords – she burns hers each morning! Personally, I write in an A4 exercise book and throw this in the recycling once it is finished. For the digital versions, as soon as I finish I select everything and delete it. This is quite freeing, knowing that your writings will never again be read by you or anyone else.

These two practices complement each other in many ways. Morning Pages means you do a significant reflection in the morning, which I pair with the (not quite as significant) PM reflection. The AM reflection can then be quite short as you have already done most of the reflecting you need to do in the morning, so it can focus more on work or sleep or anything outside of the Morning Pages (and I tend to do the AM reflection a bit later than the Morning Pages). The Reflections can be re-read later to see how you were feeling or what you were doing on a particular day; the Morning Pages are designed to free up brain space and get chucked as soon as possible. Finally, Cameron designed Morning Pages to assist with creativity, while Carroll designed the reflections to help with productivity – but either or both will improve your mental capacity and therefore assist with both aspects.

If you haven’t journaled before, you might think you have nothing to write about. That seems to be the biggest hurdle with most people I’ve spoken to – and when they think about writing 3 A4 pages, well, that just seems too big a number. I would encourage you just to start, in some small way. I also thought journalling would be silly, but now I find it an integral part of my routine and practice. We all think about something, so just write down whatever you are thinking. When I first started, I would write things like “I feel so stupid writing this” or, particularly with Morning Pages, “I don’t know what else to write about!” Something would then come up again and I could go down that train of thought. You may surprise yourself with what you are able to come up with and how much you can write! With time, it gets easier – I used to find 3 A4 pages difficult, now I find myself running out of space.

What journalling practices do you do? Let me know in the comments below.