Writing in a journal is something common that a large majority of us do. It feels good to catalog your thoughts and memories somewhere, but there are health benefits to journaling you may not be aware of.

Writing in a journal can help you tap into the left side of your brain where analytics and rationality come in. As it’s engaged, your right brain gets to flow with creativity. Mental blocks begin to dissipate, and you get to better understand the person that you are.

Your journal can be a fancy, leather-bound notebook or a digital version such as Day One.

Whatever you choose, make it your own and reap the benefits of journaling.

More clarity on the way you think and feel

Journaling helps you sort out your feelings, especially when you feel like they’re gathering inside you. Only a few minutes of writing per day allows you to detangle everything and see more clearly.

Get to know yourself

Write regularly, and you’ll soon find the pattern of what makes you hum with confidence and ease. You’ll identify things that seemed muddled in the past, such as toxic people who you need to be distanced from.

It helps you let go of stress

Journaling is your free space to vent all your negative emotions. This is where you can unleash your anger and sorrow, so you’ll finally be able to move past it and heal.

Work through problems

Keeping things tied up in your brain is exhausting. Put it on paper, and you can more easily see a solution to the problems you face. That goes for disagreements too. We can ruminate day and night about arguments and misunderstandings with others, or we can jot them down and see a resolution in plain sight.

Grow and improve

Personal growth is something we should all work on so we can better accomplish the goals we set. When you start journaling, you can bring things to fruition. Additionally, you can go back to when you’ve had a bad day and look at the hurdles you’ve overcome, helping you stay motivated.

Try morning pages

Take journaling for your best health even further by doing it in the morning. The premise behind these morning pages is you commit to rising early and writing in the peaceful time before the world around you starts pulsating.

The goal with morning pages is to write down everything that passes through your mind until you fill up three pages. Do not judge what you write, correct spelling, go back and add punctuation, or any of that. Simply let your thoughts flow freely and see what happens. It’s liberating for your mental health.

But if mornings are too hectic for you, then find a time that works for your journaling. If you aren’t an avid journaler yet, go ahead and start slowly starting with Morning Pages. Once you begin to see the benefits, you can find yourself a beautiful, new journal you’ll be excited to fill with your thoughts.