Seriously, Reader, how do you feel about your handwriting?

This has purpose, I promise.

But let me back up a little.

Lots of people hate journaling.

I’m not sure why, or what they’re doing that makes it so awful, but many of my patients are staunch haters of the journal.

What about you?

Do your clients like to journal? Do they get a lot out of the practice?

This may seem a little weird but I want to talk about why journaling, specifically by hand, can be so helpful when people are trying to dig deep and make big gains.

First off I want to send you to a very long article I wrote touting all of the amazing things about journaling and why everyone should spend at least 5 minutes on this every day.

But it's long and you probably know most of this already. So instead send your journal-curious clients there!

I say treat that 5 minutes of journaling like drinking enough water, regular exercise, and good quality shut-eye.

Just throw that extra few minutes in with the wellness mix, which is better for you than Chex mix (and drink water at the same time so maybe it doesn't even take longer!).

But my biggest take away for your client's mental wellness related to journaling isn't even in the article!!

Really!

I know it sounds like a pain to hand write anything more than a grocery list but hear me out. I have science on my side.

By taking the extra time to write things out, people can keep their prefrontal cortex more engaged.

You’re able to spend longer on your topic and dig a little deeper. And because typing is so simple to correct, edit, and rewrite, the extra commitment while using pen and paper leads to more meaningful insights. Yes, really.

Handwriting involves more of the limbic system, the emotional region of the brain, than typing. And if there was ever something you need to inject some emotion into, I’d argue it’s your journal!

Handwriting uses more areas of your brain than typing does involving more work from the motor cortex and cerebellum.

The action of using the muscles in your fingers to create the letters while holding a pencil is more engaging than just moving your fingers up and down a little bit while tapping some keys.

Since handwriting involves the limbic system, prefrontal cortex, motor cortex, sensory and language areas, all this brain power helps you deeply tap into your thoughts, and that allows you to gain more insight.

And what’s the point of journaling if you’re not going to gain a bunch of insight?

I've touched on a few wellness tactics in the past, mostly relating to mindfulness (because I LOVE the DMN and IT LOVES MINDFULNESS!) and deep breathing but I think the extra science I mention here helps people feel more invested in these kinds of things.

I don't want to journal just to journal.

But I do want to feel more content, less stressed, and gain insight into my deepest thoughts (and my to do list!) and so knowing the brain science behind this builds VALUE.

And now I journal. Every. Night.

Feel free to share the article with whoever could benefit and maybe just forward this email so they can read the brain stuff too!

Cheers to healthy brains,

Dr. B

Jessica Beachkofsky, MD

Your friendly, online psychiatrist!

P.S. Here's the article link for Journaling Ideas for Busy People that Don’t Journal + 11 Benefits! There's also a link to a free PDF guide too. I'm sure there are a least a few clients of yours who would love this!

P.P.S. If you have trouble concentrating while journaling (and in at least 2 other settings!) maybe it's your ADHD brain! That's on for next week's video but don't let that hold you back from starting your journal today!