The benefits of journaling
Whether you already faithfully keep a journal, or have contemplated doing so, you might be interested in learning about the benefits of journaling and the implications it can have for your mental health. Here are some of the top reasons to start or maintain a journaling habit. 
It reduces stress. A journal provides a place to leave your worries and your cares. Journaling can give us clarity. When difficult situations arise, writing can help us sort through all the aspects or facts and come to a deeper understanding of them. Writing can lead us to develop more personal insights, and maybe even to have more compassion for ourselves.
Journaling can also help us process our feelings. It can act as a catharsis for feelings like anger and frustration, and allows us to go back into our relationships in a calmer frame of mind.
It can also increase our feelings of self worth when we journal about what is working for us, or what we are grateful for.
One of the biggest benefits of journaling is that it provides us with time for reflection, time to slow down, time to re-focus. We can get so busy and so caught up in the details that we can go days without taking a moment to just be.
Journaling has been shown to be especially helpful for caregivers, who often lead very busy and stressful lives. But at any age or stage of life, we could all benefit from taking even a little time on a regular basis to write down our thoughts, our feelings and observations. While writing them down is useful, you’ll find that rereading them later is also valuable.
Perhaps one of the best reasons some seniors have for keeping a journal is that it is a way for them to leave an account of their life for their children and grandchildren to read, and a keepsake to treasure.
For more about all the opportunities we have for engaging activities in assisted living Vancouver WA at Harmony Senior Homes, call for a tour of one of our homes.