6 Powerful Ideas for Journaling towards Brighter Days
Last Updated 12/8/2025
Journaling can be an exciting way to dump your bad days and give rise to brighter days ahead. As a balance and emotional well-being coach, I don't just look at how choices affect mood, but also how choices affect life outcomes. I often suggest journaling as a way to help clients develop awareness of their roadblocks and strengths leading them to ignite action that can result in healthy change. When you journal every day or often, it can help you to see your patterns. By seeing your patterns, you can begin to identify the changes needed in order to make progress.
Anyhow, to get started journaling, ask yourself some questions. Maybe you want to change some things in your home. Ask yourself, "What part of the house or room brings me the happiest energy?" Maybe, pick that area to focus on. Next, pick seating that makes you feel most relaxed. Do you like sitting on a cushy chair, fluffy couch or propped up on a billowy bed? Whatever relaxes and grounds you, create it. Perhaps, you might want to check into your wild side and experiment with different textures or designs. Go for what works for you!
Get Creative
Get creative! Morning journaling, noon journaling, or nocturnal journaling may be your thing. Personally, I tend to like journaling in the daytime and in the part of the house that is most well lit. Next, pick your journaling tool . Are you going to buy a journal book, create your own journal pages, or use an electronic device? Pick what best suites your interests and lifestyle. If you are an artsy person, you might want a water-color journal book. You may be a DIY (Do it Yourself) person who might create your own bounded pages, or you might want to journal on an electronic device. If you choose a journal book, choose a favorite writing or drawing tool. I knew of a person who liked to journal using purple ink. Maybe, you will use colored ink, colored pages, a collage of pictures that you glue to the page, or whatever. It's yours, enjoy it!
Have a loose idea as to what works for you. Are you short or long winded? In an era when people are using acronyms and short phrases, maybe, you like to write using three word sentences, such as "I loved today," "I felt happy," or "My friends 'rock'!" or draw a picture of how you felt. You don't need to be an artist to draw. Heck! Use stick figures. Whatever your journaling method, be open. You can even change up methods in the same journaling moment. For example, you might decide to write on one page and draw on the next. Last of all, make it possible to journal often. Keep your journal book near you, your writing tool close by, or keep it in reach if you are using an electronic device. Whatever choices you make, keep yourself flexible; don't get caught up in a rigid journaling conundrum. Just have fun on your way to happier days!
Change Can be Encouraging
As you journal at least 15-20 days out of the month, you will see changes from when you first started the journal to the present. The ongoing changes can be encouraging. You will be surprised at how many true changes you have made over a reasonable period of time. Keeping thoughts in your head can be like a big cloud; nothing is clear. When you write them down, it creates a concrete organized way for you to get a good sense of how you are doing and what you need to work on. Here are some ideas to help you get started.
6 Powerful Journaling Ideas
1. Feelings: List thoughts and feelings you want to throw away. Write it, then cross it out or blot it out. Then, list the thoughts and feelings you want to keep. Close your eyes and hold the good feelings, then write down how it felt.
2. Gratitude: Take the time to journal the things for which you are thankful. Try starting with the things we typically take for granted, such as being able to walk, having the ability to think or having a place to live.
3. More Gratitiude: Make a list of things that a person did that made you feel good, such as a person returning a lost cherished item to you or a person sharing their lunch when you have left yours behind.
4. Altruism: Journal the selfless acts that you did for others.
5. Monitor self-talk: Make a concerted effort to listen to the words you tell yourself. Reframe the negative self-talk with positive self-talk. Write down the positive self-talk that you used to reframe the negative self-talk.
6. Humor: Write down anything you found funny today. A friend of mine once pulled off her wig in public, thinking it was her hat. When she realized that her wig was off and that she was in public, she was wide eyed and very embarrassed. In hindsight, she thought it was funny and so did I. That's worth journaling.
* Bonus idea: Write down as many people as you can think of who support you, who bring you comfort, love and joy. Keep those people in the forefront of your mind often. One day take the time to thank them for being who they are in your life.
How Journaling is Beneficial For You
Research shows that journaling can help you to work through negative thoughts and feelings that you were suppressing. In doing this, you can begin to reduce stress and make space for positive thoughts and feelings to enter.
Many people tend to carry every day stressful thoughts and never have a chance to release them. Be mindful that journaling does not replace psychotherapy or a psychotropic medication regimen. Therefore, if you attend psychotherapy or use psychotropic medication, stay compliant as you journal. Journaling is just one way for you to release thoughts and feelings to help you to work through non-threatening issues.
So, keep journaling so that you can dump the bad days and work towards the brighter days of your life.
About the Author
Griselle Phillips is the author of this blog and founder of Good Mood Integrative LLC. She is a balance and emotional well-being coach in New York who focuses on helping people become unstuck, reset their mindsets, and move forward with making better life choices using a holistic approach. If you are ready for something new, want to find balance, and want to move forward with clarity and confidence go to GoodMoodNow.com and find out how.
