I have always been a really big fan of journaling. I’ve been bullet journaling for a while , creating an archive of my art and emotions for the past five years. This hobby has definitely given me the opportunity to be vulnerable with myself and to master the art of venting to an empty page. It’s always been a really good way for me to organize my thoughts and better myself, but recently I’ve been feeling like there’s something I’m missing out on. Although I could easily write down what I did and how I felt, I wasn’t able to set these feelings into action, so I bought an Intention Journal.
To put it simply, intention journaling is consciously journaling your relationship with the goals you want to pursue. Although you can add intentions to any journal, I decided to buy a completely new journal for my intentions, so that I can keep track of everything. To begin intention journaling, you have to think about the parts of yourself you want to improve upon, and then write down every thought you have that’s related to this point of growth. You’ll write about what this growth is, what it will ultimately mean to you, and how you can achieve it. The journal I have is really cool because a fresh journal comes every month with other goodies in a subscription box and it’s themed around the moon, which makes the whole box super aesthetically pleasing. What I like most about my intention journal is that there are daily writing prompts that encourage growth and evaluation. I really enjoy that the prompts are laid out for me, because it allows me to spend more time actually writing my thoughts than trying to figure out what exactly I should write down. Also, each entry has a ton of space to write in, which is really nice for someone like me who loves to “brain dump.” Rather than writing in complete sentences or bullet points, I love to write my intentions all over the place and add in little doodles. This specific journal is really personalizable, which makes me love it even more.
Since beginning my intention setting journal, I have found that I feel much less anxious about daily frustrations and I’m more gracious for the small things in my life. I feel like I’m constantly overwhelmed with studying, so this journaling experience has been a really nice way to realize that there is more to life than just homework and exams. Although I don’t plan on giving up bullet journaling anytime soon, I think I am going to have to incorporate intention journaling into my daily routine, even after my current journal is full.