Ready to Write?

  I have some exciting news! The National Association of Christian Journal Writers (NACJW), along with other fellow Christian authors, will be developing a new book titled Write Changes: Stories of Transformation Through Journal Writing. But the truly exciting piece of our latest adventure is that we are opening up this opportunity to anyone who has a story of their own to share. Therefore, if you want to share how journaling has helped make changes in your life, we would love for you to become authors along with us. And, the first 10 people who decide to join our team
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Tips on Keeping a Food Journal

  Are you or your clients struggling to lose weight or simply want to keep an eye on what your food intake looks like? You may have tried keeping a food journal to focus attention on calorie intake or food selections. Focusing on food intake in a journal as a therapeutic strategy to understand habits and patterns is a great supplement to traditional therapy techniques. Additionally, keeping a food diary for weight loss has been researched and found to yield positive results.   Let’s look at some ways to make the most of your food journal.   Goals: Decide what
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Journaling for Self Supervision

  We have no second thoughts about asking our clients to journal for a deeper understanding of self and their behaviors, but how often are WE journaling? If you are asking your clients to journal, what better way to understand the process then to engage in reflective writing yourself? Let’s look at the benefits to using journaling for self-supervision:   Self-Awareness: Journaling as a regular practice can assist you with your own life and help build an awareness of self that can positively affect your ability to be a productive counselor or health practitioner. Even though we are helping professionals
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A Reflection Statement Can Make The Difference

  When I have something to say, I can write away for hours in my journal; but, what good does that do? Is the act of writing down my thoughts enough to make a difference in my life? For me, it depends. Sure, dumping out our thoughts on paper gives relief to both mind and body. Many times this can be enough to help us get to sleep or function effectively for the day. What, then, about the long term? Can there be even greater benefits involved in our writing? I’m all about action steps and moving forward. If we
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Enter to Win Journaling With Jesus

Want to learn more about how journaling can enhance your relationship with God?  Author Carol Round is offering the opportunity to get her book and companion workbook for free!   Enter our raffle for your chance to win!  We will choose the winner on Friday, July 24. Read more about Carol’s book: Journaling with Jesus: How to Draw Closer to God “Journaling with Jesus” is a creative call to an authentic, intimate relationship with Christ through the art of prayer-journaling. Author Carol Round openly shares her own intimate journaling journey, initially borne of pain, and now bathed in promise—the hope of
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Therapeutic List Making

  Do you make lists? My guess is most of us do for one reason or another. Spend a few moments and think about the last time you made a list. It may have even been today or yesterday. Ok, but, you may ask, can list making be therapeutic? Yes! In fact, if you are working with a client or group of people, list making can be a simple and structured way to get them engaged in writing. How to use Lists for yourself or your clients: Organization: List making is a helpful tool for those who have difficulty with
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What Makes Christian Journaling Unique?

  I bet if you’re reading this you either journal now or you did at one time in your life. Most of us who started on a journaling journey in our youth remember spending time recording all those heart wrenching events that had nowhere to go, but in our diary. There were days when that diary or journal became our best friend. For Christians, your journal can still be that best friend. Certainly, many non-Christians see their journals as a confidant, but what can make Christian journaling unique is that we have a spiritual focus others do not. Let’s look
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How Much Should I Write?

One reason people shy away from journaling is because they believe they don’t have enough time in their busy schedules to write anything worth recording. Others think there’s a certain word count that should be written. If they don’t fill the page it seems like a waste of time and paper. There’s no set amount of writing that equals quality. There are days when I can’t stop writing and days when I barely eek out a few sentences. It’s not the daily or weekly amount that is important, it’s the quality and the patterns that emerge throughout your writing time.
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Journaling Your Personal Record

Guest Post by:  Bernard Boulton Journaling is a personal record of your journey on earth, written, spoken or captured on video. It is the gathering of your personal experiences, the recollection of your emotional expressions and the revealing of your creative life. When you journal you are recording the past that you have traveled from, the present that you are traveling through and the future you are traveling to. Richard Peace says in his book Spiritual Journaling: Recording your journey toward God, “We each have a story. Our stories tells us who we are as they chart the unfolding of
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Journaling to Relieve Anxiety

Guest Post By Alyssa Avant   Everyone who knows me knows that I can definitely be a “worry wart”, but unfortunately for me my worrying goes beyond the norm. Since I was a child, I have dealt with anxiety, had anxiety and panic attacks and have tried to learn to cope with them. As a child, I saw a child psychologist who helped me learn to cope. At that time, my fears and anxiety were limited to situations that involved bad weather, or my mom leaving me behind at school after the school day was over. Those were the two
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