• There are examples of how journaling can have a positive impact and help youth have a successful life.

• Journaling offers many benefits of which we are often not aware.

• Encourage our youth to start the habit of journaling and it can change their lives.

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An excellent example is a 4th grade teacher in Japan.

Toshiro Kanamori encourages his 10 year old students to write about their feelings. By sharing their feelings and lives, they realize the importance of caring for their classmates. His approach has made a positive impact on his students. This story can be found in the award winning documentary film, “Children Full of Life.”

• Self-Discipline: -When journaling becomes a habit, it improves self-discipline. It also improves other areas of our lives and helps create healthy routines.

• Communication Skills: -The act of regularly writing our thoughts assists verbal communication. With practice our ideas will become clarified and organized. In time this will benefit our speaking skills.

• Creativity: -Writing down our thoughts and ideas gets our creativity flowing.

• Self-Confidence: -Journaling about positive experiences enables us to relive them. This helps us feel good about ourselves and gain self-confidence.

• Achievements: -Journaling can assist us to determine what we wish to achieve. Writing down our dreams and ambitions make them clearer. This increases the chance of achieving them. It signals to the brain what is important.

• Coping Mechanism: –Journaling has us engage with our thoughts. We become more aware of our frustrations or anxieties. This heightened awareness may often better enable us to cope with what is on our minds. This has a positive effect on our degree of coping with challenges.

• Emotional Intelligence: -Journaling enables us increase our self-awareness. We also note our emotions. We realize how we are interacting with others. This helps improve our understanding of others. We are more empathetic to how others feel and create deeper connections with them.

• Memory and Comprehension: -By writing our thoughts and ideas on paper, we tend to understand and remember them.

• IQ: -There is evidence that improving your writing skills has a positive effect on intelligence.

• Health: -Journaling helps reduce stress. When we write about our challenges it helps us cope with our emotions as we’ve been able to express them. The lowered stress and anxiety results in a healthier life.

• Write regularly. Suggest they make it a habit to start or end their day by writing at least 15 – 20 minutes.

• Record everything. Write about their activities and thoughts, the good, the bad, and the ugly.

• Don’t self-edit. Just write it all down.

• Follow up. We can regularly follow up with them about their journaling activities. When and if they are comfortable, request them to share some of their writing.

Please share your ideas on how we can assist our youth in group coaching.