5 Ways of Journaling Without Writing
Journaling has long been used as a tool for reflection, stress relief, and mental clarity. By documenting our daily lives and processing our feelings, journaling can help reduce anxiety and boost overall well-being.
Regular journaling gives us perspective on challenges we encounter. It can keep us from ruminating on our thoughts and improve our ability to cope with difficulties.
Journaling also fosters gratitude by encouraging us to notice blessings we may otherwise overlook. Simply writing down things we are grateful for each day has been shown to improve our mood and outlook.
While journaling is often thought of as writing one’s thoughts and experiences, the practice can come in many creative forms that provide therapeutic benefits without any writing at all.
This post will explore several writing-free ways to journal that still cultivate benefits like stress relief, gratitude, and self-awareness. Keeping a journal has much to offer, whether or not words are involved.
Art Journaling
Art journaling allows processing and recollection through drawing, doodling, and collage instead of writing. Piecing together snippets of our lived experiences and feelings using visual elements can be just as insightful as traditional written journaling.
Drawing
Some people find that drawing comes a lot more naturally than writing. Try as best you can to let your drawings take shape without too much thought or judgement – you might surprise yourself with what comes out!
Doodling
Doodling how your day unfolded or sketching out images that come to mind gives you a creative outlet.
Relaxation techniques like mandalas can be peaceful and meditative, while freeform doodles can help give your inner thoughts life and form.
Collage
If starting from a blank page is too abstract for you, you might try collecting bits of paper from magazines and old books, or print out images you find online.
Tearing up existing images and rearranging them into new forms eases the pressure of a fresh blank page and still lets you express yourself through colors, textures and shapes.
Printables
Using journaling printables can introduce colors, shapes and textures into your journaling spreads without necessarily needing to be artistic yourself.
Mixed Media
Some journalers find the ultimate creative outlet through mixed media, combining multiple styles in one spread. A mixed media page may include writing, sketches, washi tape elements, collaged materials, and more for multilayered expression.
Weaving together words, visuals, textures and colors taps both hemispheres of the brain for fully-immersive processing.
Mixed media journaling allows experimenting freely without bounds. One spread could tell your day through collage, the next through bullet points and doodles. Your journal becomes a laboratory to playfully document each experience however it calls you.
For explorers seeking continual novelty, mixed media keeps the art of journaling fresh and engrossing through boundless combinations. The flexibility nourishes creativity and relaxation without limits.
Bullet Journaling
The bullet journal method began as a very minimalist, structured way of keeping track of your tasks, habits, and things going on in your life. It’s more matter-of-fact than lengthy written self-reflection, but it still tells the story of your life as you look back on it over time.
Using a notebook, bullet journalers map out their thoughts and tasks using bullet points, lists and diagrams. Minimal words are needed to reap the rewards. A bullet journal lets you keep all of your thoughts and plans in one place, and then reflect on them afterwards.
Bullet journals can appeal to more logical-brained people, with color coded charts and simple symbols used to track your moods, finances, and anything else that important to you.
You can also add artistic flair if you like. Washi tape, stickers and colored pens further enhance bullet journaling’s appeal and make flipping back through completed pages more aesthetically pleasing.
For those who want the accountability of a daily journaling practice but find long form writing a chore, the bullet method allows just as much clarity through visual organization instead of wordy musings.
Audio Journaling
If you prefer to process your experiences out loud rather than on paper, audio journaling lets you capture your self-reflections in a spoken format. With just a smartphone or recording device, you can record yourself talking through your daily highs and lows.
Hearing your own voice as you unpack feelings or memories provides a different perspective compared to just writing. You may realize things about yourself or pick up on emotions in your tone that written words don’t convey as clearly. Audio journaling lets you analyze inflection, pacing, and phrasing to gain further insight.
Like video or voice memos, recorded reflections also capture fleeting thoughts you may forget by the time writing them out. Speak candidly and preserve spontaneous processing for future benefit. It can be strange to record and listen to yourself at first, but you’ll get used to it quickly!
For hesitant writers or kinesthetic learners, audio journaling allows creative expression and catharsis through speech instead of writing.
Photo Journaling
For visual people, keeping a photography journal allows documenting one’s world and experiences through a lens. Simply snapping photos of everyday sights – a beautiful flower, a cozy coffee shop, your pet – helps preserve special moments that shape our stories, and will become more meaningful to you as time goes on.
Flipping through pictures from past weeks or months fosters reminiscence of everyday pleasures we tend to gloss over. Nostalgia for simple joys in the photo stream can improve our emotional well-being. Capturing milestone events alongside mundane routines also cultivates gratitude for time’s passing.
Let the visuals do the work of sparking core feelings and recollections. Over time, your photographic archive becomes a rich treasure of textures, places, faces that transports you to past frames of mind.
Photography journaling taps creativity by framing shots in your unique perspective. The art of capturing scenes, people, patterns engages both your patience and artistic eye. Relaxing into snapshots each day also trains presence of mind.
For visual thinkers, assembling a photo book (or blog!) grants mindfulness benefits of journaling through images over words.
Scrapbooking
Scrapbooking allows journaling through creative crafting with materials that jog fond memories. Assemble pages with mementos like tickets, postcards, dried flowers alongside personal photos to preserve moments transformed into tangible art.
The tactile process of carefully arranging scrapbook elements soothes the mind as you reminisce. Minimal writing lets items do symbolic work evoking happiness from the past. Decorating with washi tape, die cuts and embellishments makes preserved pages beautiful keepsakes.
Revisiting finished scrapbook spreads sparks intimate nostalgia better than generic calendars. Tangibly holding special occasions, adventures, milestones in your hands through craft gives perspective to appreciate life’s journey.
Scrapbooking pages can even document intangible aspects like heartfelt conversations, favorite songs or inside jokes to pass down personal history. Your curated mementos become a family heirloom to illustrate your narrative through meaningful memorabilia.
For crafters seeking journaling’s mindfulness perks through creative outlet, scrapbooking lets you relive memoirs in a stress-free, visually pleasing workbook of life. Page by page, your personal album evolves.
Collecting Ephemera
Ephemera typically refers to small bits of papers and materials you collect in your daily life, that can be pasted into a journal.
You can try gluing in tickets, product labels, plant pressings, photographs – anything with personal meaning that triggers memories or tells your story.
Even just items that catch your eye with a particular color or aesthetic can tell a lot about you, and will be fun to look back on later.
Allow your journal to take abstract form through shapes, patterns, colors – whatever feels right in the moment. Visual symbolism can sometimes help process things that written words cannot.
Creative Journaling Goes Beyond Words
While writing in a journal is the classic method of processing experiences, for many of us its benefits are better accessed through creative avenues that don’t require putting pen to paper.
This post highlighted several artistic ways to journal without the pressure of extensive writing – through visual doodling, structure-focused bullet lists, spoken reflections, photographed memories, and tangible scrapbook pages.
Each style cultivates reflection, mindfulness and stress relief similar to traditional written journaling, but with the added advantages of engaging different creative skills. Finding an approach that matches your processing preferences, available time, and innate talents helps make journaling’s mental wellness perks more accessible to you.
Your journal is your space to reflect and relax, through whichever artistic outlet inspires you to create and feel thankful each day.