How Journaling Helps Your Marriage: 8 Ways To Journal And Create The Marriage You Desire

Journaling has been used to help people work through problems, create success, and record their progress. We explore how journaling helps your marriage in this article.

Journaling has been all the rage for a while now, and more and more people have found this creative writing method of recording personal thoughts and feelings to be an invaluable tool in helping them work through their problems.

The benefits of journaling are numerous. But one of the first and most obvious benefits is that journaling is an excellent, free way to keep you organized.

We show you 8 ways journaling can help you create the marriage your desire and deserve.

Our culture has moved away from journaling as a regular activity. It is mostly done by artists, writers, and people in creative fields. For others, it is trendy and vogue.

Several generations ago, journaling was a priority for most people, regardless of their occupation.

A few names you might recognize include Maya Angelou, Anne Frank, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, Sylvia Plath, Hunter S. Thompson, Jack Kerouac, Mark Twain, Virginia Woolf, and Lewis Carroll.

The Benefits Of Journaling

There are many benefits of journaling. 

Many people journal for creative ideas, therapy, success, and help reaching their goals. 

Benjamin Franklin used journaling to build 16 character traits he deemed beneficial.

Franklin valued journaling as a way to track his own personal growth and development. He also saw it as a way to reflect on his day-to-day experiences and learn from them. Lastly, journaling allowed Franklin to set goals and track his progress over time.

But journaling can have a positive impact on your relationships. Especially your marriage.

What Journaling Can Do and Why it Helps

If you’re married, you know that communication is key to a happy and healthy relationship. But sometimes it’s not always easy to express what you’re feeling, especially when it comes to sensitive topics. That’s where journaling can help.

Keeping a journal can help you communicate better with your spouse by giving you a place to express your thoughts and feelings. But that’s only a small portion of the benefits you will get from journaling.

Here are 8 positive benefits for your marriage of journaling on a daily basis.

1) Journaling Helps You Organize Your Thoughts

Organizing your thoughts can be a difficult and time-consuming task, but journaling can help. By taking the time to write down your thoughts in a journal, you can begin to organize them in a way that makes sense to you. This can be a helpful way to find solutions to problems, work through difficult emotions, or simply to keep track of your thoughts over time.

Journaling can also help you to see your thoughts from a different perspective. When you are able to step back and read what you have written, you may be able to identify patterns or themes that you were not aware of before. This can help you to understand yourself better and make better choices in the future.

If you are struggling to organize your thoughts, journaling may be a helpful tool for you. Give it a try and see how it can help you to make sense of your thoughts and feelings.

Also, journaling can help increase your clarity of thought, boost your problem-solving skills, and help you to better understand yourself and your goals.

2) Journaling Helps You Identify What’s Important To You

Writing daily helps you focus on the things that matter most in your life. It helps clarify your values, priorities, and big goals in life.

Writing in my journal every morning has allowed me to think about life on a deeper level. I have been able to take the time to think about what I am doing and why I am doing it. This helps me to stay focused on what is important and to keep moving forward.

Additionally, journaling has helped me to discover what matters most to me. When I take the time to write out my thoughts, I am able to see what is truly important to me and what I am passionate about. This has been a valuable exercise for me and has helped me to create a more fulfilling life.

Finally, journaling has also helped me to process my emotions and to work through difficult situations. By writing out my thoughts and feelings, I am able to gain clarity and find solutions that I may not have otherwise discovered. This has been a lifesaver for me on many occasions and has helped me to stay calm and to think more clearly.

3) Journaling Allows You To Work Through Issues

This is perhaps one of the biggest benefits of journaling. Writing has a way of fleshing out and flushing out all the junk in our souls. 

I believe a lot of time and money spent on counseling could be better invested in a nice journal and an early morning routine of pouring out your heart.

Journaling is a powerful tool that can help you work through problems and issues that trouble you. By writing about your thoughts and feelings, you can gain clarity and understanding about what is troubling you. Journaling can also help you to release emotions and to find solutions to your problems.

If you are having trouble journaling about your problems, start by writing about your day-to-day experiences. What made you happy today? What made you angry or frustrated? What are you worried about? As you write about your experiences, you may start to see patterns emerging. For example, you may realize that you always get angry when your boss criticizes you.

Once you have identified the problem, you can start to brainstorm solutions. What can you do to diffuse the anger you feel when your boss criticizes you? Perhaps you can try to have a conversation with your boss to explain how his or her criticism makes you feel. Or, you may decide to look for a new job.

Whatever solution you choose, journaling can help you to work through the problem and to find a way to move forward.

4) Journaling Prompts You To Come Up With A Plan For Your Future Self

The idea of your ‘future self’ is based on the research of Dr. Benjamin Hardy. Your future self is the person you want to become in the future. The concept is to begin to live like you already are your future self. This helps you embrace the reality of those qualities and characteristics.

When you sit down to journal, you are giving yourself time to think about your future self. This can be a helpful way to come up with a plan for your future.

Think about what you want your future self to be like. What kind of person do you want to be? What kind of life do you want to lead? Once you have a vision for your future self, you can start to develop a plan to make it happen.

Think about what steps you need to take to become the person you want to be. What do you need to do to achieve your goals? What kind of habits do you need to develop?

As you journal, you can start to develop a plan for your future self. This can be a helpful way to get yourself on track and achieve your goals. Writing prompts can be helpful to jump start journal entries.

You may also find it helpful to set some deadlines for yourself. If you want to achieve something by a certain age, write it down and make a plan for how you will achieve it. This can help to keep you accountable and motivated.

Journaling can be a helpful way to develop a plan for your future self. It can help you to think about your goals and develop a strategy for achieving them. So, if you’re feeling stuck or unsure of what to do next, try journaling and see where it takes you.

5) Journaling Allows You To Track Progress

Business coach and writer Peter Drucker says, “What gets measured, gets managed.’ It’s also be put this way: What gets measured, gets improved.

Either way, measuring your growth is an important part of growth. When we measure our progress (in anything) we tend to focus more on what we are doing on a day-by- basis. 

The very fact we are paying attention helps us make progress.

These are not just business principles. They are life principles. They work in business, personal growth, and relationships.f

When we pay attention to our marriage on a daily basis, we tend to focus on where we are and where we want to be. While the idea of measuring our marriage may seem vague or difficult, it is more about concentrating on what we desire for our relationship.

Journaling is an excellent way to stay focused on the priority of our marriage.

My daily journal is my measuring rod. I can look back over the months and years to see how I’ve grown, where I’ve struggled the most, and what I’ve held as priorities in my life. 

This allows me to make adjustments so I can continue to move forward.

My daily journal is my measuring rod. I can look back over the months and years to see how I’ve grown, where I’ve struggled the most, and what I’ve held as priorities in my life.  Click To Tweet

Journaling allows you to gain insights into your inner workings and how you respond to different situations. This can be helpful in identifying patterns and areas that need improvement.

It can also help you stay motivated by providing a record of your accomplishments. Seeing your progress in black and white can be a great way to stay on track and keep pushing yourself to reach your goals.

If you’re not sure where to start, try setting up a simple spreadsheet with columns for different areas of your life. You can then use each entry to rate your progress in each area on a scale of 1-10. This will help you to see which areas you’re doing well in and which need more attention.

Whatever method you choose, journaling is a valuable way to monitor your progress and ensure that you’re moving in the right direction.

6) Journaling Is A Great Way To Do A Brain Dump

This is one of my favorite parts of journaling. Each morning I grab a cup of coffee, go to my home office, read my Bible and then write.

I write about whatever is on my mind. I dump all the clutter. After a while, I find myself zeroing in on something that emerges as a priority for the day. I get clarity on what I need to do that day.

I usually have a plan for what needs to be done that day, but journaling helps me clarify my priorities and get important things down on paper.

There are two parts of this I find useful.

1. Writing down what is on my mind helps me empty the clutter.

As I mentioned earlier, we get junk and debris built up in our minds and soul that needs to be purged. My brain dump helps me get it out of my soul and off my mind. It frees me from carrying that junk all day.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or just generally bogged down, journaling can be a great way to do a brain dump. It can help to get all of your thoughts and feelings out of your head, and onto paper (or screen). This can help you to organize your thoughts, and figure out what’s really bothering you. Once it’s all out in the open, you may find it easier to deal with whatever is stressing you out.

Try this. Set a timer for 10-15 minutes, and just start writing. Don’t worry about spelling, grammar, or whether or not what you’re writing makes sense. Just let it all out. Once the timer goes off, you can re-read what you’ve written, and see if there’s anything you want to explore further.

2. Writing each morning helps me discover what my ‘inner man’ wants to communicate to me. 

Some refer to this as the subconscious mind, your spirit man, or the real you. Whatever term you want to use, the principle is important to understand.

During the night, the inner part of you wants to communicate and give you direction. The problem is, that we don’t slow down or take the time to listen. Journaling allows me to empty the junk so I can focus on what my gut is telling me.

I find that journaling is a great way to help me tap into my subconscious. I often find that when I am stuck on a problem or feeling stuck in a rut, writing in my journal can help me to see things from a different perspective.

Sometimes, I will even write down a question that I want to explore further, and then journaling can help me to find the answers that I am looking for.

Writing daily helps me to connect with my higher self and my intuition. I refer to this as my real self. I find that when I am journaling, I am able to tune out the noise of the outside world and really tune into my inner thoughts and feelings. This can be a great way to connect with my higher self and receive guidance and direction.

I find that journaling is a great way to help me tap into my subconscious. I often find that when I am stuck on a problem or feeling stuck in a rut, writing in my journal can help me to see things from a different perspective. Click To Tweet

This is incredibly valuable. Especially for relationships. 

7) Journaling Keeps You Focused On Your Big Rocks and What Is Important

You’ve probably heard the concept of ‘rocks, pebbles, and sand.’ The video below from Mindful Practices explains it.

The principle states that we all have various size rocks (priorities) in life. Some are bigger than others. We call these big rocks. 

Others are important, but not big. They are the pebbles.

Then there are small things. The sand. They are the thousands of things that vie for our attention.

The lesson is that big rocks must come first. 

Journaling is a great way to identify and focus on the big rocks of life. Writing daily helps remind me of what matters most in life. 

Journaling is a great way to identify and focus on the big rocks of life. Writing daily helps remind me of what matters most in life.  Click To Tweet

Sometimes I’m even caught off guard by what I’ve allowed to occupy my thinking. Other times I discover priorities (things that matter) that I hadn’t identified. Writing daily (and early) keeps me centered on my big rocks.

Also Read: The Marriage Wheel

8) Journaling Helps You Keep Track Of Things You Need To Do To Move Forward

I mentioned measuring progress earlier (#5). This one is similar but different.

Not only am I tracking my progress, but I am actually identifying what I need to do to move forward.

For example, if one of my big rocks is to spend time with Michelle to maintain a strong connection, I can use my journal to see how I’m doing. I record our activities and time together. 

If I notice I am neglecting time with her, I can adjust. I measure it to improve it. But that’s not all. As I write, I actually identify ways I can connect. Things I can do to keep the bond strong.

Daily journaling (as I mentioned before #2 and #7) helps me know what to do to accomplish my goals and move forward. It’s a check and balance system that lets me know when I’m off track, but it also tells me how to get back on track.

I believe this works because journaling is not just jotting down ideas. It is a dialog with yourself. As Benjamin Hardy would say, it’s a conversation with your future self.

Journaling is a dialog with yourself. As Benjamin Hardy would say, it’s a conversation with your future self. Click To Tweet

As I wrestle through issues, and priorities, and get in touch with my true self – my inner man – I can better manage my life so I can be the person I want to be.

How does help my marriage? 

I consider my first calling to be to my wife. I want to minister to (serve) her in a way that honors God and demonstrates the fact she is a valuable gift. 

Daily writing allows me to keep this inner conversation going in my heart. 

How To Organize Your Journal

Journaling is personal. There is no right way or wrong way to do it. There are tips that help, but in the end, your daily journal is your connection to God, yourself, and your highest priorities and purpose. So make it yours.

I’ve used many different ways. Until recently, I used a standard notebook as my journal. The problem was, that I have ‘categories’ of writing. Some entries are my daily brain dumps. Some are article ideas. Others are notes from books or Bible studies I’m doing.

All these were jumbled together making it difficult if I wanted to retrieve something for an article or speaking engagement. 

For my birthday, I bought myself (actually more of a gift from my wife) a Lochby field journal. I like it because it’s manly. And it keeps my different notebooks in one place. So I can keep my categories organized.

Your journal will look different from mine. But here is how I lay everything out. It keeps me organized and provides a great retrieval system for my writing in the future.

I have four moleskin notebooks inside my field journal. Each one serves a different purpose. I have them titled.

1. Notes and Tasks

This one is for my daily to-do list or brief thoughts, conversations, meeting notes, etc. This is more of a disposable junk notebook. Nothing in this notebook needs to be kept, so I throw these away once they are full.

2. Bible Study 

I am currently teaching the book of Colossians at our church, so I have a specific notebook I use to record my thoughts and collect information for teaching.

I keep this separate from my journal although I do write about spiritual matters a lot in my daily writing. It’s a big part of my life and keeps me centered.

Also, as a separate notebook, I can keep them organized by Bible book, which makes it easy to use as a future reference.

3. Daily Journal

This is where I do my brain dump and inner work. This by far is used more than the other sections.

Once I fill a notebook, I can easily remove it from the field journal. I label it and keep it in a cabinet. It’s easy to retrieve if I want to. And it is something I can pass down to my children or grandchildren.

4. Article Ideas

I use this to outline, mindmap, and collect information for articles or courses I’m working on.

I also have big notebooks I use to collect information for the next book I’m writing.

From the images below, you can see how I’ve set up my field journal. I keep this with me at all times. 

Journaling Prompts For Marriage Enrichment

To close this article, I want to give you a few writing prompts you can use to zero in on your relationship with your spouse. My goal is to help you use journaling to create a deeper, more meaningful marriage.

If you are having trouble knowing where to start in your daily marriage journal, answer these questions. Then expand on your answers each day as you revisit them.

1. Define what a strong marriage means to you.
2. Why do you believe that marriage is worth fighting for?
3. What are some things you can do to make your marriage stronger?
4. What are some things you can do to make yourself a better spouse?
5. What are some things you can do to improve communication in your marriage?
6. What are some ways you can show your spouse love and appreciation?
7. What are some things you can do to keep the spark alive in your marriage?
8. What are some things you can do to deal with conflict in a healthy way?
9. What are some things you can do to deal with the challenges of married life?
10. What are some things you can do to make your marriage a lifelong commitment?
11. What are some things you can do to grow closer to God as a couple?
12. What are some things you can do to build a strong marriage for the future?

My Recommended Resources For Journaling

There are hundreds of journals, tools, and notebooks you can use for daily journaling. My wife is creating one designed for women. I like the Lochby Field Journal because it is rugged and designed to meet my needs.

Here are the tools I use and recommend.

The Journal I Recommend

The Notebooks I Use

The Pen I Recommend

Final Thoughts On How Journaling Helps Your Marriage

Journaling has many benefits. People have always used writing as a way to express their inner thoughts, dreams, and desires. 

In this article, we listed 8 ways journaling can help you build a strong connection in your marriage.

Summary

• The Benefits Of Journaling
• What Journaling Can Do and Why it Helps
  • 1) Journaling Helps You Organize Your Thoughts
  • 2) Journaling Helps You Identify What’s Important To You
  • 3) Journaling Allows You To Work Through Issues
  • 4) Journaling Prompts You To Come Up With A Plan For Your Future Self
  • 5) Journaling Allows You To Track Progress
  • 6) Journaling Is A Great Way To Do A Brain Dump
  • 7) Journaling Keeps You Focused On Your Big Rocks and What Is Important
  • 8) Journaling Helps You Keep Track Of Things You Need To Do To Move Forward
  • How does help my marriage? 
• How To Organize Your Journal
  • 1. Notes and Tasks
  • 2. Bible Study 
  • 3. Daily Journal
  • 4. Article Ideas
• Journaling Prompts For Marriage Enrichment

What’s Next?