Journal 'versus' Diary

What's the difference between writing in a Journal and keeping a Diary? Read on...

Journal ‘versus’ Diary

“If you write about what you did yesterday, you’re keeping a diary. If you ask questions like ‘why?’ and explore those answers more, that’s keeping a journal.”

I often get asked what’s the difference between keeping a Journal or writing in a diary. The sentence above pretty well sums it up, but as with all things at The Journaling Guy, I don’t want to set hard and fast rules. What I will say is this…

Diary

If all you do is list out what happened that day (which there is no harm in doing by the way), you’re writing in a diary. But you’re not going to benefit from digging a little deeper, and that’s what a journal can do for you.

Journal

Firstly, a Journal is a place for positivity as well as negativity; we must experience both these feelings, to truly get something out of life; after all, without the lows we wouldn’t appreciate the highs.

So yes, write about your achievements and the good outcomes of the day. What we tend not to do internally though, is to dig a little deeper on why something may not have gone so well, or in fact, completely wrong. That’s where a Journal really comes into its own.

Dealing with the tough stuff

Countless times I’ve written about some tough subjects and had a much better understanding of it afterwards, simply by being open and honest with myself. It’s truly remarkable what is up there in your brain, which you haven’t processed yet. By being totally open and honest with yourself, you will achieve wisdom which you simply cannot by just going over things in your mind.

Relationships

For example, if you were to talk about a relationship which had broken down, with a close friend or family member, it’s likely you’ll be looking for some reassurance from them. Your loved one will naturally want to take your side and most likely want to make you feel better about it. I mean, why wouldn’t they, it’s human nature.

However, if you were to write about ALL the reasons that relationship broke down, you can be a lot more honest with yourself about it in a Journal, than you would if you were talking to a friend about it, face-to-face. You may come to realise things which you won’t have done if you were arguing with your (now) ex or seeking comfort from a loved one.

Gratitude & the Future

A Journal is a place for you to look to the future too. A place for planning or even writing about the life that you’d really like to live (manifest it). Writing things down will make them much more likely to come to fruition.

Writing about the things that you’re grateful for is also a brilliant exercise and another differentiator between a diary and a Journal. When you practice Gratitude, your mood is lifted, and it makes you appreciate the smaller things in life.

Summary

So, you see, a Journal is quite different to a Diary in a lot of ways. There’s nothing to stop you turning your diary entries into Journal entries though. Just dig a little deeper, be completely honest with yourself, ask more questions and write about why you might feel a certain way about ‘that’ situation. Hey presto, suddenly, you’re a Journaler.