Change Your Life by Journalling in 2024

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I did a daily gratitude for my husband for a year. Each day I wrote something I appreciated about him on a colored scrap of paper. It could have been something specific, or something general about his temperament or personality. I folded the paper in half and put it in a jar that I kept hidden in my closet for a year! Then on Christmas I gave him the jar stuffed full of notes. It changed my life and his! Anytime he needs a little pick me up, he goes to the jar and reads a few notes.

Each time someone likes this I’ll make sure I’ll journal that night

I am now 21 years old and I have been journalling (on and off) for at least 6 years now. I genuinely believe that journalling is what made me the person I am today! One fun thing I like to do is to write "level 1" entries in a foreign language I am learning. I am not a native English speaker, so that was the first language I experimented with. Throughout the years I have then journaled in French, Spanish, German and Turkish. Writing about your day in a foreign language is such an incredible exercise that requires minimal time and effort but will ultimately boost your language skills!!

My favorite journaling prompt is “what is the best mistake I made today?” Because it helps me to gain perspective on my perfectionism and to appreciate that the most valuable moments, interactions and insights are often the result of a mistake I made earlier. Like: leaving home late caused me to miss the train but as a result I ran into a friend I hadn’t spoken with in a while. It helps me to be a little less judgmental of myself and better appreciate things I had previously taken for granted :)

Your journal will stand as a chronicle of your growth, your hopes, your fears, your dreams, your ambitions, your sorrows, your serendipities...

🎯 Key Takeaways for quick navigation: 00:00 📖 Journaling is a life-changing habit that can lead to positive transformation. 00:57 💭 Journaling helps take control of your thoughts and feelings, reducing stress and anxiety by detaching from negative beliefs. 02:07 📝 Your actions are driven by decisions, which are influenced by your thoughts, feelings, beliefs, and stories. 03:34 🕒 Journaling can help you understand your thoughts and feelings, leading to better decision-making. 04:43 ⏰ Tracking your time, like with the app Rise, can enhance your productivity and self-awareness. 06:08 📅 Level 1 journaling involves documenting daily experiences and events. 07:33 😌 Level 2 journaling focuses on expressing emotions, practicing gratitude, and improving relationships. 11:07 📆 Level 3 journaling involves setting goals, making decisions, and planning actions to shape your future. 13:12 📓 Prompts like "The Odyssey Plan," "Wheel of Life," and "Fear Setting" can guide your journaling and decision-making. 14:35 📝 Having a conversation with your future self can provide valuable perspective and help you prioritize what truly matters in life. Made wit

My journal is my best friend, I take it everywhere in my bag at all times, and say I'm alone at the mall or the park, I take it out and track my feelings, I write about the surrounding things, I write my feelings, I use it to check in with myself. I've been keeping a diary since I was about 13, and then went off and on for a while until 2021. (I'm on journal #13 for this year), and I think my most important prompt is, "how are you, really?" I tend to mask my emotions because I am known to be a people pleaser, but having an outlet to just actually let out what I'm feeling, it's great.

I have been writing my journal when I was 18 years old. Now, I am 50 years old. Thank you for your valuable videos. I like the way when you’re explaining. It’s very powerful 🎉

Can we take a moment to appreciate Ali that how much he helps us ❤

I journal everyday and I create art journals to give and to sell to others on Etsy. I find that people find it easier to start a journal when it is not a blank page but it has images and interactive places (like tags and tuck spots). It is easier to start to write or color or glue in bits of your life into a creative journal. I am 73 years old and am just starting a youtube channel to show my journals. Today, I discovered how to make a video with my phone. I have so much more to learn but I felt inspired by your videos. Keep up the exciting work.

Thank you Ali - my takeaway actions for this are: 1. Re-introduce Morning Pages into my daily routine. I used to do it, dropped the habit somewhere in the middle of uni, and now that I've graduated and am very aware that this is my life and it's happening now, I think I'll find a lot of value by bringing it back. 2. Try the 'I Appreciate...' exercise with my partner. We moved in together a month ago, and it can be so easy to take for granted how amazing that person is when they're around all the time. This seems like it will give me a bit of time to focus on some of the things I appreciate about my person :) 3. Try to build some form of journalling about future decisions/actions into my life: I have never really done this but it seems like a healthier alternative to the long debates I have in my head whenever I face a big decision! Will definitely take a look at your journalling prompts to see if any resonate, thanks as always for your openness with this stuff Ali. And if you've read this comment, have a great rest of your day!

My favorite journaling prompt is to ask my higher self for advice on anything that is bothering me. It helps me so much to get advice from a broader perspective than through my own human experience. Thank you for this episode Ali. xo

'What does my life look like 5 years from now if I take a completely different path?' This is the prompt that I'm going to journal about and the best part is I have started this "completely different path" this morning and I'm not gonna just journal but document the whole experience to my best capabilities. 5 years from now remind me to share my experience and I'll be happy to do so. : )

Great video, and excellent ideas. My 84 yo mother used to say "Every day I wake up and say 'Today is going to be a beautiful day, and it always is'" She never got on the internet; she was a happy person.

Hey Ali! Thanks for this video! Im a 17 year old JC student this year, taking my alvls next year and school had been so tough on me! Im constantly cluttered with so many activities and my academic workload suddenly skyrocketed and for the last 6 months it felt like ive been pushed by the torrent of work and i felt like i had completely lost control of my life! For the first time in my life i felt completely burnt out, helpless and hopeless that ill ever find my footing and my direction again. Normally im a very high performing student. But i did so poorly this time i felt like i let everyone down. Im so glad i found this video tho, i feel hopeful that journalling might help me pull myself together and make an acadmeic comeback! ❤ very grateful that i chanced upon his video today

Hey, Ali, I just wanted to thank you for what you do. Thanks for providing working methods of improving your live and sharing such helpful ideas with a big audience. I've started journaling about a year ago, being inspired by your videos. My sel-awareness and mental health have improved seemingly since then - I journaled in the evenings and it helped me to offload and calm my brain before sleep. Besides - it's very true!) - it's so much fun to go back to notes and being able to recall your emotions and experience on particular days. Thank you for being there for other people. I genuinely appreciate your personality and actions that help to improve lives of thousands of people for the better. 💛

I’ve found that creating a habit at the end of each month for the life categories bit really helps to assess what you can change the next month. I also do the “5 years from now” prompt at the start of every year and halfway through the year to assess and create goals, which I then break down into what I want to accomplish each month, then each week, then what that looks like day-to-day. All of these prompts and exercises make sure that I’m not floating through life and then I blink and 10 years has gone by without intention. This is one of the few journaling videos I’ve seen that doesn’t have the same hashed out, repeated advice, and I really appreciate the scientific studies! I love the simplified frameworks.

This video is an absolute game-changer! Journaling has had such a positive impact on my life, and your ultimate guide provides a wealth of practical tips and inspiration. It's amazing how something as simple as putting pen to paper can lead to profound personal growth and self-discovery. Thanks for sharing your insights and encouraging others to embark on this transformative journey. Time to grab my journal and start writing! 📓💫✍

Salam Ali, thanks again for another wonderful video. Honestly I'm 31 and I've started journaling ever since I was about 16 or 18 and it did help me much with some misconceptions about myself and make better decisions. But Later after getting my degree my notes mostly went around my feelings and being lost not knowing what to do...etc so I had to stop and I've been on and off ever since. I've been itching to restart this habit and you gave me a little push so I'm grateful . Thanks again. I'm working my way to stop procrastinating and just change my attitude to things, also improve wherever due.