Writing In a Journal: Integrated Journaling & Mindfulness

Writing in a Journal—

Today I came across a fascinating study about writing in a journal entitled “Outcomes of an Integrated Journaling and Mindfulness Program on a US University Campus”. Being about journaling I, of course, was instantly intrigued. Upon further investigation I found this journaling study quite interesting and insightful.

I want to share two highlights of this study with you. The first is about the writing in a journal portion of the study, and the second is about a mindfulness scale the writers referenced.

So without further ado, here is a journaling gem just for you!

Writing in a Journal
Integrated Journaling and Mindfulness

Here is some excellent information about writing in a journal from the study (bold added by me for emphasis only):

“… another component of our sessions was journal writing, which served as a preliminary stage to mindfulness and helped students prepare their minds for the subsequent mindfulness exercises. The reason that we incorporated journaling into our study was two-fold. On the one hand, in terms of their benefits they have lots in common: journaling helps focus on one’s inner world, increase positive thoughts and decrease negativity. In addition to numerous psychological benefits, it enhances physical health (Pennebaker, 1997) and academic performance, for example, it helps high-school students become more active in their pursuit of learning (Scherer, 2002). On the other hand, journaling shares several advantages listed above for mindfulness: it is cheap, does not require special equipment, can be done almost anywhere and by people of all ages and cultures.

The two types of journaling (based on their content and objectives) that we incorporated into our study were gratitude and reappraisal. Research by positive psychologists revealed that writing about positive events – “three good things in life” – increases happiness and decreases depressive symptoms for six months (Seligman, Steen, Park & Peterson, 2005). Thus, on a good day we encouraged our participants to write about their positive experiences. However, when one is upset and cannot really feel positive, it helps to acknowledge these feelings and to be honest with oneself (Niederhoffer & Pennebaker, 2002). According to Pennebaker (1997), it is not just the act of writing about an upsetting event and letting off the steam that has positive effect but rather making sense out of it. Thus, we suggested to our participants that on a day when they were upset, they honestly share their thoughts and feelings in a confidential writing and then try to change their attitude about what happened (if possible).” (Read the entire integrated journaling study here.)

Mindful Attention Awareness Scale

One of the tools the study’s authors mentioned is the Mindful Attention Awareness Scale (MAAS). I am fascinated by simple questionnaires and find them very helpful. I love to complete them and paste them in my journal. Then later on when I find them again I marvel as I reflect upon how much I’ve grown and changed. Sometimes I even re-take the questionnaire. Use the following “Mindfulness Questionnaire” for your day-to-day experiences

Instructions:

Below is a collection of statements about your everyday experience. Using the 1-6 scale below, please indicate how frequently or infrequently you currently have each experience. Please answer according to what really reflects your experience rather than what you think your experience should be. Please treat each item separately from every other item.

1	2	3	4	5	6
Almost Always	Very frequently	Somewhat Frequently	Somewhat Infrequently	Very Infrequently	Almost Never

I could be experiencing some emotion and not be conscious of it until some time later.	1	2	3	4	5	6
I break or spill things because of carelessness, not paying attention, or thinking of something else.	1	2	3	4	5	6
I find it difficult to stay focused on what’s happening in the present.	1	2	3	4	5	6
I tend to walk quickly to get where I’m going without paying attention to what I experience along the way.	1	2	3	4	5	6
I tend not to notice feelings of physical tension or discomfort until they really grab my attention.	1	2	3	4	5	6
I forget a person’s name almost as soon as I’ve been told it for the first time.	1	2	3	4	5	6
It seems I am “running on automatic,” without much awareness of what I’m doing.	1	2	3	4	5	6
I rush through activities without being really attentive to them	1	2	3	4	5	6
I get so focused on the goal I want to achieve that I lose touch with what I’m doing right now to get there	1	2	3	4	5	6
I do jobs or tasks automatically, without being aware of what I’m doing.	1	2	3	4	5	6
I find myself listening to someone with one ear, doing something else at the same time	1	2	3	4	5	6
I drive places on “automatic pilot” and then wonder why I went there.	1	2	3	4	5	6
I find myself preoccupied with the future or the past.	1	2	3	4	5	6
I find myself doing things without paying attention.	1	2	3	4	5	6
I snack without being aware that I’m eating.	1	2	3	4	5	6

Scoring information

To score the scale, simply compute a mean (add your score for each of the 15 items and divide by 15). Higher scores reflect higher levels of dispositional mindfulness.

Well that’s all from me for today. I hope you enjoyed this journal writing gem as much as I did. Actually… I hope you enjoyed it even more!!!

Until next time, journal on!

Most kindly,

Jill

~~~

Jill Schoenberg is the author of the award winning books Journal Buddies: A Girl’s Journal for Sharing and Celebrating Magnificence and Journal Buddies: A Boys Journal for Discovering and Sharing Excellence, available from Amazon.com.