Diary as a universal way of self-knowledge and achievement of success

A bit of history or how a diary can help fight stress

An interesting fact, at the moment, is about six thousand personal diaries of people. Famous and not so famous, written from the middle of the 8th century to the present day, are presented on the public plane. And 450 of them are diaries kept by residents of besieged Leningrad. The diary for many of them has become a kind of antidepressant in the face of constant danger and uncertainty.

To be fair, let us clarify that the recommendations to keep a diary were voiced by the leaders of the besieged city. 

Was this done out of concern for the mental health of the townspeople?

Or out of a desire to preserve as much evidence of a truly unique historical situation as possible for future research?

In any case, this practice has borne fruit in both directions.

Psychologists have long recommended pouring out their thoughts and experiences on paper for a variety of reasons. This helps,

Firstly, to more clearly articulate your thoughts and understand yourself. Your true desires and aspirations.

Secondly, by sharing emotions with paper, a person relieves himself of a significant share of stress, which is good for health. However, the functions of the diary are not limited to this.

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Personal diary and creativity

Of course, not all of the authors of the diaries started keeping them due to stress. As for creative people, they can be moved by a variety of emotions. The desire to capture or relive some emotions, the desire to create a new image for their future book. Simply to translate their experiences into a form. That will allow them to more fully share them with the outside world.

There is another side to the process. Keeping a diary in itself is already an element of creativity. Working on a personal diary, people hone their writing skills, learn to form and formulate thoughts. Come up with unusual images and analogies that make the presentation more artistic.

For professional writers, diary entries often become a self-contained publication. There are many examples of this. These are the diaries of Alexander Pushkin, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Leo Tolstoy, Korney Chukovsky, Mikhail Prishvin, Konstantin Simonov, and others. Another interesting genre is a work of fiction in the form of a diary. Here we can recall "Cursed Days" by Ivan Bunin, "Literary Diary" by Zinaida Gippius, "Almost three years. Leningrad Diary "from the besieged Leningrad by Vera Inner.

And even if the diary is not planned for publication. This practice allows you to understand and expand the boundaries of your creative possibilities. And after re-reading your own diary a little later, you will see something new in it. Which, perhaps, will give food for new thoughts about the world around you, yourself, your work, ideas for new works.

By the way, the advice of coaches and business coaches is based on this. It is imperative to allocate a separate notebook for recording your ideas and reflections. And it is advisable to write by hand, and not type text on a computer. In fact, this is the same diary, but more directed to the present and future than to the past and experience.

A personal diary of self-knowledge and success

We are unlikely to discover America if we say that successful people always do everything consciously. And try to adhere to some kind of logic and regularity in any activity. Keeping a diary is no exception in their case. 

Here, most successful people also adhere to certain principles - they write down -

Any fresh, unusual, creative ideas - your own and others'

If you have a lot of ideas, you can draft a diary following the example of the founder of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson. Only those ideas that can grow into a new project, change the business. Or at least become the basis for writing an article into the final version.

Any victories and successes, even small ones

It is pleasant to return to such records in the future. They inspire you to go forward when it seems that you are doing little or you are standing still. By the way, such records will help update your resume and answer an unexpected question. As a result, from an HR manager about your achievements, which you are proud of.

Any signs from the outside

Discovered relationships and patterns of events, changes in the behavior of others or their internal state, emotional and physical. Their desire or unwillingness to do something, obstacles in the implementation of their ideas. And new opportunities for development, growth, earnings. When a lot of such records accumulate. You can predict the success or failure of your next idea as well as a professional fortune-teller.

Any facts and events that made an impression

Meetings, conversations, reports at conferences, webinars, trips, etc. Business people often record events in conjunction with the main theses of the event. Conclusions from what happened and heard, and outlines for the future.

Any questions that come to mind and the answers to them. If there are no answers, you can record the reasoning or the process of finding the answer. It works especially well for issues that really worry you. Whether it's business, work, relationships, or self-discovery.

By the way, publishers ' diaries of successful people are in no less demand than writers' ones. Of course, they usually require additional literary processing and editing. However, being living witnesses of a success story, they are always valuable for future generations.

Diary Formats

As you understand, the diary format is not limited to just text or pictures. All this can be systematized chronologically or united by a single topic, giving preference to fixing events or emotions. Writing down quotes and ideas that are hooked, or fixing the same ideas and emotions. 

In this regard, such a relatively new form as an art diary is very interesting. This is a kind of sketchbook (from the English sketch - a sketch and book - a book), where you can capture ideas in artistic form. Moreover, it does not have to be new fashion collections. Like Yves Saint Laurent, or sketches for a new painting by a novice artist.

Collages, applications made of colored paper, fabrics, and other materials can be used. To fix your emotions and reflections on eternal themes. This greatly helps the process of self-knowledge, understanding your true goals and values. And finding ways to achieve them. Art therapy psychotherapists recommend keeping an art diary. For those patients who find it difficult or not very comfortable to admit some of their weaknesses. It is difficult to understand themselves and those around them.

In this case, the themes for the art diary are selected by a psychotherapist. In order to reveal all facets of a person's personality and find an approach to solving his problems. In particular, the patient is offered to depict in an artistic form his “I” and how he is seen around him. Their places of rest, protection and restoration, their past, present, and future, their color of life, and abstract fantasies. Also, a person is often asked to fantasize and visualize how he would look if he was a vegetable, flower, animal, or insect.

In general, the practice of self-knowledge is a useful thing for achieving harmony within yourself and succeed in life. And if you take our Self-Study course, you will learn much more about these techniques.

And you can start by starting your own personal diary. Moreover, there are a lot of ways to keep a diary, and you can always choose what you like. The main thing is to start. It seems that you have already seen the benefits of keeping a diary, but let's summarize.

Top reasons to start keeping a personal journal -

1. Reduces stress levels.

2. Teaches you to formulate and organize thoughts.

3. Develops creativity.

4. Creates a stock of ideas for future implementation.

5. Allows you to keep the most vivid impressions

6. Promotes self-knowledge.

7. Serves as a source of inspiration.

8. Helps develop observation and intuition.

9. Helps to find answers to exciting questions.

10. Facilitates the restoration of a person's biography for his descendants.

Don't let the last point confuse you. If you are a philosopher in life or simply gush with ideas, even at times insane. This is just an additional argument in favor of the fact that you should start keeping a diary. What seems unnecessary today may be interesting or useful to future generations.

After all, there are a great many examples. When scientists, philosophers, and artists received recognition only after their death. However, recognition became possible. Only because they took the trouble to transfer their thoughts and ideas to paper, images to paintings, music to sheet music.