"Why keep a journal?"

I believe in journaling. There are numerous aspects of writing in a journal that are beneficial. It's wonderful for record-keeping, lowering your stress level, making goals and tracking your progress, reflecting on the day, remembering the best days of your life, and counter-intuitively, documenting those "worst days" too.

Another, deeper, aspect of journaling that I've found tremendously valuable is using it to work through tough stuff. Are you grieving? Are you a survivor of abuse? Have you been diagnosed with cancer or some other serious medical condition? Do you live with chronic pain? Write about it.

Research shows that unresolved issues can create physical disease. That is to say, your mind is not at ease, and left alone that can lead to real medical disease. Work through it. Write through it. Write it out.

Here are a few prompts to get you writing if any of this post resonated with you:

1. I am a survivor...
2. Living with pain is like...
3. What I don't want to remember is that...

Yes, it's hard. Yes, it hurts. No, it's not pretty. But sometimes the most important step we can take to start down the path of healing is to rip off the scab and bleed a little.