How a small writing ritual promotes our personal development and resilience

Stress is lurking everywhere. We rush from appointment to appointment, we have stress at work, at home and on top of that many expectations, and even more things we want to do. That makes it all the more important to find a way to slow down our daily lives and give them a new direction. Journaling can help with this. The mindfulness method helps us to be more aware of our days, to achieve our goals and to be more relaxed.

The new key to happiness is called journaling. Even Mark Twain, Marie Curie, Virginia Woolf, and Albert Einstein wrote diaries and were able to reflect on themselves in depth. The U.S. trend is also becoming increasingly popular in German-speaking countries. And not without reason. Journaling is essentially about analyzing the past day and drawing conclusions from it. In doing so, it helps to consider what did not go as desired or according to plan and where we still see the potential for improvement. This applies to all levels and contexts, both professional and private. In addition, journaling offers a surface to reflect on ourselves and to admit what we are really proud of and what we have done very well - with the focus on our personal progress and the good around us.

Thoughts create emotions: Those who think positively also feel good.In addition to our bodily functions, our behavior is also significantly shaped by our convictions and beliefs. Beliefs thus determine and shape our daily life and experience.

This is exactly what is trained in the 6-Minute-Diary. The 6-Minute-Diary helps not to look at what is missing or does not fit, but to focus on what is good. Here, no blind positivity is spread to suppress the negative experiences, but we learn to look at the experiences in a balanced way.

And it doesn't even take much effort: it only takes six minutes a day to build good habits, gratitude and personal growth. These positive changes gradually integrate into our daily lives. To help us do this every day, once in the morning and once in the evening, we fill out three task boxes in our journal.

1. I am grateful for: 1... 2... 3... / What good thing have I done for someone today?
2. What makes this day special? / What will I do better tomorrow?
3. Positive self-affirmation: I am... / Great things I have experienced today...

This morning and evening routine actually takes only 3 minutes each. In proportion, a small effort with a big effect. Weekly and monthly it takes a little more time for the additional "tasks".

Don't be afraid of redundant thoughts and feelings, because the subconscious mind learns primarily through repetition. This means: through repeated affirmations new neuronal connections are made in our brain, because our brain always adapts to what we primarily do and think. In this context, one also speaks of the plasticity of the brain. Through certain thoughts, memories, wishes, experiences, as well as through positive beliefs and visualizations, for example, we can stimulate neuronal plasticity in such a way that the networks in the brain change accordingly. This leads to the reshaping of our brain's neural circuitry. Since our brain determines who we are and how we see reality, this also leads to the reshaping of our reality and thus our life.