The Great Book of Journaling: How Journal Writing Can Support a Life of Wellness, Creativity, Meaning and Purpose

by Eric Maisel, Lynda Monk

Learn how to quell worry and anxiety and fuel creativity with journaling in this informative guide.

From psychotherapist Eric Maisel and Lynda Monk, Director of the International Association for Journal Writing, a guide to journal writing for higher self-esteem. This is the next-generation book on journaling techniques that introduces a younger generation to the immense benefits of journaling and provides all journal writers with the tools they need to grow, heal, and deepen their personal writing experience.

Therapeutic journal writing can promote individual healing, creativity, and community-building. The Great Book of Journaling offers multiple perspectives on journaling techniques in an easy-to-use, practical format, along with providing a comprehensive introduction to various techniques and methods for deepening your personal writing.

Learn from the best.We’ve rounded up forty of the top journal experts in the world to explain exactly what journal writing can do for you! The Great Book of Journaling is full of practical tips, evidence-based research, and rich anecdotes from their coaching, teaching, therapy work with journal writers, or their personal journal writing.

The Great Book of Journaling can Create high self-esteem, self-love, and self-confidenceImprove your health and your sense of wellbeingCalm your worry and anxietyServe your creative needsDeepen your personal writing

Readers of books on journal writing such as Mindfulness Journal, The Self-Discovery Journal, or No Worries will love The Great Book of Journaling.

Genres: Writing, Journaling, Self Help, Nonfiction, Art, Essays

310 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 14, 2022

About the author

Eric Maisel, Ph.D., is the author of more than 40 books in the areas of creativity, coaching, mental health, and cultural trends. He is a psychotherapist and creativity coach, and writes for Psychology Today and Professional Artist Magazine and presents workshops internationally.

Reviews

[Cindy Richard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is packed with wonderful essays and examples from experts in the field of journaling. I love journaling, but like most people, I had pretty set ideas about what one can do in a journal. Well, this book did its job and opened me up to lots of possibilities for me to try to expand my journaling habit. Some of my favorites include:

* Journaling in the Third Person - about writing about yourself in the third person as if you are telling someone else's story (I've already tried this, and it helps me to not be so limited when considering possibilities for my life)
* Journaling Resistance - one idea was to react to quotes or favorite sentences in books (it inspired me to write them out on slips of paper to draw them at random from a jar when I sit down to journal)
* Planning Journal - helped me to decide that I would like the focus of my journals to be about content planning for my writing project (it has been working out great so far)

There are 40 essays in all, and I read and underlined all of them to help me in my journaling practice. I am so grateful to the authors for putting together this book!!

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Nothing new or startlingly different if you already have a journaling practice, or if you’ve read books about journaling.
Nevertheless, a decent review of a very wide range of journaling purposes and techniques.

[Deb (Readerbuzz) Nance · Rating 3 out of 5]

Editor Eric Maisel collects essays from every sort of journal writer in this book, The Great Book of Journaling. If you have ever thought about starting a journaling practice, this might be a first book for you.

[Lorraine · Rating 3 out of 5]

As one of the editors says in the intro, some of the essays will speak to you, some of them will not. This was very true for me, so there's probably something here for anyone thinking about journalling. Because I was looking for what and how of journalling, I wasn't really interested in reading excerpts from some of the contributor's essays. Those felt a little too introspective and author-focussed than useful for the reader. There was some repetition in the advice, that's alright. Some of the essays were repetitive in themselves, outlining a process and then doing the Try This and outlining the identical process. It's clear that many of the contributors are coaches, based on the style of questions they included.
I took notes from the sections that spoke to me and ignored the ones that didn't (like making journals into artwork/scrapbooks, literally).
My big take-aways: five minute sprints, reading and reflecting on what you just wrote to gain insight, reflecting on meaningful quotations, the differences between journalling for listening to oneself versus journalling to connect with others (which requires more attention to sensory details), journalling in the third person and using yourself as the character in a story.

[Karen · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've been journaling since I was in third grade. I remember (and still have) my first diary. I still find journaling to be the most useful tool to help ground myself, to understand my thoughts and to figure out a path forward for myself when I am stuck. This book has a collection of chapters by different contributors, each telling you a different kind of journaling or a different place, way, goal to journal. I found it to be incredibly inspiring and I can't wait to sit and try some of these other methods that I don't usually do. If you're into journaling, or have wanted to journal, this book is guaranteed to inspire you.

with gratitude to edelweiss and Mango Publishing Group for an advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Mother Goose Librarian · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a fun and interesting read about all kinds of journaling techniques. It was also filled with lots of journaling prompts. I loved that the ebook contained links to the many contributing authors’ websites. It’s a must read for journal lovers.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somewhat Helpful, Somewhat Laborious

This is a mixed book. These essays have helpful information, but there are other essays that tended to unhelpful. You will need to go through the book to decide what is helpful.

[Angela La Voie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’ve been journaling for decades. In that time, I’ve kept many different types of journals and I’m always looking to enrich my journaling practice. This book is filled with many practical examples to start or expand your journaling practice.

[Ashley Hupp · Rating 3 out of 5]

Oof, this one was a slog. I was really hoping this could turn out to be a book I could recommend to my clients, but unfortunately it is not. The chapters are short and often contain actionable steps, but they felt incredibly repetitive and there were just so many that it was easy to lose track of ideas that were interesting to me.

[Anastasija · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the book I didn’t know I needed to read. And who knew there were so many different types and forms of journaling? I am in awe.

This is a valuable read for anyone interested in exploring the power of journaling to improve their life. Besides reading about different types of journaling, you will learn about the various benefits of journaling, like improving mental health, boosting creativity, and finding meaning in life. I love it!

[David Tagliaferri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this book quite practical for starting my own journaling habit because, instead of focusing on just one journaling method, it explores many different approaches. Some chapters weren’t really for me—some even felt a bit silly—but many contained exactly what I needed to learn."

[Kristine · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is full of different essays about journaling with tasks for trying the different journaling ideas.

[Elske De · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not my kind of book, flicked through it read some parts and put it aside. I am just not an essay person.

[Patricia E · Rating 4 out of 5]

Absolutely inspirational!

Packed with methods, inspiration, writers wisdom, and pure awe. It really points out all of the benefits of journaling to the fullest

[Karim Eissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book if you're into journaling.gives different approaches and angles into it.

[kimberly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the advice was fairly obvious tidbits that you have heard before but a lot of it I found helpful or, at the very least, inspiring. There are lots of journaling prompts and ideas throughout and I ended up highlighting quite a bit of my copy to come back to when I'm in the middle of a slump.