I Journaled (by hand) for 15 days for 15 Minutes and Here’s What Happened

I’ve journaled on and off for years since middle school. It was always a place to be alone with my thoughts — just me and the pages. A plain notebook with a mini lock is different from the more modern snazzy version I currently have, a pale pink suede notebook with gold-plated spiral rings with a calligraphed message on the cover reading, “Hello Lovely.”

Um, yeah, the journals have had a facelift.

Over time as everything moved digital, so did my journals. I could mind dump more thoughts faster than I ever could writing by hand — but was this better serving me? I began wondering if this was stunting my brain in some way. I often go on thought-tangents like these, so just follow me. (smile)

I took a step back and sought out the answers by reading medical journals and studies on the subject and was amazed at what I discovered.

Handwriting vs. Typing Study

I read about a study in Norway that performed a High-density electroencephalogram (HD EEG) on 12 adults and 12-year olds accessing the effects of brain activity while typing, drawing, and cursive handwriting. The results from drawing and handwriting produced excelled oscillatory neuronal activity in the brain areas, providing the brain with optimal conditions for learning. The study suggests an increase in brain waves stimulating learning. The results from typing were lesser to a great degree. Developmental Neuroscience Laboratory, Department of Psychology, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Trondheim, Norway

I decided to test out the handwriting in my journal to gauge if there were any differences. I closed Word and pulled out my notebook. For the next 15 days, for 15 minutes, I started handwriting in my journal. During this time, I paid close attention to anything that seemed different. These changes did not take long, as I recognized a difference after the second day.

My Discovery

I’d made a discovery that changed my entire journaling routine. There were key areas that I took quick notice of that made a tremendous positive impact on my mind and creativity — a must needed to change to my writing life.

Improved Mind Clarity

Writing on paper was doing more than being a holder of my thoughts but helping me solve problems. As I wrote my issues/concerns, I found that the brain would simultaneously give me solutions. This was different in my typed journal version, as I did not come up with solutions so quickly prior. I mainly mind-dumped with each keystroke and not process my problems as quickly as I have with journaling by hand.

As I processed my thoughts and feelings on paper, this positively affected me. I walked away feeling I was conquering issues instead of just transcribing them out of my mind. I could see things clearly as I wrote and the solution for a positive outcome.

Sparked Creativity

There’s something magical that happened between pen and paper during my experiment. I was painting more, writing more, sketching more — doing more of what I needed to awaken my creative superpowers. I began drawing creative maps to outline my progress. I am a “visual being”, so seeing my goals and how I was crushing them was a major dopamine boost! I was getting stuff done — projects that had been sitting around since setting my goals January 1st. I no longer feared my mid-year July check-in because I had a long list of “I did it” items checked off.

Just thinking about this again feels so good! I got this!

This energy flow is generated by the movement each morning, handwriting was my cognitive exercise. Handwriting, this movement, was it really that important? Yes.

I read in a joint study performed by two Cognitive Scientists, Micheal L Slepian (Tufts) and Nalini Ambady (Stanford), Fluid Movement and Creativity. They found that fluid movement is closely linked to creative thought. They hypothesized that physical fluidity leads to more fluid, thus creative thought. So, when you hear the cliche, your creative juices are flowing, in this case, it is actually accurate.

Relaxation

I felt this ease and relaxation that I hadn’t felt with typing. When I was stressed or angry, I escaped into the pages. I wrote my authentic feelings down — therapeutically serene, to say the least.

After a week of writing, I no longer had muscle spasms because my hands adapted to the movement. It was like HITT on hands without sweat.

In my second week, I was drifting into a euphoric state and, as a result, began writing over my 15-minute timer. The mental health benefits were astronomical and far more significant than typing. Not to mention looking outside at the early morning sky with complete silence. There was nothing like this feeling. I cannot put it quite find the words to put it literally correct.

Something was waking up on the left side of my brain, and I didn’t want it to end, so I’ve since adopted handwriting journaling back into my routine.

Conclusion

I will continue to perform both techniques of journaling, typing, and handwriting. I think that handwriting has an advantage over typing. It has a cognitive connection to the brain that typing and using electronic methods fail to have. If handwriting is helping me to be overall live and work in my optimal creative state, then I’m making it a part of my life for the rest of my life.

I think I plan to have more “Hello Lovely” journals stacked throughout my home for sure.