Women's Fitness

September 20 16 |womensfitness.co.uk 87

A

re you feeling stuck

in a rut? Do you

crave change? Are

you struggling to make your

goals becomea reality?

Well we’ll let you into a little

secret: putting pento paper may

beyour answer. ‘Everysingle

self-development “guru” and

the majorityof successful

businessleaders advocate

the use of a journal’ explains

Robert Brennana meditation

and mindfulnesscoach. ‘It is the

sole bestway to grow personally

to maximiselearning to prevent

makingthe same mistakes over

and overagain and to boost

happiness productivity health

empathy and relationships.’

And he’s certainly not the only

onechampioning the art of

writing. Researchconductedby

Professors Kitty Kleinand Adriel

Boalsof NorthCarolinaState

Universityfound thatthere are

indeed beneficial effects whenit

comes to expressivewriting

particularly whenusedto convey

stressful thoughts. Thosewho

did soexperiencedfewerdoctor

visits improvedimmunefunction

and greater mental wellbeing.

In her latest bookLet It Out

author Katie Dalebout too

exploresthe powersof

‘journaling’ afterdiscovering

it in her darkesthours. Unsure

where to start? Looking to

learn the tricksof the trade?

Justreadon...

Let it out to... get organised

Doyou findthatyou start

procrastinating– reachingfor

your phone posting cutecat

pictures scrolling through

Instagram– whenyou haveso

much to do? Journaling is a great

way to get ahandleonallthe

to-dosthattoo often simply

overwhelmus. ‘We alljuggle so

much andsometimes getting it

down onpaperis the only way to

knowwhere to even begin to

makea dent’ Katie says.

Essentially it’s allabout

achieving clarity. Or asKatie

explains discovering your ‘time

leaks’ and patchingtheseup

until you’reusing everysecond

of your timein a healthy way.

One of Katie’stools‘The

Prioritiser’ aimsto help you

Introducing the world’s best life hack...

Let it

all out!

HEALTH