Likely you have heard of, or even experienced first-hand, some of the numerous benefits of the ancient, and often overlooked, art of journaling. Journaling is many things to many people; a private, no-holds-barred venue to rant at peak intensity; a reprieve; an escape from the accumulating stress of the daily grind; an accounting of the events throughout one’s lifetime; a non-judgmental safe space for reflection upon your most vulnerable thoughts and emotions. Allowing yourself the emotional freedom journaling offers can truly be life changing, even if the writing is technically not any good or you never look at it again. Turns out a practice known as illeism, which is essentially problem-focused journaling using third-person narrative (i.e. Dr. Greene wrote an essay about journaling and he hopes readers will find it useful, instead of, I wrote an essay about journaling and I hope readers will find it useful), can be particularly beneficial for your mental health and help to improve your emotional intelligence.

Here are some of the evidence-based strategies taken from the medical literature on how to optimize the mental health benefits of journaling:

1. Impact Statement – Begin writing about a particular problem or set of events with an impact statement. Taken from cognitive processing therapy, an impact statement involves writing in detail about how your perceived problem has impacted your life. This exercise frames things in a context that can help facilitate self-reflection, cultivate insight, and set the stage for your next writing session.

2. Consistency – Every day for at least 20 consecutive uninterrupted minutes.

3. Detail – As much as possible. Be curious. Elaborate on your thoughts, physical sensations, and urges that arise from your feelings.

4. Third-person – Also known as illeism, this style of journaling facilitates a more objective perspective for self-reflection.

5. Handwritten – Enhances the transformational power of journaling through a process called reconsolidation.

6. Emotional Engagement – One of the main purposes of journaling in this way. Allow yourself to fully feel any feelings that arise to an intensity between a 6 to 8 out of 10 without dismissing them, refrain from judging yourself, and be curious to find out more.

Holding back on detail or the amount of emotional engagement and being inconsistent are common pitfalls, and can ultimately result in little lasting benefit if any. In other words, the more you give the more you get.