Brain Dumping: The Greatest Journaling Strategy for Mental Clarity

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

What is brain dumping?

Brain dumping is the process of releasing your thoughts from your mind.

Anything and everything that comes to mind get written down.

Why is brain dumping beneficial?

Brain dumping clears your mind.

It helps you get whatever you're thinking about out of your head, which provides instant relief.

This relief doesn't just feel good. It is good for your mind.

Clearing your mind is essential for a variety of reasons.

Two of the most important reasons are:

1. A clear mind is necessary for using proper judgment.

2. A clear mind is necessary for inner peace.

Let's discuss these reasons a bit further...

Proper judgment requires a clear mind. 

You cannot make effective decisions when you're being bombarded with thoughts and other stimuli.

It's too much for your brain to handle at once.

The more thoughts you're having at once, the more your brain has to work to process them.

A clear mind is necessary for inner peace. 

Thoughts running through your mind disrupt your inner peace. These thoughts elicit emotions, both good and bad.

These emotions raise your stress and anxiety, which disrupts your mind.

Inner peace requires tranquility and calmness.

How to brain dump:

Brain dumping is simple.

Take out a piece of paper and a writing utensil. Or open a blank document on your preferred electronic device.

From here, set a timer. 

Start with 1 minute for now. You can build up to 5 minutes, 10 minutes, or longer as you gain experience with brain dumping.

You can also go without a timer if you prefer.

Once you've started your timer, write!

Anything that pops up in your mind, write it down.

Don't worry about formatting your writing.  It doesn't need to look fancy or organized.

The goal of brain dumping is to dump your thoughts onto paper, releasing them from your mind. You’re not trying to write a fancy dissertation.

Speed is of the essence, here. The faster you can get your thoughts onto the paper, the more thoughts you can get out of your mind.

Here are a few tricks to speed up your brain dumping:

-Bullets

-Incomplete sentences and phrases

-Abbreviate words

-Write in a big block paragraph

-Eliminate filler words

Don’t worry about using proper grammar. You’re not turning this journal entry in as an assignment. You’re writing to clear your mind and bring you back to inner peace.

Final thoughts

Brain dumping is one of the simplest, yet most effective journaling strategies. It helps you reduce stress, improve your mood, and increase your mental clarity. And it can take as little as 1 minute a day. Not a bad return on investment.

So, give brain dumping a try. Even if you don’t like journaling. You won’t regret taking 1 minute to write some thoughts down. You stand to gain a lot through the power of brain dumping.

Would you like to learn what to do with your journal entry after you're done brain dumping?

Comment "Yes" in the comments below to let me know, please.

Thank you for reading.