Enjoying life’s best moments three times over
I used to walk into a Chapters bookstore and stare dumbfounded at that wall of journals by the front door. “Who would drop $20 on one of those things?” I’d ask myself. “It’s just blank paper stapled together!”
And yet there they always were. Hardcover journals. Softcover journals. Sparkly journals. Inspirational quote journals. And don’t get me started on cat journals.
But then the moment of truth finally arrived for me.
My publisher called to ask me to do The Journal of Awesome. “Oh no,” I thought. “What do you want from me?”
“Nothing,” they said. “We just want to put The Book of Awesome logo on a really nice book with really nice paper . . . and staple it together.”
I am embarrassed to tell you today that this journal has now outsold most of my books. Yes, the book I’ve written with no words in it has sold more than many of my books with words in them.
It took me a while to figure out why.
And then I stumbled on something in my research for The Happiness Equation: An incredible study done at the University of Texas titled “How Do I Love Thee? Let me Count the Words.” Researchers Richard Slatcher and James Pennebaker had one member of a couple write about their relationship for 20 minutes three times a day. Compared to the test group, the couple was more likely to engage in intimate dialogue afterward and the relationship was more likely to last.
Additional research from the University of Texas and the National MS Society found that if you have chronic neuromuscular fatigue and pain, and you journal for six weeks in a row, then six months later they can drop your pain medication by 50 per cent. Why does this work? Why does writing for a few minutes about that coffee your co-worker bought you or the nice email you got from the boss help so much?
Because our minds have no GPS signal in them.
We don’t actually know where we are. So when we write about a positive experience, our brains think we’re there again. We actually relive the experience as we’re writing it. And what happens if you read your own journal? You relive it a third time. Your mind gets a tripling effect from that free coffee or recognition email. In terms of positive mindset levers, there aren’t many better than that.
That doesn’t mean journaling is easy. Or that writing in a diary before bed will necessarily be a simple practice for you. It just means that it’s an incredible opportunity to rig your positive mindset. And for me it means I’ve completely changed how I feel about that wall of blank paper at the front of the bookstore.
Now I think they’re onto something. Neil Pasricha is the New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Awesome and The Happiness Equation. His bi-weekly column helps us live a good life. Learn more at globalhappiness.org.
Yes, the book I’ve written with no words in it has sold more than many of my books with words in them