START JOURNALING
7 Days of Journaling
A free email course with 7 simple journaling exercises — one a day, 5–10 minutes each. Welcome to the beginning of a lifelong practice.
You've wanted to start journaling for a while now.
Maybe there’s a beautiful notebook waiting on your shelf. Maybe you’ve heard the research on how journaling can help with stress, clarity, and knowing yourself better. But when you sit down and open the page, you’re still wondering…
What do I write? Am I doing this right?
And so the journal stays beautiful… and blank. Here’s the secret: the first task of journaling isn’t writing. It’s listening — to your thoughts, your feelings, your inner voice. The words aren’t something you have to invent. They’re already moving through you. And all you have to do is write them down.
One email. One exercise. Once a day.
For seven days, you’ll receive one email from me each morning: one simple journaling exercise, and a short note on why it works. Each one is small in length but big in purpose — easy enough to sustain, meaningful enough to keep.
There’s nothing to get right and nothing to fall behind on. The days build on each other, but life happens — and the emails will wait for you. You’ll write a little, notice a little more, and somewhere along the way the blank page stops being a test and becomes what it was always meant to be: a conversation with yourself.
By the end of the journey, you’ll have written pages in your journal — and you’ll own a starter kit of seven exercises you can return to anytime.
WHO THIS COURSE IS FOR
Designed for beginners. Open to every journaler.
This series is for you if you’ve never journaled, if you’ve started and stopped a dozen times, or if a blank page makes your mind go blanker. You don’t need to be “a writer.” You don’t need 30 free minutes a day. You don’t even need a nice notebook — any pen and paper will do (we’ll choose yours together on Day 1).
Already journaling? Welcome, too. The seven days make a lovely sampler of fresh exercises to weave into the practice you have — and Day 7 may just change how you use your journal altogether.
INSIDE THE COURSE
7 Days, 7 journaling ideas
Day 1
The Check-In
The simplest journaling exercise for every day.
Day 2
Positive Journaling
Forget the gratitude list. Try this instead.
Day 3
The Beginner's Mind
A playful exercise that will tickle your inner critic.
Day 4
The Free Flow
A great weekend ritual for turning mental noise into insight
Day 5
The Daily Purpose
One question, from the island where people live the longest.
Day 6
The Time Capsule
The smallest exercise of the week. Your favorite a year from now.
Day 7
Unlocking Insights
Learn how to read your entries, and why it matters
Hello, I'm Ana Juma
I’m a journaling facilitator and certified Journal to the Self® instructor, on a mission to make journaling a widely recognized practice for well-being. It began as my own way of making sense of life — and grew into the work I do today: guiding people to the page since 2018, through workshops, guided journals, my YouTube channel, and courses like this.
Journaling is so much more than emptying your mind onto paper. Behind it lies a rich body of techniques and decades of research in therapeutic and expressive writing — and ahead of it, a practice as unique as the person holding the pen. That’s what this week is for: helping you begin yours.
Your first entry is one sentence.
Seven days from now, you’ll have a journaling practice that’s already begun — and seven exercises you’ll keep forever. It starts with one email.
Frequently Asked Questions
Completely. The seven emails are my favorite way to welcome you into my corner of the journaling world. After the series, you’ll receive my monthly letter, and you can unsubscribe anytime.
5–10 minutes a day. The smallest exercise takes two. The series is designed to fit inside a full life — the practice is designed to be sustainable and meaningful.
Nothing breaks. The emails wait for you. Pause, return, and continue.
No. An old notebook and any pen work perfectly. On Day 1, I’ll help you choose with the only rule that matters: pick what sparks a little joy.
No — journaling is a self-reflection practice, not a replacement for professional support. The exercises this week are gentle by design: awareness, gratitude, and presence, at your own pace.