Good mental health is just as important as good physical health. In order to have a clear mind and reduce stress, there are many studies that point to keeping a diary to be able to download everything that one carries inside. In this case, you can choose to do it on paper and pen, but there is also the option to do it digitally with the applications that we are going to discuss below.
Create your journal with Apple’s own application
Starting a journal on your iPhone or iPad is not a very difficult task that requires having third-party applications on your devices. Apple itself has a native tool that is ‘Notes’ that allows it to be done in a comfortable way within the ecosystem. One of the features that makes it this is the possibility of creating a folder within the application and then entering all the notes that you are creating.
Each of the notes can have a heading with the date so that it is fully organized as well as a title that is descriptive of what is written inside. Inside you can write text without any limit, capturing and organizing all your thoughts yourself. Added to this is the fact that you can easily enter images to have a more general view of the note or journal entry you are making.
In addition, if you are on an iPad you can even draw pictures of how you feel thanks to the Apple Pencil and check your notes on any device. When it comes to tracking the specific note, you can use the search engine that is integrated into the application itself. But obviously it has some important shortcomings, such as the impossibility of recording emotions through a simple survey and then consulting graphs, something that other specialized third-party applications can do.
Third-party apps to target your routines
It is true that the native application of notes is not perfect in this sense to make a personal journal because it is not designed for it. That is why in these cases you must resort to third-party applications that we show you below.
Reflecty
Reflecty is undoubtedly the best application that we find in the App Store to be able to make a personal diary. This is because it always helps you to know what to write and to review the whole day you have had by being a smart journal. In short, it is a diary that is powered by artificial intelligence that will always try to help you deal with all the negative thoughts that you may have throughout the day. This makes it an application that is primarily focused on increasing your positivity.
Reflecty makes use of positive psychology and cognitive therapy in order to create a habit of positivity around you. The only thing you will have to do every day is to enter the application and answer all the questions that they ask you. Specifically, you can determine what degree of happiness you have had, what you have done at different times and also how you have felt in each of these moments. Once you have done all this, you have a dedicated space to put a title up to date and write yourself the feelings you have had and what you want to save in the form of text.
Jour
If you are going through a difficult time in your life due to stress or depression, this is undoubtedly the application you should have installed on your iPhone. Jour offers you a private space where you will be able to remember all your intimate moments, reflect on the goals you have in your life and also on those thoughts that you have in your mind. Upon entering you must write your own entries with their title and the body of the text as in any other newspaper but in a digital format and totally private from the view of anyone.
Keep in mind that it is an application that is recommended by experts in this field. It integrates a structure guided by different practices used by therapists and CBT experts. In the end what they try is that you relax and let off steam with this application since there are many studies that the mental health of any person can be taken care of thanks to this type of daily applications.
Day One Diary
This application is focused on capturing the day as you have lived it with all kinds of details. In the text box that is included, you can add text in different formats and highlight the most important parts so that it is organized by days. You can add from bad feelings to those most beautiful experiences that you have had throughout your life. All the entries you make can be moved at will and even have several newspapers divided within the application that is classified in 10 different colors.
Something remarkable about this application is that many images can be added. Specifically, each of the entries admit a total of 10 images to be able to set all your text. The clearest example is when you go on a trip and want to immortalize it on your journal sheet. You can add these images along with the text so that you have a better memory of everything that happened on a very special day for you.
Mood App: Journal
This is a free journal application that will help you download all the events of your day digitally. It includes all the necessary tools to be able to track your evolution over time. Above all, it is focused on being able to analyze those events that have been very negative in your life and receive the help of its artificial intelligence and the advice that they can give you provided by experts in mental health.
Like any other newspaper, it includes a section so that you can explain in your own words everything that has happened in your day. You can assure yourself that these notes are fully protected from the gaze of anyone and even the developers themselves. Along with the notes that you can take yourself, you will also have to solve some questions that will make it possible to follow up. This is done through a calendar that the application makes and in order to relax it includes some meditation mini-games.
Moleskine Journey
A journal that is designed for creative minds, freelancers, backpackers or free spirits who want to have collected all their way. It includes numerous productivity and personal development tools such as a diary. In the journal you can write down your thoughts, whether they are big or small and it will help you to be more productive and creative. You can use the application to record a workday or a trip as well as the feelings or thoughts you have on a daily basis.
Beyond this, it will help you to always plan, writing down your goals in life or a specific time frame at all times. It includes a section called ‘My Day’ in which you can check the progress of everything you have proposed. This will also be saved as a journal to be able to see everything you have done as a simple record to carry out daily and that will help you reduce the stress that you may have on top.
Punkt
If you are looking for something simple when it comes to design, this is the ideal application for you. The most important thing for Punkt developers is that you enter your own stories quickly and easily. And it is that everything you have to express you must do in a single sentence accompanied by different labels. Among these labels we can find ‘Family’ or ‘Great’ to be able to express what you have felt while you were performing a specific action.
Everything you write will be totally secure thanks to fingerprint or Touch ID authentication. All the stories you have made can be easily viewed on a map provided you have entered the location. In this way, in the long run, you will be able to have clear information about where you have gone and what has happened in this thanks to the phrase you have put. Thanks to the labels that we have discussed above, you will be able to see how different attitudes have influenced your life, such as work, friends or sports.
Journey – Diary
Get a better quality of life thanks to this application and the daily record of different events. You can enter daily events, thanks or secrets to always relive them within this application. You will have complete control of your diary since all the entries you make in the application can be stored in external services such as Google Drive or Markdown and you can even access it through the website.
The really important thing is that you will have many facilities to be able to keep your personal diary thanks to the tools that are integrated. In the same entry you can enter photos and even videos. In order to relive all these moments, you can use the included map to scroll through all the memories depending on the location, or through the calendar to see what happened on a specific day.
Personal diary
An application that helps you document your entire life. You will receive notifications daily so that you can enter and write a few words of everything you have done in your day. The important thing is that all the entries you make are private since you can enter a blocking code so that no one can read what you have written even if they take your mobile. The truth is that it is a fairly simple application since it counts on giving you a space in which you can write.
In addition to the texts, you will be able to put a cover image in each of the entries you are making. In this way you will not have a plain text in front of it but you can adjust it to your personal tastes in the best possible way. At any time you can take a look back to see all the entries you have made on a specific date and recall an event that may have happened.
Daylio Diary
If you are a person who does not like to write too much, this is the application that you must have installed. It is able to collect everything that has happened in your day without having to enter a single word . Each day you must enter and choose your mood and add the activities that you have been doing throughout the day. You can also add notes and create a classic diary, although as we say it is not totally necessary.
The application will collect all your moods and daily activities in the form of statistics and calendars. This will allow you to quickly understand all your habits by keeping track of activities. To all this is also added the fact of being able to use a database full of emoticons, explore interesting statistics and even customize the names of the habits to adapt them to you.
Which is the best option?
There are many applications that we have discussed throughout this article and that is why you may feel confused. That is why we usually recommend the best applications. One of them is undoubtedly Reflecty, which is an intelligent diary that helps you with your mental health to be able to have everything under control in a very simple way. You will be able to monitor all your feelings and receive advice from specialist doctors.
But if you want something much simpler, Punkt is the most recommended for you. The concept of having to write a single sentence of your day is undoubtedly very suitable for those people who have no interest in having to write extremely long texts. It is also completely free and being able to consult all your routines in a graph undoubtedly makes it extremely interesting because of the cleanliness it has.