The Power of Paper & Your Well-Being in 2021

2020 was a difficult year. It tested us, it challenged us. But in a strange way it also forced us to pause, reflect and pay closer attention to the things that really matter in life: our family, friends, and loved ones; our health and emotional well-being.

During these challenging times we at Hilroy were reminded of how powerful simple tools like pen and paper can be as an outlet for emotions, thoughts, and creativity. We believe this centuries old, inexpensive tool can be used to inspire, motivate and help us become the best version of ourselves along the way. In that spirit, we wanted to share some thoughts and challenge you to rediscover the power of paper in 2021!

Start a journal.
Daily journaling gives you a recurring opportunity to calm and clear your mind, allowing you to release pent-up feelings and let go of troubling thoughts. It gives you a space to explore your experiences with challenging emotions, enhance your self-awareness, and turn ruminating thoughts into structured plans of action.

Express gratitude every day.
Keep a daily gratitude journal – allow yourself time and space to write down what you’re grateful for today!

Let your imagination flow.
The physical act of writing may give your mind the opportunity to think a little more deeply about what you’re saying; to consider the story a little more carefully as you’re writing it out, letter by letter. It’s through pen & paper that we can exercise our right brain, translate our ideas into something real, physical and keep that creative muscle memory strong and engaged.

But wait… why not just journal on a laptop?
Well, you can. And we highly recommend it. Journaling every day on a keyboard can have significant benefits too. But here’s what can happen if you commit to a daily practice of writing with pen & paper:

Writing by hand may help you assimilate information better.
As we’ve embraced our digital world over the last few decades, studies suggest that writing by hand trains our brain in such a way that a keyboard simply can’t. The sequential hand movements of handwriting increase neural activity in certain sections of the brain that are responsible for thinking and language, which in turn affects how deeply we comprehend the information.

It can help bring words to life.
As most of us scroll past thousands and thousands of words onscreen every single day, pummeling our cortex with an endless stream of articles, opinions, ideas and information, there’s a power that comes with communicating through pen & paper; a power we want to remind people of this year.

What do you think would happen to you, if you wrote with pen & paper every day for three weeks? What would happen to your stress levels? Your mood? Your goals? Mental well-being is on everyone’s mind these days, and while we’re not mental health professionals, we do believe everyone deserves a reminder of what a little pen & paper might do for your mind.

So how about it? Will you accept the #hilroychallenge and scribble for 20 minutes, 21 days straight?

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