This Week in Psychedelics - 3.23.18

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Congress Protects Medical Marijuana From Jeff Sessions In New Federal Spending Bill (Forbes)
• Study: Traffic Fatalities Have Not Increased As A Consequence Of Legalization (NORML)
• The Governor of Utah Just Signed A Medical Marijuana Bill (High Times)
• Canadians Who Smoke Weed Could Be Banned From Entering US (High Times)
• Should Medical Schools Start Teaching About Cannabis? (High Times)
• Research Reveals Link Between Coffee, Cannabis and Brain Function (High Times)
• Is home delivery for medical marijuana coming to Kentucky? (WCPO)
• In California, Learning How Marijuana Is an Unlikely Divider (The New York Times)
• This State Just Shut Down 40 Medical Marijuana Dispensaries (High Times)
• Colorado Lawmakers Form Nation's First Statewide Cannabis Caucus (NORML)
• Big Pharma has officially entered the Canadian cannabis industry (VICE)
• Shatter, Batter, Wax: How Cannabis Extracts Came to Be (Wired)
• Oklahoma: Lawmakers Move Forward To Preemptively Quash Medical Marijuana Vote (NORML)
• Mexico is going to have to build a wall to keep out American weed (Herb)
• Why won't the VA recognize the value of medical marijuana? (Here & There)
• The law keeping vets from marijuana might not actually exist (Herb)
• How pot-smoking became illegal in Canada (National Post)
• Avoid Most Cannabis Investment Funds For Now (Forbes)
• Dana Rohrabacher's Last Stand: California Conservative's Fate Could Hinge on Cannabis Vote (Leafly)
• Marijuana Is the New Gold for Mining Companies Going to Pot (Bloomberg)
• Is Walmart Doing Business With The Cannabis Industry? (Forbes)
• Racial Disparities Persist Among NYC Cannabis Possession Arrests (Uncle Cliffy)
• Voters In Illinois' Cook County Approve Marijuana Legalization Ballot Measure (Forbes)
• Chicago Voters Embrace Cannabis Legalization in a Big Way (Leafly)
• Majority of American Studies Focus on Confirming Negative Myths About Cannabis, Instead of Testing Benefits (Disinfo)
• Blast From the Past: Ten Funniest Anti-Marijuana Commercials (Westword)
• Washington's Most Powerful Anti-Pot Official Is Named Sessions. It's Not Who You Think. (Politico)
• New podcast humorously highlights the heroes and hidden history of cannabis (Los Angeles Times)
• Major Risk To Cannabis Stocks On Verge Of Lifting (Forbes)
• Can Employers Rely on Federal Ban on Cannabis? (Workforce)
• Part 1, The Latest in Cannabis Research: Spring 2018 (Leafly)
• Iowa State's Marijuana Shirt Ban Case Costs School $1 Mln (U.S. News & World Report)
• Cannabis crackdown uncovers 10,000 marijuana plants, 30 guns and $50,000 cash (Stuff.co.nz)
• The Cannabis Industry Needs To Support Advocacy. Here's Why. (Forbes)
• Green Space Lounge Wants to Be the Upscale, Cannabis-Friendly Social Club Portland Never Knew it Needed (Willamette Week)
• A Dad Who Was Arrested For Growing Cannabis For His Sick Daughters Has Pleaded Not Guilty (BuzzFeed)
• Donors to medical marijuana effort are being kept under wraps. A Missouri man thinks that's wrong (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
• Cannabis Farmer Gets $1 Million Insurance Payout (Santa Barbara Independent)
• How Grass Roots Made It Through California's Changing Cannabis Climate (Leafly)
• O Cannabis: Pot and Pets, THC a No-No but CBD Shows Promise (Valley Advocate)
• Time for cannabis rethink? (Isle of Man)
• Part 2, How to Top Dress Cannabis Nutrients (Leafly)
• Better Marijuana Stock: Aphria vs. Aurora Cannabis (The Motley Fool)
• True Leaf Announces Cannabis Cultivation Team (Cannabis Business Times)
• Cannabis Collab Seeking New Members (The Source Weekly)

LSD

• New LSD Research May Help Explain the Brain Chemistry of Depression and Schizophrenia (Gizmodo)
• 'Microdosing' LSD is not just a Silicon Valley trend – it is spreading to other workplaces (The Independent)
• LSD: A wonder drug once again? (CBS News)
• Acid Drops: An Interview with Andy Roberts (Psychedelic Frontier)
• LSD blurs boundaries between the experience of self and other (EurekAlert!)
• South Lyon boy found naked and tripping on LSD (Oakland Press)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Are Mind-Altering Magic Mushroom Retreats the Future of Wellness Travel? (Well + Good)
• Denver to Vote This November on Whether to Decriminalize Magic Mushrooms (Psychedelic Times)
• 'Magic' mushroom research could lead to help for addicts (The Columbus Dispatch)
• Scientists trace why magic mushrooms evolved to be "magic" (Herb)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• The UK ecstasy guru from the 90s who influenced MDMA research forever (Dazed)
• MDMA-assisted Therapy (Sapiensoup)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• New Ayahuasca Study Reveals Its Psychological Benefits (Medium)
• 5 Common Misunderstandings about Ayahuasca Demystified (Kahpi)
• I Didn't Need to Drop Ayahuasca to Learn Something Deep About Community From This Coworking Space (Entrepreneur)
• Johns Hopkins University seeks DMT psychonauts who have met machine elves! (Boing Boing)

Iboga/Ibogaine

• Exploring the power of ibogaine treatment with The Avante Institute (PR Newswire)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Homegrown festival warned of dangerous fake ecstasy drug (Radio New Zealand)

Dissociatives

• Column: Are Ketamine Clinics Profiteering or Leading Innovation? (MD Magazine)
• Study questions efficacy, safety of intranasal ketamine for depression (News-Medical)
• The Case for Ketamine in Treating Suicidal Ideation (Psychology Today)
• Snorting Ketamine May Not Be The Best Way to Treat Depression, Study Shows (Science Alert)
• Florida Woman High on PCP Gouges Mother's Eyes Out, Placed Them on Cardboard Box (Eurweb)

Opiates/Opioids

• President Trump's New Opioid Plan Includes the Death Penalty for Drug Traffickers (TIME)
• Sessions 'Strongly Encourages' Federal Prosecutors to Seek Death Penalty for Some Drug Dealers (Reason)
• Opium production in Afghanistan reaches record high (Al Jazeera)
• Opioid Overdoses May Be Seriously Undercounted (KBIA)
• The Pain Refugees: The forgotten victims of America's opioid crisis (Harpers)
• Naloxone, Yes, But 3 Other Drugs Are Essential to Fight the Opioid Epidemic (Forbes)
• You May Have Traces of Cocaine or Heroin on Your Fingertips Right Now (Fortune)
• As libraries grapple with overdose crisis, Vancouver tells staff not to intervene (The Globe and Mail)
• Naloxone: What you need to know about this lifesaving drug (ABC News)
• US journalism students should undergo anti-overdose training (Al Jazeera)

Absinthe

• Elon Musk quietly went to 'technological superpower' Israel to drink absinthe and discuss the future of Tesla in the Middle East (Business Insider)

Kratom

• Kratom linked to Salmonella infections, CDC says (WSPA)
• Ask the doctors: Not enough is known about kratom to support its use (The Spokesman-Review)

Kava

• Kava: Inside the All-Natural High That's Sweeping America (Rolling Stone)
• Kava circles keeping young males away from alcohol and gangs, researcher says (Stuff.co.nz)
• Tudei issue revists reputational risk for Vanuatu kava industry (Radio New Zealand)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Psychedelic-Assisted Therapy During Prohibition (Chacruna)
• Two movements converge in Mexico at CryptoPsychedelic (Psymposia)
• Psychedelics Panel Invited to Mainstream Healthcare Conference (Chacruna)
• Norway's drug policies 'could set example for rest of the world' (The Independent)
• John F. Kennedy. President. Visionary. Meth head. (Rooster)
• The Art of Burning Man, Without the Burn (The Wall Street Journal)
• We have a drug that's effective against depression – now the government needs to let us use it (Spectator)
• Helen Clark backs festival drug-testing and injecting rooms (NZ Herald)
• Night Lives: Reducing Drug-Related Harm in the Night Time Economy (VolteFace)
• Into the psyche of Psychedelic Art (Media India Group)
• Psychedelics in the Age After Aquarius (Harvard Political Review)
• Nootropedia Teams Up with MAPS to Make Psychedelics Legal (Business Wire)
• It's time to integrate psychedelics into therapy (Big Think)
• Breaking the Cycle of Addiction, With Hallucinogens (HowStuffWorks)
• Clubbers need 'access to drug safety testing' (BBC)
• It's Not In Your Head - Psychedelics Are Making A Scientific Comeback (KTNV)
• Psychedelics and the Full-Fluency Phenomenon (Psymposia)

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalogue how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 8.18.17

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Marijuana politics emerge as 2020 flash point (Politico)
• Medical Marijuana Research Act of 2017 (NORML)
• The Federal Government Is Finally Exploring Marijuana As a Medical Alternative to Opioids (Reason)
• Does Anti-Pot Prejudice Explain NRA's Reluctance to Condemn Philando Castile Shooting? (Reason)
• Medical cannabis giants eye UK for next 'green rush' ahead of the industry's first conference in London (The Telegraph)
• SMART Bill Reintroduced in Congress (NORML)
• Three men jailed for turning nuclear bunker into £2m-a-year cannabis factory (The Independent)
• How Liquor Companies Screwed Up Pot Legalization in Nevada (Reason)
• Washington State Responds To Attorney General Sessions' Veiled Threats (NORML)
• Arkansas Has Received Zero Applications to Grow or Dispense Medical Cannabis (Leafly)
• What Every Cannabis Entrepreneur Needs to Understand About the Cole Memo (Entrepreneur)
• This Cannabis-Infused Meal Box Wants to Be the New Blue Apron (Leafly)
• Governors Challenge Jeff Sessions' Tendentious Questions About Legal Pot (Reason)
• Nevada Judge Clears Way for More Cannabis Licenses (Leafly)
• L.A. City Council approves new Cannabis Department Head (Los Angeles Times)
• Cleansing With Cannabis: 4 Ways to Treat Tension With THC (Leafly)
• Holy smoke! The church of cannabis (The Guardian)
• At This LA Rehab Center, Cannabis Is an 'Exit' Drug (Leafly)
• California finds 'pot of gold' in wine and weed (CNBC)
• Utah Launches Medical Cannabis Drive (Leafly)
• Peachtree NORML Challenges the Faith and Freedom Coalition (NORML)
• Smoking Versus Edibles (The Atlantic)
• How to Corner Your Bowl of Cannabis (Leafly)
• Why marijuana isn't just 'cannabis' (The Oregonian)
• How and When to Flush Cannabis Plants (Leafly)
• Little evidence shows cannabis helps chronic pain or PTSD (Fox News)

LSD

• Acid redux: My long, strange, cancer-fighting trip back to tripping (Salon)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Scientific Discovery Could Lead to Mass-Produced Magic Mushroom Drug (Daily Beast)
• Magic mushrooms and the roots of witchcraft (The Spectator)
• Spores in Space: These Mushroom Trips Last Light-Years (Dope Magazine)
• Psilocybin mushrooms got rid of my anxiety and depression (Psymposia)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• Studies Show Only 40.5% Of Pills Sold In UK Contain MDMA, 34.7% Of MDMA Pure In US (Your EDM)
• Father who lost two sons to MDMA says drug should be legalised (Metro)
• Police say blue Tesla 'ecstasy' pills could contain meth and cocaine (Mixmag)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• Of Molecules and Minds: The Science of Ayahuasca (Psymposia)
• Soldiers of the Vine: Healing PTSD with Ayahuasca (Psychedelic Times)
• What Does It Actually Feel Like To Take DMT? (The Debrief)
• Dutch addiction experts warn of dangers of 'trippy tea' (The Irish Times)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• Experts warn of fairly new drug that mimics LSD (KSBY)

Dissociatives

• Fast forward to pain free: Ketamine Infusion Therapy changes lives in the community (WOODTV)
• Springfield murder defendant testifies he was too high on PCP-laced pot to understand his rights (MassLive.com)
• Man high on PCP crashes van, shoots at random cars in Cleveland, police say (Cleveland.com)

Opiates/Opioids

• The Justice Department Wants to Put Small-Time Fentanyl Dealers in Federal Prison (Reason)
• The New Alcohol Epidemic Kills More Than Two and a Half Times as Many People as The Opioid Epidemic (Disinfo)
• New York becomes first state to cover co-pays for Naloxone (WHAM)
• Heroin Death Rate Among Teenagers Rises As Heroin Use Falls (Reason)
• Trump's Opioid Emergency Response (Reason)
• China-US Cooperation and the New Opium War (The Diplomat)

Kratom

• What Is The Difference Between Slow, Moderate, And Fast Kratom (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• Fijians consumed $140M worth of kava last year (Fiji Village)
• Kava bar ban in Lighthouse Point faces new legal challenge (Sun Sentinel)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• The foundation of Western philosophy is probably rooted in psychedelics (Quartz)
• A Researcher Wants to Test the Effects of Microdosing on Cognitive Ability and Productivity (Futurism)
• Woman Banned from US After Border Agent Finds Proof of Drug Use on Phone (VICE)
• Police Can Hurt Dark Net Drug Rings by Leaving Dealers Bad Reviews, Study Suggests (Motherboard)
• Most Drug Expiration Dates Are Bogus, and the FDA Knows It (Reason)
• Philippines Sees the Bloodiest Night of Duterte's Drug War With 32 Killed in Raids (TIME)
• Illinois Democrat Says Elect Him Governor and He'll Commute All Low-Level Drug Sentences (The Intercept)
• Shane Mauss Brings Psychedelic-Comedy Show A GOOD TRIP to Australia this October (Broadway World)
• From Blackhawk Pilot to Plant Medicine Activist: A Conversation with Ian Benouis (Psychedelic Times)
• Music For Mystery: A Discussion with Psychedelic Futurist Michael Garfield (Reality Sandwich)
• Why Shamanic Practices Are Making a Comeback in Contemporary Art (Artsy)
• How Heartbreak and Psychedelic Drugs Brought Shakey Graves to the World (Riverfront Times)
• Texas Cops Spent 11 Minutes Searching a Woman's Vagina, Found No Drugs (Reason)
• This Philosopher Thinks Psychedelic Drugs Lead to the Truth of Experience (Big Think)
• Could religions have originated under the influence? (Los Angeles Times)
• Iran Parliament Edges Towards Softening Drug Laws to Curb Executions (U.S. News & World Report)
• Could psychedelic drugs be the ticket to improved mental health? (Cosmos)

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalogue how psychedelics are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

This Week in Psychedelics - 3.11.16

Image by Dahtamnay, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

Cannabis

• Legalizing Weed Has Done What 1 Trillion Dollars and a 40 Year War Couldn't (Disinfo)
• Federal Agents Seizing Far Less Marijuana At Southern Border (NORML)
• 'Erowid' Analysis Finds People Like Cannabis No Matter What Other Drug They Take (Inverse)
• These Cannabis Activists Want To Get Arrested In Front Of The White House (ThinkProgress)
• FDA Sends Warning Letters To Cannabis Companies Over False Claims (Forbes)
• 5 Rare Disorders That Can Be Treated With Marijuana (ATTN:)
• This Ivy League doctor believes in medical cannabis' potential (The Cannabist)
• Study: Cannabis' Influence On Driving Performance Differs Significantly From That Of Alcohol (NORML)
• Signature Snafu May Doom Maine Marijuana Measure (Reason)
• Cannabis legalisation in UK 'would raise £1bn a year in taxes' (The Independent)
• Doctor Destroys Cannabis Myths Once And For All (Illegally Healed)
• Passage Of State Medical Marijuana Laws Don't Influence Youth Use (NORML)
• Cannabis Grower, Dispensaries To Donate One-Tenth Of Sales To Bernie Sanders' Campaign (Inquisitr)
• US Senators' Views On Medical Cannabis and DEA (NORML)
• Is "kosher" cannabis Israel's next big export? (KRON4)
• Wikileaf makes finding the best weed, at the best prices, easy (Boing Boing)
• 9 Problems With the Marijuana Rules Proposed by Massachusetts Legislators (Reason)
• Cannabis providers discuss future at private meeting in Missoula (NBC Montana)
• Meet the Man Who Hopes To Stop Marijuana Legalization in California (Reason)
• Colorado Springs Shuts Down Its Cannabis Clubs...in Eight Years (Reason)
• Cannabis and Sleep: 10 Things to Know About Your Herbal Nightcap (Leafly)
• New Jersey 'Weedman' Says Closing Pot Temple Violates Religious Freedom (TIME)
• 'Uncle Spliffy' Seeks To Change Negative Perceptions About Cannabis And Sports (The Weed Blog)
• Cannabis Science 101: The Physics and Chemistry of the Joint (Leafly)
• It's Time To Get Over the Prejudice Against Marijuana! (NORML)
• Cannapics: 7 Stunning Images of Cannabis Joints (Leafly)
• Police recover 9000 cannabis plants in Nelson-Marlborough aerial operation (Stuff.co.nz)
• Cannabis in First-Episode Psychosis Linked to Poor Outcomes (Medscape)
• Couple accused of murdering their 21-month old daughter kept skunk cannabis in the toddler's Tommy Tippee drinking cup, court hears (Daily Mail)
• Cannabis should be legalised and regulated, Lib Dems say (BBC)

LSD

• Could cuddling and LSD become the norm at work? (The Vancouver Sun)
• Star Wars animator took LSD during production: 'I got to the green screen and it was like 'Aaagh, I took way too much' (The Independent)
• What are the Benefits of LSD? Rethinking Acid as a Therapeutic Medicine (Psychedelic Times)
• Some People Swear That 'Microdosing' LSD on the Job Makes You a Better Worker (TIME)
• An LSD trip story: "Went to a Donald Trump speech on acid SUPER BAD VIBES" (Boing Boing)
• Student arrested for LSD in City Hall (The GW Hatchet)
• N.J. woman skipped court on LSD charge, prosecutor says (NJ.com)
• Man pleads not guilty to selling LSD (Daily Citizen)

Psilocybin/Magic Mushrooms

• Researchers seek spiritual leaders for magic mushroom study (Extract)
• Chicago man with psychedelic mushrooms arrested Friday (The News-Gazette)

MDMA/Ecstasy

• What It Was Like to Be Part of a Major Ecstasy Ring in the 90s (VICE)
• The Disturbing Truth About How Ecstasy Affects the Brain (Mic)
• Thames Valley Policeman Ryan Sproat dismissed for taking MDMA at nightclub (Metro)
• UC Santa Cruz MDMA Ring Busted; Sorority, Fraternity Members Jailed (CBS)
• Narcotics Agency Chief: Islamic school students mistaking ecstasy for vitamins to make them pray longer (Coconuts Jakarta)
• Ecstasy caused death of UC Irvine student who went to rave in San Bernardino County, coroner says (Los Angeles Times)
• Former Canberra doctor who used MDMA suspended for two years (The Canberra Times)
• New Research Aims To Reveal Cognitive Deficiencies In MDMA Users (Your EDM)
• MDMA Use May Damage Serotonin Receptors In The Brain, Risk Cognitive Impairment (Medical Daily)
• Ever taken MDMA? Then this news might concern you (Metro)

Ayahuasca/DMT

• High in the Amazon - Aurianna Joy's quest for peace in the jungle (The National Student)
• The DMT experience - Terence McKenna (Disinfo)

Peyote/San Pedro/Mescaline

• Finding Psycho Spiritual Healing with a Huachuma Healing Ceremony (Psychedelic Times)

Synthetic Cannabinoids/Psychoactive Research Chemicals

• DOB and 2C-B: The Controversial Legacy of Alexander Shulgin's Research (Psychedelic Times)
• Three schoolboys aged 15 fighting for life in hospital after taking legal highs 'similar to LSD' (The Sun)
• Father Of Round Rock Man Accused Of Choking Nurse While On K2 Disputes Police Account (Patch)
• College student from Salem admits peddling synthetic hallucinogen (The Salem News)
• Minnesota man gets 9 years for selling synthetic LSD (La Crosse Tribune)

Dissociatives

• What It's Like to Treat Severe Depression With Ketamine (New York Magazine)
• Paramedics to give ketamine to patients high on flakka (EMS1)
• 'I was shocked': Man arrested at customs after friend's ashes test positive for illegal drug (CTV News)
• Police Cripple 'Chinese Connection', Seize Ketamine Worth RM1.3 Million (Bernama)
• West Haven man on PCP arrested after trying to smother baby (Fox 61)
• Man high on PCP assaults women at Glen Burnie Target, police say (WBAL)
• Prosecutor: Driver in Crash That Killed Teens Was on PCP (ABC)

Opiates/Opioids

• Afghanistan Taliban War: Opium Fuels Conflict As Farmers Pray For A Prosperous Harvest (International Business Times)
• Heroin Epidemic Increasingly Seeps Into Public View (The New York Times)
• Medication maintenance: Methadone, Suboxone can cause more problems than they solve (Hartford City News Times)
• Senate poised to pass bill to combat heroin use and prescription drug abuse (USA Today)
• Naloxone Prescribed With Every Opioid? (Medscape)
• CVS Health to offer naloxone without prescription in 23 states by month's end (Drug Store News)
• Frank Bures: Non-medical prescription opioids and heroin use (Winona Daily News)
• Opium bounces back, enriching Taliban and Afghan officials (IRIN)
• Five myths about heroin (Culpeper Star-Exponent)

Absinthe

• Of Absinthe and Garden Laws (Patheos)

Kratom

• Shelby Co. officials want stores to stop selling Kratom (WBRC)
• Five men arrested for growing 'kratom' trees in Bangkok (The Nation)
• Group working to keep Kratom legal says it's a harmless herb when used properly (WBRC)
• Kratom: Opiate Withdrawal Help or Another Barrier to Addiction Treatment? (GroundReport)
• Parents and lawmakers call for Kratom ban (ABC33/40)
• Red Vein Thai Kratom Effects and Benefits (Kratom Guides)

Kava

• Fiji kava growers forced to sell early in bulk (Radio New Zealand)
• Kava and kava drinking (Vanuatu Daily Post)
• Winston results in flood of kava onto Fiji market (Radio New Zealand)
• A tasty sip of anti-anxiety: MeloMelo Kava Bar (The Daily Californian)

Khat

• How a mild stimulant generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year (GlobalPost)
• Third arrest made at O R Tambo in suspected drug syndicate (News24)

Miscellaneous Psychedelics/Psychoactives/Drug Policy

• Do Psychedelic Drug Laws Violate Human Rights? (The Atlantic)
• Iran Is About to Execute Another 100 Prisoners for Drug Offenses (VICE News)
• How 5 Common Drugs Affect Sex (ATTN:)
• Mexican Drug Lord 'El Chapo' Launches PR Blitz for Better Conditions (TIME)
• The 5 Pills You Definitely Shouldn't Mix With Alcohol (ATTN:)

Disclaimer: "This Week in Psychedelics" does not censor or analyze the news links presented here. The purpose of this column is solely to catalogue how psychedelics (and other psychoactives) are presented by the mass media, which includes everything from the latest scientific research to misinformation.

Why You Should Keep A Journal

Image by Joel Montes de Oca, courtesy of Creative Commons licensing.

In today's busier-than-ever world, it is common to experience weeks, months, or years of life without realizing that time is flying by. The practice of keeping a journal can provide a log of your events throughout life as well as offer a cathartic release that comes from the act of recording your thoughts. Today's post will cover the benefits of journaling, various types of journals, journaling mediums, and how to start a journal.

I have kept a journal off and on since elementary school, although it wasn't until my years at university that I developed a more focused approach and found the inspiration to keep a regular journaling practice. I have found that my practice has generated many benefits for me, and no obvious negative side effects. In a sense, Think Wilder is an extension of my own personal journal in blog form. Without further ado, let's jump right into the main subject matter.

The Benefits of Journaling

Keep a record of life experiences and track your development: Writing about events that have already occurred gives you the chance to process them and find closure when it is needed. It's easy to get to the end of a month or year and have trouble recalling the events that happened. While it may be possible to look through photographs or another medium of record-keeping, I have found that writing a journal means that I will always have a record of the most important events that have occurred in my life. An additional benefit of record-keeping is that it is easier to identify the improvements that you have made over time.

Improve mental clarity, more effectively solve problems, and increase focus: It's easy to get caught up in thinking that has nothing to do with what you are trying to focus on, but it can be difficult to send those thoughts packing. By recording your thoughts in a journal, you are effectively transferring them from your head to the page. This helps clear the mind so that you can focus on the things that are important in your life, whether they are outstanding problems that need to be solved or a time-sensitive task at hand.

Inspire personal growth: If you are feeling stuck in a rut, finding it difficult to progress in life, I would highly recommend taking up a journaling practice. Consistently writing down our thoughts encourages self-development, because it gives us an opportunity to review our previous entries and identify times that we made mistakes. Once you identify a mistake, you are less likely to make that mistake in the future, and you can brainstorm alternative behaviors that more honestly reflect the person you want to become.

More fully connect with your values, emotions, and goals: It can be hard to be honest with ourselves concerning how we feel about relationships, work, or our true passions in life. Yet over time, you will find out what is truly important to you through your writing. It took many journal entries about my desire to keep up a regular writing practice before this blog was born, but through my experience with journaling I finally realized that I needed to get started with my writing projects instead of procrastinating any longer. I am sure that there are things that you want to improve on in your life, or work through your feelings on a tough issue, and journaling is a great way to facilitate that work.

Cultivate your creativity: Just like anything else, a journaling practice becomes better with time. In addition to becoming a better writer, you may also improve your abilities to process and communicate complex ideas, memorize important information, and brainstorm more effectively. I find that writing, or even thinking about what I will write later, helps me think of new ideas and projects to work on.

Types of Journals

There are several types of journals, which are not limited to those listed below. Use your imagination and think of specific types of journals that could help you on your path!

Food journal: Many of us are unaware of our dietary lifestyles. I know that I was before I started a food journal several years ago, and I was shocked to see what I was eating (and drinking!) on a regular basis. Keeping a food journal can be as simple as compiling a daily list of foods in a Fields Notes memo book, or you can take a more advanced approach, like using an application like MyFitnessPal to get a more thorough breakdown of your daily nutritional intake.

Work journal: A written record of your work performance can be a very useful thing. How often does a yearly performance review come around and leave you wondering, "What exactly did I do the past 12 months?" By keeping track of the day's events at the office, you will have a log of the things that went well, mistakes you made and how you addressed them, and successes worth highlighting in your next performance review or job interview. By recording your mistakes, you will be able to adapt so that you won't make the same mistake twice.

Dream journal: This type of journal is designed around capturing as many details about your dreams as you can remember upon first waking up. You can use the dream contents to look into their imagery and suggested meanings, or you could use them as inspiration for a new work of fiction! By writing down the contents of your dreams, you can review them later and see if there are any patterns that reoccur.

Gratitude journal: Sometimes we are so busy with all the things in our lives that we forget the good things that happen every day. A gratitude journal helps you focus on the positive aspects of life, which will shift your focus away from negative things and allow you to start appreciating even more positive things that you are grateful to have in your life.

Miscellaneous activities: All sorts of activities can benefit from keeping a log of their progress. Fitness, gardening, traveling, reading, meditation, and yoga are just a few to get you started. It can be helpful and extremely rewarding to see where you are headed and how far along you have come.

Journal Mediums

Journals were traditionally written on paper, but today's technologies have allowed additional mediums for you to record your thoughts. Some mediums will appeal to certain types of people, and other mediums will be attractive for the rest. I have firsthand experience with myriad journaling mediums, and will explore some of the options below.

Paper journals: If you like the feeling of physically writing down your thoughts, like I do, then a paper notebook may be the most appealing option for you. There's nothing quite like setting pen to paper, which gives you physical control over your writing, and there is no chance that your journal will disappear or be leaked when an online service shuts down or is compromised. However, there are no backups of paper journals, and it is possible that someone will find your journal in its hiding place and read it without your permission.

Digital journaling: Using a computer, tablet, or mobile phone to write your journal may appeal to you. Something as simple as Apple's Pages or Microsoft Word can be used, or you can try your hand at many journaling apps found online. Digital journals have the benefit of password protection, and people typically type faster on a keyboard than they can write by hand. I have tried many journaling apps and have come to the conclusion that I prefer paper journals, but your experience may be different.

Blogging: An extension of journaling, blogging is essentially a published online journal medium. This is a great option to reap the benefits of journaling, while providing an opportunity to make yourself heard all around the world. Keeping a public blog means that you have a wide audience, but this comes with the sacrifice of privacy. There are many different blogging platforms to choose from, but they all have one thing in common—the ability to share your message with the world.

How to Start A Journal

Getting started with journaling is pretty easy. You just need to pick a medium and journal type, and start writing! I would advise starting as soon as possible—even if you're not completely sure what you want to write about. One of the things that writing for many years has taught me is that you will gradually find your voice in your writing over time, but you will never find it if you don't get started. Now that you know the basics of journaling, I encourage you to start one as soon as possible!