CEO’s say that the abilities they are interested in when hiring people is their writing ability, no matter if they are sales people, programmers, or designers. The reason is simple: Clear writing is a sign of clear thinking. Good writers know how to communicate, they make things easy to understand and they know when to leave out the unnecessary.

Does this mean that you have to attend literature and grammar classes to be more effective when carrying out your tasks? No, you already have all the necessary knowledge. 

You learn how to write by writing and you will achieve important benefits:

• You will communicate with clarity. Unlike talking, when you write you look for more sophisticated words and expressions to describe what you have in mind. This helps you build a structure that will allow you to express yourself better and communicate complex ideas in a much more effective way.
• You will eliminate stress. By capturing everything that comes to mind — in order to eliminate the stress that causes having many things hitting your head, writing and developing your ideas produces an amplified effect since not only you take them out of your mind but also the whole process of rationalization that otherwise would abstractly stay in there.
• You will be more productive. Writing activates the neurons in your brain and gets it ready to overcome the rest of the tasks (you can use it as a kind of warm-up at the beginning of the day). In addition, writing down your tasks with the appropriate words prepares you to carry them out properly. Finally, it’s demonstrated that setting your goals in writing increases significantly the possibilities of achieving them.
• You will learn more. Writing in your own words the information that you receive helps you assimilate and consolidate knowledge that otherwise you would forget soon.
• You will gain awareness of your reality. If you write down what you have in mind each day, what you expect to achieve and how you feel according to this, you won’t need a psychologist to explain to you who you are. You will realize yourself. 
• You will make better decisions. When writing you clear up your thoughts and, obviously, clearer thinking allows you to make better choices.
• You will be happier. It’s an immediate consequence of the two previous points. There is no need to write a public blog, a sort of personal journal is perfectly valid.
• You will live more focused. If you constantly write about your thoughts you will never get out of sight of what you want to achieve, your dreams.
• You will overcome tough moments faster. There is some research that suggests that those that write about what is happening overcome tough moments quicker than those who don’t.
• You will have a lot of written memories. If you write each day, you will have a historical record of your thoughts, probably something much more interesting than a simple photo album. And, who knows, maybe you will end up publishing a book. So write a lot and write every day.

“I am the only one who can tell the story of my life and say what it means.”  ~ Dorothy Allison, Two or Three Things I Know for Sure

• Making your mess your message
• Writing about the harsh moments can lead to flashes of “moments of being” where you found comfort and joy
• Writing is an essential and necessary way to achieve spiritual, emotional, and physiological wholeness
• Writing can be a sturdy ladder out of the pit of despair – it is a way to reach freedom and safety

“Your life is not a problem to be solved, but a gift to be opened.”  ~ Wayne Muller

• We are the accumulation of the stories we tell ourselves about who we are. So changing our stories can  change our personal history and change us.
• Writing can enable us to accomplish that shift in perspective marked by acceptance, authenticity, depth, serenity, and wisdom that is the hallmark of genuine healing.

Here’s a creative way to start journaling…

Scrap-a-Day Journaling

• The “scrap-a-day” journaling trend turns ordinary paper scraps into art, blending creativity, sustainability, and daily mindfulness.
• By adding one small item—like a receipt or leaf—each day, journalers create a visual diary that captures life’s everyday moments.
• This approachable art form encourages reflection and reuse, proving that creativity can thrive on imperfection and reclaimed materials.

At its heart, junk journaling is the art of transforming everyday paper ephemera into a handmade, mixed-media journal. Think of it as a cross between scrapbooking, journaling, and collage. Pages might feature layered ticket stubs, snippets of fabric, or bits of brochures. 

The “scrap-a-day” version of the trend makes it a low-lift daily ritual: Each day, creators add one small scrap or piece of ephemera to their journal for a visual diary that grows with you. It’s an approachable way to infuse creativity into even the busiest routines. 

“You don’t have to finish a whole page,” says Argonish. “Just add one element that speaks to your day—a leaf you picked up on a walk, a receipt from a coffee date.” Over time, those little scraps tell a bigger story.

How to Start Your Own Scrap-a-Day Journal

You don’t need fancy supplies or a formal plan to begin. One of the most inviting aspects of this trend is its accessibility—everything you need is likely already within reach.

• Choose your base: A blank notebook or sketchbook make excellent foundations. A hardcover iteration will also allow you to glue in additional pages made from envelopes, brown paper, or cardstock.
• Gather your scraps: Start saving paper items from your everyday life. Think: packaging, ticket stubs, postcards, receipts, tags, labels, and wrappers. Store them in a small box or envelope to draw from each day. Your collection will grow quickly as you start seeing beauty in items you used to overlook.
• Add one element a day: Focus on small, consistent acts of creativity and allow pages to evolve organically. Some people choose to draw a large grid and fill in one square a day with their chosen scrap. Affix with adhesive.
• Embrace imperfection: Wrinkles, uneven edges, and smudged ink are all part of the charm.
• Reflect and revisit: As your journal grows, flip back through its pages from time to time. It’ll become a beautiful record of time, a preservation of both memory and material.

Books? Reading? Who has the time? 

For most people, the act of reading is a reward in itself. However, studies show that reading books also has benefits that range from a longer life to career success. If you’re looking for reasons to pick up a book, read on for seven science-backed reasons why reading is good for your health, relationships and happiness.

READING REDUCES STRESS

Stress is a common hazard of our modern lives. A study by the University of Sussex demonstrated that six minutes of silent reading can reduce stress levels by 68 per cent. In fact, reading works better and faster than other methods such as listening to music, going for a walk or sitting down for a relaxing cuppa.

There are many reasons for the profound stress relieving effect of reading. First, reading allows the mind to focus and concentrate on the words, which pulls the reader away from anxious thoughts. Reading also has the effect of suspending reality. When we read, we escape into another world or another person and enter into an altered state of consciousness, which alleviates tension in the muscles and heart.

The relaxing effect produced by books is not determined by the type or genre of book you are reading, as long as you can lose yourself in the narrative.

READING PROMOTES WELLNESS

While an apple a day can keep the doctor away, a book a week can keep the grim reaper at bay.

Reading has an unexpected bonus of increasing your lifespan. A 2016 study published in Social Science & Medicine journal found that reading for at least 30 minutes a day extended the lifespan of participants by an average two years, with book readers who read more than three hours every week at an advantage over their peers who read magazines and newspapers.

Booktrust, the UK’s largest reading charity, conducted a survey of 1500 adult in the UK and found that people who read books regularly are on average more satisfied with life, happier, and more likely to feel that the things they do in life are worthwhile.

In the case of mild to severe depression, reading self-help books or being read to can assist in recovery. While books cannot replace the role of psychologists and therapists, in the case of mild depression, bibliotherapy can be as effective as standard medical care. In fact, UK organisation Reading Well has a selection of book titles and evidence-backed booklists endorsed by medical experts to promote health and wellbeing.

READING HELPS COMBAT ALZHEIMER’S AND DEMENTIA

Reading is a workout for the brain, and keeping your mind active can help preserve brain health later in life.

Research shows that elderly patients who read books or play mentally challenging games are two and a half times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s. Reading is also associated with lower risk of developing dementia. The study found that it didn’t matter if people began reading or other mentally engaging activities early or late in life, there was a slower rate of decline either way, so it’s never too late to pick up a book.

READING HELPS WITH SLEEP

Reading before bed helps with sleep, especially if you transform your reading into a night-time ritual. There are a few reasons why reading before bed is good for your sleeping habits. The main reason is the decrease in stress, anxiety and muscular tension associated with reading. Helping you relax and unwind before sleep can make a difference in being able to push aside anxious thoughts and allow your consciousness to drift off.

Another reason is that the habitual ritual allows your mind to associate bed and reading with sleep. To do this, it is important not to mix up your habits. Make sure you switch your smartphone or tablet with a paperback book or eReader as backlit screen devices can disrupt the production of melatonin, and browsing the internet or scrolling through email and social media on your phone can keep your mind alert and in an active state.

READING IMPROVES RELATIONSHIPS

Reading has an indirect effect of improving our relationships through increased empathy, a vital trait for successful and rewarding relationships. Despite the solitary bookworm stereotypes, studies have proven a link between reading literary fiction and an increased ability to understand the emotions and thoughts of others, better social skills and relating to others whose lives are different from ours.

The brain doesn’t distinguish reading about an experience and living it – the same regions are activated. Reading literary fiction produces a simulation of reality, which allows us to experience the emotions and thoughts of characters. In this regard, literary fiction acts as a bridge to better understand other people and points of view that are vastly different from ours.

Although participants in the study were tested on their reactions after reading non-fiction, genre (popular) fiction and literary fiction, the results specifically identifies literary fiction as having an effect on empathy. This is thought to be because literary fiction explores the psychology and relationships of the characters in more depth than genre fiction and non-fiction books.

READING INSPIRES SUCCESS

Have you heard of the saying ‘not all readers are leaders, but all leaders are readers’? Well, there’s a lot of truth in that.

Many historical leaders were known to be avid readers, and some of the most successful business leaders such as Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey and Elon Musk have associated reading with their career success. Studies in the US show that active readers are likely to earn up to five times than those who spend little or no time reading. A study of the world’s wealthiest people found that the only trait in common was the fact that they read. This was echoed in a study in the UK, which uncovered that on average, the higher the socio-economic group an individual belongs in, the more often they read.

The link between reading and success is thought to be driven by the desire for knowledge. Reading makes us better thinkers by improving our critical thinking and problem-solving skills, boosting our general and specific knowledge and developing our social and communication skills.  

READING DECREASES LONELINESS AND SOCIAL ISOLATION

For most, the act of reading is a solitary act but this doesn’t have to be the case. Reading can be turned into a social event by finding a like-minded group of friends or members of your community and joining a book group.

The benefits of book groups is transforming an isolated practice into a social ritual and being able to discover a group of individuals that share the same passions. Reading and discussing books have the effect of getting a deeper understanding of the story through listening and debating different points of view.

For me books have been one of the support systems in my journey. 

One of the books that really started my journey towards self care and wellness was Simple Abundance, by Sarah Ban Breathnach. It is a year’s journey of introspection and creativity in discovering who you really are. 

Then during a big transition point in my life’s journey there were two books that had a significant impact on how I viewed death and grief. The first is The Grief Recovery Handbook, by John W. James. The second, The Year of Magical Thinking, by Joan Didion. It’s healthy and necessary to examine our feelings around these life changing events.

Our journey toward greater awareness should never end and here are two more that have really struck a chord with me. The first one, Thrive, by Arianna Huffington, reminded me of many concepts I have learned before, but have become more relevant to my current path – like the critical importance of sleep. The second is The 5 Second Rule, by Mel Robbins, where a small but powerful exercise can activate your brain to benefit your wellbeing. Both of these helped me set my path forward.

Finally, one that really helped spark my passion and purpose is Ikigai, by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles. This is where Alaka’i Associates found its place and mission.

And now I can recommend two of my own works,  Under a Full Moon and a Guiding Star, and Beyond the Horizon – A Guide for Life’s Journey. 

Here’s what readers are saying:

Under a Full Moon and a Guiding Star

“Lani Almanza’s book, Under a Full Moon and a Guiding Star, is a timeless guide through life’s challenges. With episodic storytelling and thought-provoking questions, she inspires us to embrace growth and gratitude. Lani’s book is a cherished reference that both reminds and uplifts.”  ~ Erin M.

Beyond the Horizon – A Guide for Life’s Journey

“This is a book filled with sunlit thought. This is also a book reminding us of our kuleana with each other. This is a book about embracing and appreciating family, community, and the world at large. This profound book encompasses stunning images of unity…ranging from within ancient philosophical texts…to bear hugs…to the simpleness of sand. In short, it is a wise, worthwhile, and yet touching read.”  ~ Marianne W.

Here’s where you can get your copies:

https://alakaiassociates.com/books-landing-page/

And a review is always appreciated. 

As always, LiveAlohaLiveWell