What is a Group Journaling Session at Project Mumbai?
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Ever opened a blank notebook and had no idea where to start?
We often imagine that journalling involves a notebook, a favourite pen and pages filled with everything that happened during the day perhaps with a little Princess Diaries energy?
Journaling can certainly look like that. But it can also be much simpler.
It’s 5 pm, your laptop is open, your camera is on, and on the other side of the screen are eleven other small video tiles are complete strangers. Someone’s in their bedroom with fairy lights behind them. Someone else looks like they just got back from work. A notes app or a notebook sits open in front of each of them.
A prompt appears on screen: “Write about a time you felt more tired than you let on.”
For a moment, nobody types. Nobody writes. The cursor blinks. The pen hovers.
That small, slightly uncomfortable silence before the words start coming is exactly the moment Project Mumbai’s monthly journaling session is built around. Not to rush you past it. Just to sit in it, together, without anyone watching what you write.
Journaling is about creating a little space to pause, notice what is happening within us and put some of our thoughts and feelings into words. It does not have to be beautifully written, consistent, or even make complete sense. There is no “right” way to journal.
Sometimes, finding the words to explain what is going on inside us can itself be difficult.
That is where journaling can offer a starting point.
Journaling is more than writing about your day
A journal does not need to provide answers. It can simply be a place to ask questions, acknowledge what you are experiencing and give yourself permission to pause. Research on expressive writing suggests that putting thoughts and emotions into words can have some benefits for wellbeing, although journaling is not a substitute for professional mental health support when that is needed. Evidence also suggests that its effects can vary from person to person.
So, how does journaling actually begin?
It can begin with something as simple as a blank page.
You do not necessarily need an expensive journal, an elaborate routine or an hour of uninterrupted time. A notebook, your phone, or a digital document can work just as well.
But a blank page can be surprisingly difficult to face, and that is exactly why prompts can help
A prompt gives you a starting point like a thought, question or theme that helps you begin exploring what is on your mind. You do not have to answer it perfectly or even stick to it. You can take the thought wherever it leads you.
What makes group journaling different?
If individual journaling is a conversation with yourself, group journaling can be a shared space for reflection without requiring everyone to share what they have written.
Think about an elocution competition. Sometimes, you know you have something to say, but you need a topic to help you find the words. A journaling session works in a similar way. In a group session, participants are given prompts that encourage reflection. Everyone gets time to write privately and at their own pace. You may choose to share something afterwards, but you do not have to.
Every last week of the month, from 4 to 5 pm, we run a free, one-hour online journaling session that is open to everyone, no experience needed. Each session builds around one new theme and a set of prompts designed to give your thoughts somewhere to land.
Take our session on burnout, for instance. Instead of just asking “how are you handling burnout?” we asked participants to draw a backpack and split it into four compartments: Thoughts I Carry Constantly. The Heaviest Things. What Others See. What Stays Hidden.
Suddenly, burnout wasn’t one overwhelming feeling anymore. It was four smaller, nameable ones. That’s what a good prompt does. It takes something heavy and scattered, and gives it shape. A place to put it down, even just for an hour.
You can join from wherever you are, your home, your workplace or even during a quiet break in your day.
A new topic, every month
Each month’s theme doesn’t appear out of nowhere. It grows out of that month’s Mental Health newsletter, where we dig into a topic in depth and usually leave you with a resource or takeaway to sit with. One month it might be burnout and self-care. Another, gratitude and the experiences that quietly shape us.
The journaling session is where that theme gets to move from something you read about to something you sit with. The newsletter gives you the ideas. The session gives you the hour to turn them inward, and put them into your own words.
In a city that rarely stops moving, reading, then reflecting, can be meaningful in itself.
In the middle of a mental health workshop, the room suddenly transformed into a space filled with music, laughter, and movement. The officers participated in a lively dance and movement activity, an experience that surprised many of them. It became one of the most memorable moments of the day.
Movement provides the brain with a much-needed pause, releases tension, improves mood, and reminds us that sometimes the quickest way to recharge is simply to move. Even a few minutes of stretching, walking, or dancing can help reset the mind before returning to demanding responsibilities. The smiles across the room were an indicator that mental wellbeing does not always begin with serious conversations. Sometimes, it begins with permitting ourselves to pause.
Join Project Mumbai's Monthly Journaling Sessions
Free. Online. Open to all. Once a month. A new topic every month.
You don’t need to be a regular journaler. You don’t need to be a good writer. And you don’t need to know exactly what you want to say.
Just bring yourself, and we’ll bring the prompt. Follow Project Mumbai’s instagram page for regular updates, or subscribe to our mental health newsletter.
This article is intended for general awareness and is not a substitute for professional mental health advice or treatment.
Check out our Linktree and join our next journalling session! See you there!
