diff --git a/modules/lang/org/contrib/journal.el b/modules/lang/org/contrib/journal.el
index 52498a38f..11ffacd3c 100644
--- a/modules/lang/org/contrib/journal.el
+++ b/modules/lang/org/contrib/journal.el
@@ -2,23 +2,42 @@
 ;;;###if (featurep! +journal)
 
 (use-package! org-journal
-  :mode ("/\\(?1:[0-9]\\{4\\}\\)\\(?2:[0-9][0-9]\\)\\(?3:[0-9][0-9]\\)\\(\\.gpg\\)?\\'"
-         . org-journal-mode)
-  :preface
+  :hook (org-mode . +org-journal-mode-maybe)
+  :init
   ;; HACK org-journal does some file-path magic at load time that creates
   ;;      duplicate and hard-coded `auto-mode-alist' entries, so we suppress it
   ;;      and use the more generalize regexp (above).
   (advice-add #'org-journal-update-auto-mode-alist :override #'ignore)
+  ;; Not using the .org file extension causes so much needless headache with
+  ;; file detection, and for no compelling reason, so we make it the default, so
+  ;; `org-journal' doesn't have to do all this silly magic.
+  (setq org-journal-file-format "%Y%m%d.org")
+
   ;; HACK `org-journal-dir' has is surrounded by setter and `auto-mode-alist'
   ;;      magic which makes its needlessly difficult to create an "overrideable"
-  ;;      default for Doom users, so we set this to an empty string (anything
-  ;;      else will throw an error) so we can detect it being changed later.
+  ;;      default for Doom users, so we set this to an empty string (a
+  ;;      non-string would throw an error) so we can detect changes to it later.
   (setq org-journal-dir ""
-        org-journal-cache-file (concat doom-cache-dir "org-journal"))
+        org-journal-cache-file (concat doom-cache-dir "org-journal")
+        ;; Doom opts for an "open in a popup or here" strategy as a default.
+        ;; Open in "other window" is less consistent and harder to predict.
+        org-journal-find-file #'find-file)
+
   :config
+  ;; This is necessary if the user decides opens a journal file directly, via
+  ;; `find-file' or something, and not through org-journal's commands.
+  (defun +org-journal-mode-maybe ()
+    "Activate `org-journal-mode', maybe."
+    (and (eq major-mode 'org-mode)
+         (string-match-p org-journal-file-pattern buffer-file-name)
+         (let ((org-mode-hook (remq '+org-journal-mode-maybe org-mode-hook)))
+           (org-journal-mode))))
+
   (when (string-empty-p org-journal-dir)
-    (setq! org-journal-dir (expand-file-name "journal/" org-directory)))
-  (setq org-journal-find-file #'find-file)
+    (setq org-journal-dir (expand-file-name "journal/" org-directory)))
+
+  (advice-remove #'org-journal-update-auto-mode-alist #'ignore)
+  (setq! org-journal-dir org-journal-dir)
 
   (map! (:map org-journal-mode-map
           :n "]f"  #'org-journal-open-next-entry