“Each man is an individual enterprise on the part of God, so no two of them are alike.” Emmet Fox (The Science of Living)
I pass this gate that squeaks. I wonder why no one oils the hinge? Then God presses this thought on my heart, "I have everyone else on other projects. You are the only one I have available to oil this gate. If you do not oil it, it will not get done."
“Thoughts of God, thoughts of kindness, of optimism, and goodwill, are the food of health, joy, and success; and if you furnish a bountiful supply of this food you will attract these things as well. When you want to get some condition out of your life, starve it out by refusing to furnish any of the food upon which it thrives, and you will be surprised how rapidly it will leave you. It will go away in a hurry somewhere else, where its food is obtainable.” Emmet Fox (Make Your Life Worth While)
Develop gratitude for everything that is happening in your life. The time we spend on deciding that a thought is not of kindness, of optimism, and goodwill, is entertaining the negative thought. "Resist not evil." The time we spend fighting off a negative thought is empowering the negative thought. Saying that we are grateful is not enough. We have to look for the reason that the red light is helping us not holding us back.
When you develop this skill in your heart and mind, you will be surprised to see how quickly your surroundings will begin to change to align with your new thoughts.
Everyone has someone difficult in their lives. It could be a family member, a friend, or a coworker. There’s the drama queen - this person lives and breathes drama. Nothing is a simple reaction - everything is an overreaction.
Then there’s the complainer - the person who is never happy or satisfied with anyone or anything. They never saw a rainbow in their life and continually gripe. There’s the dream killer. Whatever dream you have and are excited about, they’re going to tell you everything that’s going to go wrong and give you case after case of people who tried and flopped.
You may be dealing with a perfectionist, or a know it all - or the sarcastic person who ridicules people. Maybe it is the person who makes snide, hurtful remarks, then brushes it off by saying, “they were joking.”
Regardless of which type of difficult person you have to deal with, the results are the same. They drain your mental energy, and if you’re not careful, you can find yourself being affected by some of their habits.
There are ways that you can have a solid plan for and put in place so that these people don’t get to impact your mental well-being. If someone is spewing negativity, or they’re railing about something that you know has the power to affect you, first, take a deep breath and slowly let it out to center yourself.
Then, ask yourself if there’s any truth to the statements or situation. If there is, decide if it impacts your happiness, finances, relationships, or your job. If not, let it go.
There’s no need to jump into the middle of a drama that’s not yours. If the problematic person is bringing or creating a situation that does have something to do with you, ask yourself if you can change it.
If so, ask what the best way to deal with it is. If there’s no action that you can take, then let it go. Trying to solve the unsolvable is a recipe for success. Recognize that sometimes, there is no closure, and you have to move on, leaving things as is.
Don’t engage with difficult people who are just looking to complain, insult, or tear you down. It’s not your battle. Let them be angry or miserable, and don’t take on that burden.
With proper self-care habits, there should be firm boundaries in place for dealing with difficult people.
You can say that you don’t want to hear something if it’s negative or gossipy, or you know it’s not going to serve a purpose in your life. You can also state that there’s nothing you can do if a difficult person is pressing you for help you don’t have or don’t want to give.
Sometimes, no matter what you do, you can’t help the other person. Walk away from stressful people that are negatively impacting your life. Go and recuperate from the stress by relaxing and rejuvenating yourself with something positive that nurtures you.
Life never sits still. Its always moving, always changing. But changing to change is wasted motion. Sometimes, change is good, but sometimes, it’s not. The people in your life may be the motivation for the difference. You may marry or divorce. You may have lost a loved one. It may be a necessary job change, but it could be that you may lose a career that you loved. You may have to sell a house or buy one.
Change is something that can be easy to deal with, and you might feel excited and ready for it. But sometimes, it wasn’t what you wanted, and you weren’t expecting it. That can be excruciating to handle.
Finding a way to cope with change and learning how is an integral part of self-care. Remember that you’re not a machine. You have a wide range of emotions, and you will feel them as you implement changes. You might be up one day and down the next. If you’re going through some change, take it easy on yourself. Understand that eventually, things will return to normal, or you’ll get used to your new normal.
If the change that happened was one that you didn’t want, and it involves another person, don’t jump on board the blame train. There’s no happy ending destination when you waste time traveling the blame train. Just accept that this change has happened and go about the business of learning the best way to deal with it. Accept that it will be a while before things turn out the way you’d like them to.
Change can be a long or short process. Just be patient and keep hanging in there. When the change that you’re coping with is not a pleasant one, reach out to people who are supportive of you. Let them know what’s going on. The people who care about you want what’s best for you. They’ll be happy to listen and help with whatever you need. Getting the emotions out can be beneficial when you’re coping with a change so that you don’t keep everything locked within.
Sometimes, a change is so unpleasant that it rattles you. As long as you focus your attention on what’s wrong, on what’s uncomfortable about the situation, your emotions will settle there. All you’ll see is the downside of what’s occurring. For example, you might focus on all of the bad that comes with losing a job rather than seeing the good that could come from it - such as now you’re free to start your own business or move somewhere you’ve always wanted to live and start over.
An uplifting way to practice self-care during a change is to make sure you don’t let yourself get overwhelmed. Take care of what you can today, and don’t fret about tomorrow’s problem that the change may bring. Taking care of yourself needs to be at the top of your list. Keep your focus on your needs. Rest when you need to. Take five minutes to get alone and meditate if you need to. Whatever your mind or body requires, do it.
I don’t know who needs to hear this, but trust me when I say, “you are good enough.” No matter what you are going through right now, you need to believe in yourself.
Self-belief will help get you through the tough times, and then propel you towards your goals in the good times. If you suffer from a lack of self-belief, all hope is not lost! You can begin to cultivate it by following the tips:
ACTIONABLE STEPS
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Start to keep a list of all of your successes and wins. You can use a simple notebook if you want, or an app like Evernote.
When you lack self-belief, you can refer to this list to see just how much you can (and have!) accomplished.
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Take some time to list your strengths.
If you are struggling to come up with enough, then reach out to loved ones and ask them.
They may come up with some strengths that you never even knew you had. |
Now it is time to set a goal.
Choose a simple goal that you could realistically accomplish in a week or two.
Write it down – and go for it!
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If you were to develop one skill to help you to get ahead in all aspects of life, what would it be? You would develop the habit of learning.
Studies have shown that by far, the best advantage you can give yourself is to become a lifelong learner. Why? Because without learning, the mind stagnates.
Thankfully, becoming a lifelong learner isn’t hard. Below are ten easy ways to build a habit of learning that will serve you in years to come.
Commit
Unless you make lifelong learning a priority, you’re not going to enjoy success. You start with committing to change and then go from there.
Create a Personalized Learning Environment
True learning results when you take charge of your learning environment. Sit down with your mentor and make concrete goals. Set up a system that enables you to learn and a setting in which you can learn. Once you have this, you are genuinely ready to begin.
Read
Read books, magazines, news articles, academic journals, and anything that catches your attention. If it’s interesting to you, then it’s worth pursuing.
Keep a List
Have a question? Write it down. Come back to this list later and Google the answers. Let this become the jumping-off point for learning new things.
Create
Create a project out of one of the things you find interesting. Set goals, give a timeline, and a final deadline to complete it. Invite others to take part in your project with you. You learn so much more when you collaborate. Create milestones and celebrate each one on your road to completion.
Socialize
Hang out with smart people who also enjoy learning. These will become your encouragers and mentors along the way.
Become a Mentor Yourself
We all have something we’re good at and could teach. Your particular skill set might be what someone else needs to succeed. By getting involved in mentoring, you find yourself not only cementing the knowledge you already have but learning new things as well.
Try Different Learning Styles
If you’ve always thought of yourself as one kind of learner, try a new way to learn. You’ll stimulate your brain in new and exciting ways.
Study with Others
When you work with a group, it’s generally easier to learn as you can draw upon the base of shared knowledge. That, in turn, helps you to discover new things yourself.
Seek out a Job that Encourages Lifelong Learning
The final step toward lifelong learning is to find work where you are encouraged to learn new things, and which continually challenges you.
Remember, develop the habit of learning will lead to lifelong of learning rely on repetition. Engage in these activities as often as possible, making them a part of every single day if you can for optimal success.
No one likes to fail, but everyone fails at some point in their lives. For many people, the fear of failure is paralyzing and stops them from overcoming failure and reaching their goals.
The fear of failure creates negative self-talk that keeps people from learning and growing.
Overcoming the fear of failure is a necessary step in achieving personal goals and being successful. Scientists, psychologists, and business leaders have studied the fear of failure and how people can overcome it.
Overcoming the fear of failure is divided into three areas:
How a person prepares for and confronts fear determines how well they can overcome it. Recovering from failure helps people overcome fear in future situations. Scientists have developed specific steps in each area to help people learn to overcome the fear of failure.
A person must be prepared to face failure to overcome the fear of it. The right mindset minimizes the fear of failure and puts it into perspective. While the fear of failure is a part of the achievement, overcoming the fear requires understanding what failure is and how to learn from it.
The steps to prepare for fear of failure are:
Redefining failure can change a person’s perception and fear level. Industry leaders in Forbes business magazine suggest that redefining failure as learning opportunities helps overcome fear.
It would not be a failure if a person learned something useful from experience, even if what they discovered was that they didn’t have the right plan to succeed.
Psychologists suggest redefining failure as discrepancies, or simply times when outcomes didn’t meet expectations. When failure is defined in less personal terms or as learning experiences, there is less to fear.
To redefine fear, a person should look to their past failures and consider the benefits they received during those times. Learning a better way, discovering a new path, and realizing a plan didn’t work all provide benefits to overcoming failure in the future.
When a person uses the information and experiences they gained from previous failures, they have less to fear because they already know what to avoid.
People perceive failure as a threat. Because failure stops people from reaching their goals, they see it as a threat to their desires. Scientists at the University of California Berkley concluded that when people perceive a threat, their bodies prepare to fight it.
Physically, a person’s breathing and heart rate increase, and they go into “fight or flight” mode. Preparing to fight is negative stress on a person’s body and mind and can cloud their judgment, increasing their fear. These scientists suggest that a person should view failure as a challenge, not a threat. By viewing failure as a challenge, a person can calmly and logically think through the problem and find a way to overcome it, decreasing their fear response.
To redefine a threat as a challenge, a person needs to visualize the obstacles they face. They need to determine if their fear is based on a real or imagined threat. People often fear failure because they think of the worst-case scenario, instead of focusing on positive ways to reach their goals and avoid failure. Facing a challenge holds less fear than facing a threat.
Once a person has redefined failure, the next step is to create goals that approach success, not avoid failure. Approach goals focus on positive outcomes: learning something new, achieving a level of success, or growing to fill a need.
Avoidance goals focus on negative consequences: not freezing up during a presentation, not missing a deadline, or not falling short of a quota. Approach goals provide positive reinforcement while avoidance goals create fear of failure.
When confronting the fear of failure, a person must accept fear as an emotion and move past it.
The steps to moving forward instead of letting fear stop a person include:
Fear is a human emotion. Everyone feels fear. Business leaders describe feeling the fear of failure when they started, but they acknowledged that fear and kept trying.
If a person’s goals are powerful enough, they can confront their fear of failure with a definite plan. When the desire for success is greater than the fear of failure, definite goals help a person overcome the fear.
People are often paralyzed by fear of failure when their plan isn’t working. They may start strong but begin to fear failure during a complicated process. Psychologists suggest changing the goals in these situations.
Redefining failure by adjusting the goals limits fear. When forces beyond a person’s control block the path to success, a more limited goal can help a person to still achieve some success without fearing a complete failure.
During the process of carrying out a plan, a person also needs to build their confidence. Leaders at the Harvard Business Review suggest focusing on what a person learns along the way to build confidence for the next step in the process.
The fear of failure decreases when a person has confidence in their prior decisions and achievements. By reminding themselves of what they have already done, a person takes the next step to overcoming failure.
Even with the best intentions, any plan can lead to failure. Many successful people have failed multiple times. When a person does fail, they need to recover positively from the experience.
The steps to recovering from failure include:
People often berate themselves more harshly for failure then they would another person. Here again, the scientists at the University of California Berkley point out that treating yourself kindly after failure helps stop a person from fearing failure in the future.
If a person makes the repercussions of failure too hard on themselves, they may develop a negative self-image or negative self-talk that causes them to fear the next challenge.
A person also needs to accept their mistakes when they fail. Without admitting responsibility, they will repeat their mistakes over and over, limiting their success and developing a greater fear of failure each time they face a challenge. Overcoming failure includes preparing for the next challenge by accepting mistakes and correcting them.
If a person views failure as a learning experience, there is more to gain from failure and less to fear. Educators teach students that failure isn’t the end of learning. Instead, failure is the beginning of success.
Recovering from failure involves learning from the experience, so a person is better prepared to succeed when facing another challenge. Fear of failure is often fear of an unknown outcome. Learning from failure removes that fear because a person knows what does lead to failure and can make another choice instead.
Scientists understand that overcoming the fear of failure is based on human emotion and perception.
Overcoming the fear of failure involves defining failure more positively and using skills and abilities to confront it. When a person does fail, they can improve their outlook and limit fear by using failure as a learning experience. Overcoming failure can be accomplished by taking these steps.
Who are you? Have you ever asked yourself this question? Most probably you have not. Such a question would have seemed absurd because you took your identity so much for granted. Had anyone else put the question you would have said: "I am John Smith. I live at such an address. I am so many years old. I am the son of Henry Smith. I am in such a business." And you might add that you were a member of the right church and the right political party.
Well, these statements are correct enough, as far as they go, as a description of the picture you are projecting at the present time: but--- and here is the rub---it is only a picture. It is all just a dramatization of your sincere beliefs about yourself. It is not the real you. It is but a passing unstable symbol of your current mental attitude: nothing more.
The real you is a spiritual being, perfect and eternal and incorruptible. The real you is the living expression of God Himself, expressing potentially every quality of God. "In His own image and likeness."
What is man? He is part of God's self-expression. God sings a song, and that song is man. A song, as you know, expresses the whole nature of the singer. The whole body and his whole mind. If the singer should be sick or tired or angry, these things would appear in the song. If his heart is filled with joy and beauty and Divine Love, these things, too, are expressed in the song. Man is the song of the Divine Singer, and celestial harmony is his nature.
Why does God sing a song? For sheer joy; not for any ulterior object, or for any sort of gain or advantage. God expresses Himself for the pure joy of living--- because He is God.
This is the Real or Absolute Truth, but it is our task to demonstrate it, to bring it into practical reality; to change the limited picture that we see into the glorious Truth that we know. We do this only by letting God do it through us.
"I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are children of the most High." *
* Psalm 82:6; John 10:34.
This writing is from Emmet Fox's book; Make Your Life Worthwhile.
The first thing I took notice to, was the different words that were capitalized. God Himself, His own image, Divine Love, Divine Singer, Himself, because He is God, Real or Absolute Truth, glorious Truth, the most High. Any word that is a direct description of God out of respect for God we capitalize the word.
What were your observations or questions you asked yourself as you read "The Song of God"? Post them in the comments below.
Medical experts call it the ‘disease of our time.’ It’s not just for children anymore. Everyone suffers from it. What used to be something you temporarily went through until your lecture was over or it’s finally your turn at the doctor’s office has now become a disease. That’s how serious it is.
Maybe the main reason why boredom is now a chronic disease is due to the endless array of stimuli that bombard your every waking moment, making it difficult to concentrate on any given topic. We’ve been programmed that we wake up and expect to have information thrown at us, and we know we’re supposed to sit there and take it. We’ve stopped interacting and engaging. Consequently, we get bored.
Boredom is annoying and frustrating. And it may even get to the point when you feel like you’re slowly suffocating. As defined by the German psychologist, Theodor Lipps, boredom “is a feeling of unpleasant arising out of a conflict between a need for intense mental activity and lack of incitement to it, or inability to be incited.”
This can mean different things to different people. An introvert, for example, would find pleasure between the pages of a book or any other type of solitary activity. On the other hand, an extrovert may seek more thrilling activities as well as more social encounters.
But no matter what your personality type is, there’s a direct correlation between boredom and self-awareness. When you have a clear idea of your strengths, weaknesses, motivations, and beliefs, and are comfortable in your skin, you are better prepared with the tools required to make yourself less bored. You can gauge your moods and feelings, and understand what it is you want out of life. It also better prepares you to deal with others, and respond accordingly.
But having a clear understanding of your personality can be a real problem in this day and age with the world at our fingertips 24/7. The idea that we turn off the noise for a few seconds to ourselves, to close our eyes and be at peace, is now a foreign concept.
No one wants to sit there and do nothing! That’s why full-grown adults are transfixed on playing games or browsing through their social media every free millisecond. Downtime can be scary.
But it’s in those moments where we really feel our presence, tune in to our thoughts, and get in touch with our feelings. It’s also when we are at our most imaginative and creative. It’s how we evolve, discover, and invent.
Suffering from chronic boredom can make it easy to fall into a rut of negative habits, resulting in powerlessness to finish tasks, puts a damper on the quality of your life, and exacerbates physical pain. It comes with a slew of negative ramifications, the 5 most common are:
If you find yourself continually snacking even though you’re not hungry, then the culprit is probably boredom. Eating, especially foods high in processed fats and sugars, makes you feel calmer and happier. Dieticians refer to this as emotional eating, which is often brought on by boredom.
Boredom can be a symptom of depression, and it can also trigger it. Working long hours, having a stressful work or home environment, or working dull, unchallenging jobs can all boost stress and result in deep bouts of depression.
Living day to day in an environment that doesn’t give you what need can be emotionally exhausting. Load on top of that work responsibilities and financial strain, and you’ve got the perfect recipe for chronic stress triggered by boredom and redundancy.
In an attempt to break through the boredom spells, it’s common to find people reaching for alcohol and drugs. They’re known for their addictive nature, but at the moment, all people see is how they allow them to forget the aggravating effects boredom has on their lives.
When boredom strikes regularly, your brain releases toxic hormones into your bloodstream. These hormones create problems for your heart. Moreover, those who suffer from chronic boredom tend to skimp out on exercising and eating right. In fact, they’re more likely to turn to bad habits, like smoking and drinking - all of which can take its toll on the cardiovascular system, resulting in premature death.
A great way to break the boredom cycle is to step back and look at the big picture. Make lists of all the good in your life, as well as all the things you’ve wanted to do but never take the first step and start from there.
Take control of your life and try to work your way around the things you cannot change. Form new, healthier habits. Try something different each day. Volunteer your time to helping others who are in need. And, most importantly, find something that piques your interest.
Sometimes, you come to a point where you feel as though your efforts aren’t getting you any closer to your goal. You could feel as though you’re working hard, but you’re just not getting any traction or seeing the results that you want to.
This is a frustrating time because you think you’re doing everything correctly, so there shouldn’t be any reason why you’re not getting closer to your goals. The reason behind your lack of progress might not have anything to do with your strategies at their core, but rather bad habits you have that are holding you back.
There are so many everyday bad habits that can ruin your productivity and keep you back from being successful. One set of bad habits revolves around poor time allocation. People have such a difficult time trying to manage their hours productively, and they end up not leaving themselves enough time to work.
They often waste their time on all kinds of different things, whether it be social media, hanging out with friends, or just doing miscellaneous tasks. There are a lot of distractions out there that can hold you back from doing work, but you have to ignore them.
Another aspect of bad habits pertains to your health. A healthy mind and body are vital if you want to be successful - otherwise, you won’t be able to perform to the best of your abilities.
For example, many people don’t get enough sleep at night, leading to them being, slow, and grumpy in the mornings and during their workdays. Similarly, many people don’t keep up with their diets as well as they should.
Whether it’s about being in shape or not, having a poor diet can mean you’re not getting enough of the right nutrients, which can cause a variety of health problems like headaches and fatigue that can wear you out and prevent you from working at your best.
You must be able to resolve these habits and form new ones as soon as possible - otherwise, you might find it challenging to achieve success. It takes some time to develop new habits, and you have to stick with them.
If you just let these bad habits go unchecked, it could lead to some problems for you down the line. The last thing you’d want is to be held back from success because of something as small as a poor diet.
Many aspects of pushing forward towards success involve getting out of your comfort zone. Your whole life, you may have very well been somewhat sheltered, or have gotten used to just rolling with the punches as they came to you.
This kind of mindset doesn’t work so well for being successful and changing the things that you’ve known your whole life can be a scary jump to make. However, everyone goes through it at some point.
Being uncomfortable may seem like a bad thing, but there are positive aspects to it. When you’re nervous, it means that you know you’re doing something that you wouldn’t normally do.
This is a step forward - you doing something out of character - and knowing this means progress is being made. You’re no longer stuck in that same rut - you’re changing things up.
You should know that going into your journey to success; you’ll face a lot of adversity and struggles. There will be times when you’re upset, feeling stuck, feeling uncertain, and all kinds of things.
However, those negative feelings are greatly outweighed by the sense of accomplishment you get when you start to reach your goals. Eventually, you will embrace the nervousness and the worries that come with taking on something unfamiliar.
Even if you have to put on a smile at first, you’ll soon find yourself loving being in new situations with tons of opportunities to do something that will help you succeed. You’ll finally be breaking up the monotony of everyday life with new, refreshing experiences.
It is said that nothing worth having comes easily, and the same for your path to success. You’re trying to retake your life and change it all up for the better.
This is a daunting task because you’ve spent so much time in your old, unfulfilling life that you don’t know whether or not you’ll succeed in this new mindset and lifestyle. However, it’s much better to have at least tried.
Even if you were to fail to become successful with a new strategy, you'd be able to sleep comfortably knowing that you did give it your all. If not, you’ll end up with regrets later in life about not having tried. On the other hand, you might end up successful after all, and you’ll finally be able to live that life you’ve always dreamed of.
In my other articles on journaling, rewarding yourself is an essential part of the process. As you journal use small rewards along the way. I also have a more significant reward planed. You may want to use a travel journal as a motivational tool to complete your other journal. The only time I personally use Facebook is when I am on vacation. I make a Facebook photo journal of our trip. I plan on making a more detailed written account of our next vacation. This article will give you ideas on this.
An excellent way to remember everything you’ve done is to keep a travel journal. This is a journal which is usually devoted to one trip at a time. You’ll write and add mementos and memories into the journal so that you can look back on it with pride and happiness. Plus, you can share your journey with others.
Start with the Planning Phase
The journal should begin the moment you start planning your trip. You can use the journal to prepare by writing the things you need to do and then checking off what you completed for the trip. Write down your vision of the journey. What do you want to experience, what do you want to learn, and when will you do each activity?
Write Daily during Your Trip
Once you’re on the trip, don’t miss out writing on any day. Try to find time to write in your journal when the experience is vivid in your mind. You might want to consider taking a recording device with you so you can record your initial thoughts while you’re doing it.
Add Physical Mementos to the Journal
Don’t just add text to your journal - also add color, images, and mementos. For example, save your tickets, a napkin from a restaurant, or other little things you touched during your trip. You don’t even have to buy anything extra to do this part.
Remember to Write the Good and the Bad
You don’t want to look back on the trip and see that it’s not written realistically. It’s perfectly okay to talk about what was good and bad about the trip. When you do that, you can plan differently next time. Maybe you learned that you need new shoes if you’re going to walk that much? It’s a good thing to write down.
Write What You’d Do Differently
If you ever go back to that travel destination, what would you do now that you’ve done it once? Would you change what you did to do to something else?
Mention What Disappointed You and What Thrilled You
Talk about the things that were disappointments. Were the people friendly or rude? Did the hotel have a good breakfast? That might seem like a strange thing to write, but it will help you remember even more. Also, did something unexpected happen that thrilled you and excited you?
State What You Learned from Each Day
Add some facts that you are learning about your destination, the people you met, the people you traveled with, and yourself. For example, did you learn that you love people watching when you didn’t know you did? Did you discover a historical fact previously unknown?
When It’s Over, Finish by Writing a Last Reflective Entry
When the trip is over, take the time to write one last entry where you reflect finally again on everything you learned about the trip. Take about what it was like, what you learned, what surprised you, and so forth. Name the thing you’d do again and the thing you’d not do next time, plus something you’d do next time.
A travel journal will improve your memory of the event. You’ll retain more information and - believe it or not - it’ll help you make the next trip even better. Use these tips if you want to get the most out of your travel journaling now and in the future.
When you begin journaling it will likely occur to you that having more than one type of journal might be the best way to keep everything organized better. When you have more than one type of journal, you can simply go to the specific journal to work on one issue at a time or keep something organized so you can make better decisions.
If you want to journal to help work through a problem, keeping specific journals for different things is an effective way to go about it. It’s also a great way to store your thoughts and memories for the future in a more organized and useful manner.
The way to ensure that journaling works for you are to do it long term. Long-term journaling gives you more insight into your life because you’ll be able to look to the past, present, and even the future to get answers in your life. But first, you have to do it. And you need to do it daily to make it a habit. Let’s review a few tips for making journaling part of your daily routine.
* Make It Easy – Don’t make it a huge deal, and it’ll be simpler to get done. For example, it’s easier to use a notebook and paper than a computer for most people. You can have the book in your bag or on your bedside table or wherever you plan to write in it.
* Choose a Time That Works – The best times to do it are early morning, first thing, or the last thing before you go to bed. Journaling at bedtime is best for Gratitude Journals. However, that might not work for some people. If you know a better time, do it. For example, some people like journaling while on lunch at work in the park. It’s up to you.
* Get a Drink and Eat a Snack – You don’t want to have any excuses or extraneous thoughts while you’re writing in your journal. Make sure you’re fed and hydrated. A cup of coffee relaxes me and puts me in the right frame of mind.
* Create a Comfortable and Assessable Space – It’s easier to get into your thoughts if you’re comfortable and not thinking about how bad your tailbone hurts or your wrist hurts. Some people like using a desk, some a comfortable chair, others their bed.
* Combine Journaling with Something Else You Enjoy Doing – If you enjoy cleaning the house, then reading in your clean house with the windows open and the breeze flowing in, why not journal at that moment? If it’s a daily thing, add journaling to it, and it’ll create a habit fast.
* Add Some Relaxing Music to Set the Mood – Some people prefer silence, so that’s fine if you do. But consider trying some music that doesn’t have words, to help you gather your thoughts and say calm and focused.
* Use a Particular Type of Journal – For some people, using a style of journaling like bullet journaling, prayer journaling, project journaling, and more, works better since it defines some rules for entry.
* Consider Using Journaling Prompts – You can also find journaling prompts online for any journal you want to use.
* Reward Yourself – When you have been diligent for a month writing in your journal, take some time to read what you wrote, then reward yourself for doing it. A food that you only eat on special occasions. You might buy some colored pens so you can add some definition and interest to your journal. It does not need to be extravagant. The reward only needs to have a special meaning to you.
To truly experience the full benefits of journaling, it needs to be done most days, which is why you need to find a way to incorporate journaling into your everyday life. The best way to accomplish this is to make it easy and turn it into a habit.
Stress affects almost everyone at some time in their lives. For some people, it’s more of a problem with their genetics, and for some, it’s due to their situation. Whatever reason you are stressed, congratulations on recognizing it and wanting to do something about it. Here are some excellent ways to journal to combat your stress.
Write Daily for 5 to 15 Minutes
The thing about journaling that is important is you need to do it daily long term for it to work. It takes a lot of writing and insight to figure out why you’re dealing with stress and how to overcome it.
Write about Your Worries
Go straight to the problem and write about your worries. Describe them from every single angle you can imagine. The more descriptive, the better go back to the first time you felt this feeling regarding this topic so that you can get to the bottom of it.
Describe What’s Happening Now
Put out of your mind what you did, what someone else did, or what can be done - right now write about precisely what is happening right now and where you stand with the issue causing your stress. If it's generalized stress, try to make a list of things that might be contributing.
Document the Worst That Can Happen
As you look at the situation, one thing that often causes stress is the unknown, or the "worst thing" that you think can happen. Describe this worst thing but make it realistic. For example, don’t use an example like an airplane falling on your wedding party. That isn’t realistic. However, bad weather, rude in-laws, and other issues may be.
Document the Best That Can Happen
Let’s get serious by thinking about and writing about the very best outcome of the situation. Include potential steps and tactics to achieve this best-case scenario so that you can see it to fruition if you so choose.
Document What Is Really Happening
As you are writing, be very careful to be realistic and honest above all else. Other than when you imagine the best and worst, ensure that you are also documenting the reality of what is happening to you right now. That way, you can narrow down identifying the stress-inducing situation.
Write a Counter-Argument to Yourself
An excellent way to overcome some stress about a situation is to argue with yourself. First, tell your story as a letter to yourself about what is happening. Then write a message back to yourself in answer, discussing all the negativity and turning it into positivity. If your best friend wrote that, what would you say in response?
Surprisingly, writing can accomplish so much, but if you go into journaling to help with stress under the right attitude and with a goal in mind, you can achieve a lot. The first thing is that you need to be honest with yourself so that you can find out the exact causes of your stress. In this way, the actions you take to overcome it are useful.
Keeping any journal will help with improving any mental health issues. However, if you want to tackle a specific problem you’re having, it will help to determine the right type of journal to keep. Keeping a particular kind of journal may work best for your issue.
* Boosts Your Mood – If you want to boost your mood, keeping a gratitude journal is guaranty to change your attitude. All you have to do is once a day, preferably before bed, write down what you’re grateful for today. Reflecting on your day is a powerful exercise for going to sleep, thinking positively about your life.
* Increases Your Sense of Well-Being – As you write out your thoughts, you’ll start seeing issues from a new angle just because you’re in a new spot your eyes will see life from a different point of view. This is going to make you feel more capable of dealing with whatever happens.
* Lessens Symptoms of Depression – Understand that depression is something different from sadness and that you likely need a counselor. Writing it all down can make it seem less horrific so that you can feel better. Plus, you can look back at days you thought life was "over" and see better days after.
* Reduces Anxiety – The problem with anxiety is that it was designed to help us get away from immediate danger. It triggers the "fight or flight" response. If each time you have that anxious feeling you choose to write in your journal how you are feeling and why you’ll start to control it better.
* Lowers Avoidance Behaviors – Many people who have mental health issues use avoidance behaviors such as not going to places that cause them anxiety, or not doing the things they need to do due to how they feel. When you write it out, it helps you get the feelings out but do the thing anyway.
* You’ll Sleep Better – Pouring your heart out into a journal is a great way to get thoughts off your chest. However, for sleep, go to the gratitude journal and write down what you’re thankful for today and go to sleep thinking of that.
* Makes You a Kinder Person – Exploring your emotional state and accepting your feelings while you work through what makes you who you are in your journal is going to make you naturally more empathetic to others too. Letting go of judgment for self improves your thoughts for others also.
* Improves Your Memory – This is almost a situation where you want to say "duh" but it has to be said. Writing down things helps you remember them because you can go back and read it, but also because the act of writing something down enables you to recall it.
One thing that can help you make your journaling work is to learn how to keep one effectively. Make some journaling rules, do it every day to create a habit, and keep it private unless you decide to let your therapist see it or you decide to use it to help others. Journaling is for you and only you for the most part.
