5 Easy Ways to Start Mindful Journaling |
Posted: August 22, 2019 |
Being mindful means being present in your daily life activities and moments. Mindfulness comes from taking deliberate time to focus on the activities you are doing, how you feel and what’s happening around you. There are plenty of benefits for being more mindful, especially for your emotional and mental health, but your physical health as well. Being mindful helps you learn how to better react to daily situations, clear your mind of so much stress and discontent and appreciate the little things in life. Practising mindfulness can happen in a variety of ways such as meditation, yoga and other relaxing activities, mindfulness coloring sheets and even journaling. Being more mindful is a learning curve for many but I have a few tips that will surely help you get started with mindful journaling. Here’s what you need to know about mindfulness journaling. 1. Journal your truthThe one thing you should know about mindfulness journaling is all about honesty. This kind of journal will not work if you are not honest. You cannot sugar-coat how you feel, what you’re thinking, or what you’re going through. The purpose of a mindful journal is to help you clear your mind. If you’re spending so much time organizing your thoughts and lying to yourself, you’re not being honest about how you feel and why you feel that way. Now is the time to focus on doing things that work for you in terms of being honest. It won’t be easy to be this raw with yourself right away, but you will get better with it over time. And since nobody should read the journal but you, you don’t have to hide your real emotions or feelings in an attempt to appear a certain way.
2. You have to make it a habitJournaling for mindfulness won’t come easily to you at first. You might not sit down and find yourself able to write mindful thoughts right away. It’s okay to be confused or unsure about what to write. Take time to learn how to be more mindful by writing in your journal daily. If you find that you struggle still after a few days or even weeks make sure to keep a tracker to get reminded. You will reap the rewards soon once grow accustomed to this type of writing.
3. It’s okay to be messyThe objective of mindfulness is to clear your mind but that does not mean your journal have to be perfectly clean. A mindfulness journal can be messy because your mind is messy. Fight the urge to write down how you feel and what you feel in a nice and tidy manner. It’s more important that you go through the exercise. Your mind is a jumbled mess of thoughts, feelings, and things and your journal is going to reflect. Don’t worry how disorganized it is. Don’t focus on clean thoughts and writing. Focus on what you feel.
4. Journal when you feel stressed tooMake a conscious note to journal during tough times. Being mindful is good for your mind and your soul. It’s good for your body, too. Your body tenses when you go through difficult times or feel stressed. When you write those things down and get them out of your mind, you’re able to clear the stress and tension from your body.
5. Combine gratitude journaling tooMindfulness journaling can go hand in hand with gratitude journaling. It is not uncommon to have some days where you really have to try to find the good in your day, but it’s there if you know where to look. Try to find at least one good thing to be hopeful and optimistic per day even if 90% of your journal on one particular day is negative. It could be anything such as having hot water and a shower when you get home from work or you’re happy you have a family. Write it all done because you should never underestimate how those little things can have a positive impact on your day. --- It is not uncommon to go through each day, not realizing what you are doing, as if you are using cruise control. That is why it’s important to practice mindfulness each day and a journal is a wonderful way to start making positive changes in your life. Everyone starts from zero when it comes to being mindful and it might take some time to learn. But you will learn as you go, make it a habit and learn to apply this to your life each day.
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