Journaling

Being more grateful for the things in your life is one of the best ways to practice self care. A regular gratitude practice can help to center you, reduce anxious feelings, feel better about yourself and even help those around you to feel better about yourself. If you don’t have an intentional gratitude practice in your life, here’s 5 easy ways to practice gratitude daily.

Keep it Simple!

Write down some mantras that personally speak to you, and then say them to yourself each day. This is a great way to feel more positive every day. You can even write them on sticky notes and put them in your office or around the house where you can see them. Or keep a small notebook with you to read them out loud when you feel like you need a reminder.

Here’s some easy gratitude mantras and quotes to get you started:

Gratitude Mantras

1. I’m happy and grateful for the life I have today.
2. I’m grateful for the people I have in my life today.
3. I’m grateful for this body that I have, no matter how I might be feeling today.
4. I’m grateful for a roof over my head.
5. I’m grateful that God is working for my greater good.
6. I’m grateful for a new day and for another chance to make my life better
7. I’m grateful to have enough to eat today, many do not have this privilege.
8. I’m thankful for community – friends, family, neighbors, church, clients and mentors
9. I’m grateful for music that lifts me and speaks to my heart
10. I’m grateful to watch the sun rise and the stars come out.

Gratitude Quotes

1. “Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.”
 – Oprah Winfrey
2. Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul.” – Amy Collette
3. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow.” – Melody Beattie
4. “Joy is the simplest form of gratitude.” – Karl Barth
5. “We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude.” – Cynthia Ozick
6. “When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.” – Willie Nelson
7. The more grateful I am, the more beauty I see.” – Mary Davis
8. “I’ve had a remarkable life. I seem to be in such good places at the right time. You know, if you were to ask me to sum my life up in one word, gratitude.” – Dietrich Bonhoeffer
9. “He is a wise man who does not grieve for the things which he has not, but rejoices for those which he has.” – Epictetus
10. “We can only be said to be alive in those moments when our hearts are conscious of our treasures.” – Thornton Wilder

Tell Someone Personally

Do you feel gratitude toward a family member, friend or someone else who has been a good influence in your life, but never got around to expressing it? Then tell them! There’s no better way to express your gratitude to someone than to tell them directly with a smile. This small exchange can be a wonderful boost for both of you.

Take a Daily Picture of Something You’re Grateful For

It doesn’t have to be perfect, filtered or photoshopped. Just look for the little things around you that make you smile or make your life easier. This is an easy practice that doesn’t involve writing, and will help you to find something good every day. You might even try creating a positive Instagram account (keep it private, if you wish) dedicated to things you’re grateful for. And follow only positive, encouraging accounts.

Use Your Planner

If you don’t want to start a separate journal, try using your daily planner.Most planners have space for daily notes, or if you have a space that you’re not using, repurpose it to write down one thing you’re grateful for, instead of dwelling on the negative circumstances.

Create a Gratitude Journal

This is a time tested way to express gratitude in your life. It can be as simple as one or two sentences in your journal about what you’re grateful for, or you can set a goal of 3-5 things every day that you want to be grateful for.

Need some planner inspiration? Here’s some gratitude journals I’ve created on Amazon!

If you don’t have a regular journaling routine September is a great month to start. If you live in a colder climate, you’re probably starting to spend more time indoors. You might be thinking about summer memories and trying to capture them before you forget about them.

Why You Should Have a Journaling Routine

Keeping a journal may sound simple, but to turn it into a habit you should create a daily routine about it. The details of your routine are up to you, but first you should understand your how and why.

Be consistent. Like any other intentional practices in your life, consistency is key. If you only journal a couple of times a month or whenever the mood strikes you, you won’t reap the maximum benefit.

Try to write in your journal every day. It helps to set aside a special place and time. This will help to create a mindset that it’s time for journaling. And the more you do it, the more you’ll the wonderful mental health benefits from it.

Regular routines build habits. Whenever you try to add something new to your routine, it can be hard to remember to do it at first. You’re probably so used to your regular routine that adding something new takes some getting used to.

Adding journaling to your routine helps it to become a habit. Simply schedule journaling at a certain time of the day, morning or evening. After awhile, it will become a habit and you won’t even have to think about it.

Journaling has amazing health benefits. By having a journaling routine, you encourage all those amazing journaling benefits. It helps with your clarity and mindset, relieves anxiety, helps with stress, and can even improve your physical health.

September Journal Prompts

Here’s some journaling prompts for September to get you started. If you’d like a printable copy to keep at your desk, just sign up below!

1. What plans do you have for September?
2. Today is Labor Day in the US – what are your plans?
3. It’s time for those final summer vacations. What is your best summer vacation memory?
4. What is a memorable thing you did this summer?
5. Make a short list of what you would like to do before September is over.
6. Today is ‘Read a Book Day’ – write about your favorite book, or what you are reading right now.
7. Describe your favorite way to spend a day off.
8. It’s Grandparents Day – share a memory of your grandparents.
9. Do something nice for someone else today, then come back and journal about it.
10. School is back soon – how are you getting your kids ready?
11. What are some of your own favorite back to school memories?
12. Talk about work and productivity for the month of September.
13. It’s Friday the 13^th! Do you enjoy scary movies? Write about the ones you have experienced.
14. A great way to have a healthy September is with more exercise. Pick a new form of exercise to try out, and write about it.
15. Write down a list of healthy options you want to add to your regular diet.
16. What was a memorable day this summer?
17. Choose one new way to practice self-care, then journal it.
18. It is National Indoor Plant Week – why not journal about picking a plant and caring for it?
19. What is on your mind today?
20. The 3^rd quarter is almost over – write about how it has gone so far and what you got accomplished.
21. Today is World Gratitude Day – fill up a page with everything you are grateful for.
22. Do you plan on planting anything for the fall season?
23. Today is the first day of Fall. What are you looking forward to?
24. Go outside and enjoy the sunshine, then journal about what you did.
25. Do the opposite today; find some fun indoor activities to write about.
26. Write about one person you are grateful to have in your life.
27. Go through your summer bucket list and see if there is anything you can complete, then write about it.
28. What are your favorite summer and fall flowers?
29. Write about some things you want to get done in the 4^th quarter.
30. Write an overview of your month.

Journaling is a great way to reduce stress and anxiety. If you’re feeling overwhelmed, you might be feeling worried or even scared at some point in your day or week.  Those feelings can get overwhelming and eat you up from the inside. To start journaling for stress relief, you’ll need a notebook, a writing tool, and a commitment to stick with it. Then just start writing!

Journal Writing for Stress Relief

One of the key benefits of journaling during times is that getting your thoughts out helps you to process and deal with them. If you struggle with anxiety, you know it usually starts off with racing thoughts and fears of some kind. This is because anxiety is generally something that is triggered by an outside source and that triggering is hardcore and fast.

Writing down your thoughts as they come to you can help you slow your mind down and get rid of the mental clutter while your nervous system comes down. It also helps to bring you back into the moment.

Don’t know where to start? Here’s three simple journaling prompts:

• Write about what you did today.
• Write about what’s making you anxious.
• Write about what decisions you need to make.

Writing About Emotions

When you journal during an times of stress and anxiety, you’re actually removing those negative thoughts from your mind. Yes, you are voicing them, but you would otherwise be doing that internally. By writing your emotions and thoughts down, you’re removing them from an internal space to a concrete, open space. Having it out on paper can help you sort out the issues and keep them from bottling up in you.

Like my other stress busting suggestions, journaling is something you can try out with what you have on hand then if it works for you, then start incorporating into your daily habits. 

How to Start Journaling for Therapy

It doesn’t matter if you go 20th century with a notebook and a pen, use a Word document on your computer, or even start your own blog. Just go with whatever medium works best for you right now. The only difference is the tools and mediums you use to collect and organize your thoughts.

Don’t make yourself crazy getting started. Journaling is simply about getting your thoughts on paper and in the process you’ll be able to work through your thoughts. Not only does journaling help you work through anything that’s happened during your busy day, it’s also very therapeutic and can help to reduce stress. And later on, it’s fun to go back through your journal later and see how far you’ve come.

Tips for Keeping a Journal

There many ways to journal. What style and medium you choose is entirely up to you. There’s no wrong way to do this. If you find it easier to be at a computer, then go for it.

What you’ll want to do is to find the journaling method that you most enjoy and feel that you can stick with for. It’s during those longer stretches of time when you’re journaling regularly that you’ll see and experience the full benefits of journaling when it comes to helping you relax and reduce stress.

Here’s a few ideas to started. Grab any old notebook you have laying around and a pen and start writing down one or two sentences about your day.

If you feel more motivated by a cute journal and a fun gel pen, go out and get them, by all means. If you find typing easier than handwriting, start on your computer. Or start a blog.

You can even use Instagram as a micro blogging platform and start with a picture followed by a few sentences about your day.

Online journaling options can always be can set to private so you don’t have to worry about just anyone online being able to read your posts if you don’t want to go public with it.

Figure Out Your Best Time for Journaling

You should figure out what time works best for you to make sure you journal regularly. Some people might prefer to do it first thing in the morning, others at night before bed. Anything in between works just as well. There’s no right or wrong time to journal.

But that being said  while you’re getting in the habit of journaling, it’s a good idea to stick to the same time each day until it’s an integral part of your daily routine. After that you can be a little more flexible.

How much or how little you write is also up to you. Start with short entries, or even give bullet journaling a try. You don’t want to set the bar so high in the beginning that the thought of having to sit down and write a 500 journal entry each day stresses you out.

Keep in mind, journaling is supposed to help you relax and reduce stress, not create more!

Do you keep a journal? How do you stay with it?

I’ve had a revelation this year. In order to grow as a writer, I actually have to sit down and write something. That’s not always as easy as it sounds, though. After a day of doing all the mom stuff, I don’t have too many functioning brain cells to work with. I’ve found that keeping some journal prompts handy is a great way to fire up those neurons and then my writing muse takes over. Want to join me? Here’s some March Journal prompts to get you inspired!

Journal Writing Prompts For March

1. 1. How are you planning on celebrating Saint Patrick’s Day?
   2. Spring is in the air, what sales can you offer your customers?
   3. Write a note to someone who has a mom in the U.K. to wish them Happy Mother’s Day.
   4. What plants would you plant in your ideal garden?
   5. What birds have you seen so far this year?
   6. Write 3 things that you can do for National Nutrition Month.
   7. Spring into Action! What are your top goals for this month?
   8. Write about a quote or social post that hit home today, and why…
   9. Create your Spring Cleaning list.
   10. If you had to pick a favorite verse from the Bible which one would you pick?
   11. Write about your feelings that you have at this moment – joy, happiness, frustration or…
   12. If you could take an extra day off what would you do with it?
   13. Easter is almost here, what are your favorite childhood memories of Easter?
   14. Do you have plans for Easter or Passover?
   15. Plan out a minimalist spring wardrobe.
   16. If you were given a free makeover what would you love to have done?
   17. What’s your favorite weekend thing to do in March?
   18. The person that means the most to me, right now, is…
   19. Take a day to back up your computer files.
   20. What’s your favorite spring flower?
   21. Write about your ideal Spring scene in detail.
   22. What are your favorite crafts? Or which ones you like to learn?
   23. Write down the top 3 colors that come to mind when you think of March.
   24. Your favorite moment of this year so far is…
   25. What words of wisdom could you hand down to a younger person?
   26. This month I will…
   27. One thing I want to improve in my business is…
   28. What one thing frustrates you more than anything?
   29. What birthdays or family events do you have coming up?
   30. One thing I love about my life is…
   31. What music resonates with you now?

How to Create and Use a Mood Journal

If you have been noticing that you find yourself easily triggered, falling into certain negative moods, or that you can’t seem to change your mood when you need to then
you might want to start a mood journal. Journaling is a great way to manage your mental health. Mood journals can help you determine not only what put you in a certain mood, but also what to focus on to remove negativity from your life and reduce bad moods. If this sounds like something that you’d like to try, here’s some simple ways to create and use a mood journal in your daily routine.

Setting Up Your Mood Journal

There are lots of ways to set up a mood journal. One way that people find that works well  for them is to have a strip at the top of each daily page that has various faces. (Stickers work great for this!) These faces range from a full smile to a full frown or even pain. This allows you to simply pick the emotion you are. That is the first step. Underneath this strip of faces can be other strips or just an area to write your thoughts on the mood you are having. Other strips that you can use are scales that show how happy or sad you are. You can also expand
on these as you need to.

When to Use Your Mood Journal

Mood journals are ideal for moments in your day when you find yourself struggling with mood swings. Most people start mood journals as a way to focus on why they may be sad,
depressed, or feeling anxious and work through those issues. Many users of mood  journals feel a rush from seeing their lives and their entries go from a negative extreme to a positive extreme overtime.

How the Mood Journal Helps You

The mood journal is a great way to focus on you. By writing down your thoughts and recognizing the emotion or mood connected to them you can help bring the focus back to you and making your life a bit better from the journal entries and routine. It takes the noise out of your head and that helps with clarity and stress reduction.

Mood journals are similar to trigger journals in the sense that both are done at the time of the emotion. This means they should be an option that is easy to take with you and
easy to use when you need to journal. Keep that in mind when creating your mood journal.