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Journaling

April Journal Prompts

APRIL JOURNAL PROMPTS-2

I can’t believe it’s almost April. Seriously, we still have the Christmas tree in its box sitting in the dining room! If you’ve been wanting to start a daily journaling habit but have trouble finding the inspiration to do it, I’ve created this April Journal Prompt printable to help inspire you.

Journaling is one of the best ways to practice self care and improve mental health. Getting all the mental chatter out of your head and down on paper is incredibly freeing!

Don’t have time? Take a look at your time on social media. Gulp…I’m guilty of this myself. I’ve made an intentional effort to cut back on my screen time because it really interferes with my own writing, focus and productivity. Even a silly meme can be disruptive because then I waste more time checking back on notifications or to see who liked it!

Seriously, life is too short for this. If you love writing, then just make some intentional time for it.

 

April Journal Prompts

  1. Are you a fan of April Fools’ Day?
  2. Are you making any plans for summer?
  3. What creative projects are you currently working on?
  4. If you could change places with someone else this month, who would it be?
  5. Today is International Walk to Work Day. Describe some ways you can add more walking into your routine.
  6. List 10 goals you have to complete in April.
  7. Name 5 things you are grateful for this month.
  8. The second quarter has begun – what are some things on your mind for your business?
  9. Describe your ideal date in April.
  10. Talk about an obstacle you overcame in April.
  11. Choose a new family activity for April and journal about it.
  12. What childhood memories does April bring up?
  13. Get outside and enjoy the sunshine, then journal your experience.
  14. What is a good way to relax and unwind this month?
  15. What is your favorite flower or plant?
  16. Visit a friend or family member you haven’t seen in a while. Describe that day here.
  17. What is your favorite thing about April?
  18. What is one thing you are struggling with this month, and what can you do about it?
  19. What are some business goals you have for April?
  20. Do you have personal challenges to overcome this month?
  21. What is your favorite memory about Easter?
  22. How did you spend your Easter this year?
  23. April is a great time for self-care. What is one new thing you can do for yourself this month?
  24. List 3 things you haven’t done in a while, and try to do them this month.
  25. What could make your month better?
  26. What do you know about Arbor day? Do you have any memories of it?
  27. List 10 things you love about yourself.
  28. Check in with your health: Are there any improvements that need to be done?
  29. How are you feeling this month?
  30. Spend today enjoying the rest of the month, and journal about what you did.

Tips for Creating a Daily Journaling Practice

  • Find a quiet place.
  • Set a designated time for it. For me, writing has to happen in the morning. But if you’re a night owl, then go for it!
  • Like any other good habit, it takes for it to become engrained. Put it in your planner so you don’t forget. And then stick with it!

APRIL JOURNAL PROMPTS-1

More Journal Inspiration

A Beginner’s Guide to Simple Bullet Journals 

Journaling for Stress Relief 

March Journal Prompts

February Journal Prompts 

The Best Coloring Books for Adults

The best coloring books for adults #Journal #coloring #bulletjournal

 

Adult coloring has been the rage for quite awhile now. I think a lot of people need a release from digital everything. Not only that, but coloring reduces stress and can also be considered a form of mindfulness meditation.  Read on how to learn how to get started with adult coloring books.

Have you heard of the amygdala? If not, you’ve certainly heard of a fight or flight response.  This is what happens when you’re overwhelmed, overworked, and anxious. It gets worked up and leaves you feeling panicked. Coloring can help to calm the amygdala, which can help you focus on a more positive life experience.

And coloring is fun. It may remind you of a simpler time in your life when you were a child and coloring was a fun pastime. As an adult, it can be an escape, and it reminds you of the joy found in simple things. Think of coloring as a mental break filled with benefits designed to help you ease stress.

Coloring is a no-stress creative outlet that anyone can do with just a few inexpensive supplies.

 

how to get started with adult coloring books

Coloring for Mental Health

When you were a child, you probably enjoyed using crayons and a coloring book, and today, you can also enjoy this activity by using adult coloring pages. There are multiple mental health benefits from coloring therapy, so don’t feel like you’re being childish!

Reduce Stress

Mental stress is destructive for your overall health and it can lead to physical problems. Instead of using food or alcohol to relieve your stress after a difficult day keep an assortment of coloring pages and beautiful crayons ready at home. A bullet journal can be a great way to manage your mental health.

Coloring Can Relieve Depression

If you struggle with depression, then coloring therapy can lift your mood. When you’re feeling sad, you can choose brightly colored crayons and coloring pages that have a positive or happy theme.

Use crayon colors such as yellow, orange or red to stimulate the emotional center of your brain while you create artwork such as flowers. And while you’r coloring, play some music that you like, concentrate on positive thoughts and say positive affirmations to yourself.

Coloring May Reduce Anxiety

If you struggle with anxiety, then find adult coloring books that focus on mindfulness so that you can feel better. The best crayon colors to reduce anxiety include shades of blue or pale pink. These soothing colors may help you to feel calmer.

How to Get Started With Adult Coloring Books

There’s so many options available not it can be a little overwhelming. And if you don’t like coloring mandalas, there’s lots of options to choose from that are completely adaptable to your skill and mobility needs. Don’t think you’re limited to just coloring mandalas. There are dozens books on almost every theme imaginable. Here’s a few ideas to get you started!

Coloring Supplies for Adult Coloring Books

There’s no rules for adult coloring. Don’t be afraid to experiment and feel free to color outside of the lines! Two of the most popular options are colored pencils and markers. Each one has its own advantage.

With colored pencils, you can change the intensity of the color by varying the amount of pressure you put on the pencil, which gives you more control over how your coloring page will appear.

Markers can give your picture an intense, vibrant look. They’re also a faster way to color, if you’re low on time or energy. However, they don’t allow you to vary your hue. So if you want to color a flower several different shades of pink, you’ll have some difficulty with that. And you’ll also have to check any new coloring books you buy to ensure your markers aren’t ‘bleeding’ onto the next page.

But don’t be afraid to experiment with coloring tools that are out of the box. Some people really using gel pens to color, while other people might prefer to use a box of crayons. Try out a few options and see what you strikes you as the most fun.

How to get started with adult coloring books

How to Choose a Color Palette for Adult Coloring Books

If you’ve get overwhelmed with too many pencils or e become frustrated with how your pages come out, try working with color palettes to give your adult coloring books a more uniform look. Just pick out 4 or 5 colors that you like.You can find inspiration for color palettes in nature or around your home. Any time you’re out, if you see a color pattern that inspires you, just take a quick picture of it. For online inspiration, you can do a Pinterest search of color palettes, this inspirational brand palette guide from Canva, Design Seeds, or Color Collective.

The Best Coloring Books for Adults

There is science to support coloring for adults, and even Crayola is excited about the social trend. The brand now carries markers, colored pencils and their own label of Coloring Escapes for grown-ups.

With the explosion of adult coloring, the subject matter of coloring pages for adults is almost infinite. Look for what motivates you and helps to express what you might be thinking…even your darkest thoughts or edgy humor. Nobody has to see it but you!



The best coloring books for adults #bulletjournal #coloring #therapy

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A Beginner’s Guide to Simple Bullet Journals

Beginner's guide to bullet journals

 

Bullet journaling is a great way to organize and track the thousands of to do’s that are probably running throughout your mind during the day. It can also serve as a way to track pain symptoms, medications, as a food and fitness tracker…just about anything you can think of. It can even work as a memory keeper. Overwhelmed? Read on for a beginner’s guide to simple bullet journals.

What is a Bullet Journal?

First things first…a bullet journal is is an analog system. Many of us are so used to using apps to stay organized on our smart phones now so it may seem strange to use something as old school as a notebook and pen. But that’s the beauty of it…there’s something very peaceful and grounding about writing things down this way.

With bullet journaling, you are essentially combining all of your thoughts, finances, schedules, to-do lists, and miscellaneous life notes into a single journal. It is a way to organize all of those different things you try to keep up with on a daily basis. It is not only fun, but very helpful in reducing overall stress and anxiety.

beginners guide to simple bullet journals

Mental Health Benefits of Bullet Journals

Keeping a journal has been a big boost to my mental health. However, anyone can benefit by starting a bullet journal. Remember there is really no right or wrong way to do it. It is supposed to make life easier for you, not more difficult, so don’t feel pressured to have it organized or look like the ones you see on Pinterest and Instagram!

For one thing, everything is in a central place. All of your various to-d0 lists, schedules, and notes are in a single journal. Many people do have journals or digital to-do lists with this type of information, but when things are spread out across phones, stickies, notebooks, various planners or elsewhere, it’s very easy to lose track of it all.

By having all of your schedules and appointments in one place, you aren’t constantly worried that you’re going to miss something. When you have a way to organize your appointments, health needs and budget, you can better plan for the future which is a huge stress reliever.

 

Getting Started With Simple Bullet Journals

Here’s the traditional setup for a bullet journal with credit to Ryder Carroll from BulletJournal.  Think of it as starting point, get comfortable with the basic system and then change it from there.

You’ll need a notebook, a pen, and a little bit of time to get started. The type of notebook you use is up to you. The traditional style is grid or dotted paper, but I find even ruled or blank pages work just fine.


The Key

The first page of your bullet journal will include your key. This will record the shorthand you use for your bullet entries. Here’s the traditional codes used. Feel free to add to it, or leave out things that don’t work for you. Make it yours.

The Index

Your next two to four pages will be set aside for indexing. This will allow you to quickly find any collection, or get to a particular month. Title each page as an index page and move on to the next section.

The Future Log

With the original bullet journal setup this is a two page spread that records the coming 6 months. Many bullet journalers find it helpful to use a more traditional yearly calendar instead. This is a great place to record birthdays, anniversaries, or block out vacation time. Add or note the page number and record your future log in your index.

Monthly Logs

Start each month with a monthly log. Here you’ll record appointments and due dates. You can use a grid layout, or use one line for each day of the month. While this isn’t where you’ll track most of your tasks, the monthly log will come in handy for those times when you have a full schedule of chauffeuring the kids, tracking doctor and therapy appointments.

Daily Logs

The daily log is where you’ll spend most of your time in your bullet journal. Start a new section each day and record anything important for the day. Make your list of tasks and cross them off as you get them finished. Make notes of anything important you need to remember throughout the day as well as appointments as they pop up. Everything gets logged in the daily log for speed and ease. From there you can move it as needed to the monthly or future log, or migrate it to a different day.

There are a multitude of ways to do this. Look up the #bulletjournal and #bujo tags to find a layout that works best for you.

Migrating Tasks

At the end  of the day, or even first thing the next morning make some time to review your tasks and then cross out and migrate anything that isn’t checked off. For example, if you didn’t get around to doing (or finishing!) laundry today, draw an arrow through it and add the task to today’s daily task list.

If you noted an appointment that came up yesterday, move it to your monthly list and draw an arrow through it in yesterday’s list. If something no longer applies then cross it out. Your goal is to deal with each entry from your daily list by completing it, migrating it, or crossing it out.

beginners guide to simple bullet journals

What to Put In Your Bullet Journal

The list is endless. Here’s a few possibilities to help support your mental health.

The Anxiety Journal. Anxiety journals might also be called ranting journals. When we feel anxiety we usually feel a rush of emotions all at once. Some of the thoughts are chaotic while might be strangely calm. The fact is though, the thoughts and emotions are fast moving and can be overwhelming if there is no outlet.

Some people find that the very idea of anxiety and thoughts can be worse than the actual onset of anxiety itself. For this reason, there is no real set-up of anxiety pages. It is simply a space in your journal that allows you to put in your thoughts as they come to you and get them out.

Emotional Eating Triggers. Create a section for what you are eating, the date, the time, and then an area to let you write out what may have lead you to the emotional eating incident. You may not think the foods you’re eating are important, but some people have found that certain foods are more comforting and that the memory of those foods is connected to the trigger of the emotional eating.

For example, you may find that eating grilled cheese sandwiches are comforting during an emotional eating binge. Once you start journaling, you may find that the reason they are is because someone was verbally abusive in your past and that verbal abuse was always followed by a grilled cheese to make you feel better.

Mindful Journaling. A mindfulness journal strongly resembles what some might call a devotional journal. In many cases, people use some prose or a quote to reflect on. As you use your journal you will be reflecting on the quote and giving your thoughts on that quote and how it applies to you. Many mindfulness journals are prompt based to get your mind thinking and focusing on you and your feelings about your day or stress in your life.

The Gratitude Journal. A gratitude journal can help you remove negative energy from your life, reduce stress, and reduce depression by finding the good in your world. You may start off with just one or two entries. As you move on with a daily journaling practice, you may find that you are finding less bad and much more good in your day. This is what you’re going to write down, and will lead you to mindfulness and peace in your daily life and a new way to look at things. A gratitude journal can be as simple as a few lines or just one line.

Collections are simply themed lists you make that aren’t date related. Some examples are your bucket lists, lists of books you want to read, movies you want to watch on Netflix, specialty grocery ingredients….just about anything.

I hope this inspires you to find a journaling system that works for you. There’s no right way to do this. Just stick with it and you’ll reap many positive benefits.



 

Beginner's guide to simple bullet journals #journal #bujo #bulletjournal

BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO SIMPLE BULLET JOURNALS

 

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How to Start Journaling for Stress Relief

Journaling for stress relief

 

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.

start journaling-2

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?


 

March Journal Prompts

March Journal Prompts for your journaling practice #journal

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. 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.

February Journal Prompts

Start a journal practice with February Journal Prompts #journaling #selfcare

A journaling practice is all about writing your thoughts, feelings, plans, emotions, and anything else you want to get out of your head and onto paper. There are lots of ways to use a journal, but it doesn’t always have to be simply writing alone. If you find that you get bored with this activity, one way to make it more interesting is by being more creative with it. February is a great month to practice creativity in your journal.

Creative Ways to Journal

An easy way to be more creative in your journal is simply to mix up the colors and designs of your pages. The great thing about this is that it can be done in any type of notebook or journal you are using. For example, if you have been writing in black pen, just switch to a different color or use colored pencils! It can be more of a challenge to write, which is a good thing. You use a different part of your brain, and it really encourages you to do more doodling and sketches at the same time.

You might also want to add other decorative elements, like using stickers on some pages, printing out photos that pertain to what you’re writing about, or using multi-media supplies like paints or charcoal to add some color to your journal pages.

Start a journaling practice with February Journal Prompts #journal #selfcare

How to Make Your Journal Interesting

Fantasy writing. This can be anything and everything you want. Fantasy writing can just be writing about any dreams or long-term goals and visions you have. Or it could be more of creative writing where you make up a little short story, or where you envision what your own life would have been like if you had made different choices.

If fantasy writing is overwhelming, you can simply copy favorite prose from your favorite authors, such as C.S. Lewis and decorate with stickers. How simple is that?

This type of writing helps you to get outside your comfort zone and really tap into the creative part of your brain. It gives you a place to explore what is in your imagination and see where your words take you

Doodle pages. It can be really fun to have some pages for doodling.  These are blank pages you use just for little sketches or drawings. Maybe you want to paint what you see in front of you, draw a scene of what your day was like, or spend a journaling session just doodling whatever comes to mind first. This is great practice to channel your creativity.

It’s Okay to Ignore Writing Rules

Writing in a journal can be many things; it may be a creative activity, a way for you to find mental clarity, a place to keep track of your dreams and aspirations, or might just be a brain dump for all those random thoughts running circles in your head. No matter what the purpose of your journal is, one thing to remember is that there are no rules. Go ahead and forget everything you learned in English class, and just write what comes to mind. By simply having fun and taking the work out of it, you’ll naturally begin to improve your journaling skills.

February journal prompts

February Journal Prompts

1. What does Valentine’s Day mean to you?
2. Who is the person you think about the most this month?
3. Have you listed your business goals yet? If not do it this month.
4. The weather outside is…
5. Explain what the words love and romance mean to you.
6. It’s heart month, what small changes are you putting in place?
7. Is your business on track?
8. What’s the best business tool you find most worthwhile?
9. I love to journal because…
10. Do you take much stock in Groundhog day?
11. List two things you can do to clean out your closets to get ready for spring.
12. What bulbs or seeds are you going to plant this year? Pretend if you don’t have a garden.
13. The winter birds I love to see, and feed are…
14. What new clothes do you want for this spring and summer?
15. How many Valentine’s cards are you sending?
16. Find a chocolate recipe you could make this month & describe how you made it, who you shared it with and how it turned out.
17. How’s your product planning coming along? List out the products you plan on creating this year.
18. What’s your favorite topic to blog about this month?
19. What top qualities do you few as important in a relationship?
20. What’s the funniest thing you have seen people do this month?
21. Write about how you view your parent’s relationship.
22. Be truthful and describe how February really makes you feel.
23. What’s your favorite romantic movie to watch?
24. Are you sick of this crazy weather this year? Let all your feelings out!
25. What qualities do you love about yourself?
26. What family memories do you have of Pancake day, or just pancakes breakfasts in general?
27. What is your favorite soup?
28. What’s your favorite red dress or outfit that you own or would love to have?

Read More Journaling Posts

10 Stunning Bible Journal Instagram Accounts 

Journaling for Stress Relief 

A Beginner’s Guide to Simple Bullet Journals

The Amazing Health Benefits of Mindful Coloring

 

The amazing health benefits of mindful coloring include reduced stress, peace of mind and more! Grab your free coloring book. #coloring #journal #bulletjournal

You’ve probably noticed that coloring books have been a thing right now, and an extremely popular one at that. Coloring seems like the perfect antidote to our stressed digital lives. It takes us back to a simpler time. There are many health and psychological benefits of coloring.

When I was a kid, my favorite thing to do was hide away in my room and sketch and draw for hours. With no digital distractions, it was easy to get lost in it. But as I grew older, I grew dissatisfied with my work and never felt like it was good enough. To make things worse, I tried to get into an specialized art school but didn’t make it, and I stopped after that. However in my midlife years, I’ve begun to take it up again.

Mindful coloring is really a very simple concept. It is the art of coloring while practicing mindfulness. Being mindful is all about being in the moment, being engaged and involved in what’s going on around you. Unfortunately, mindfulness has become a lost art in our day with the ubiquitous presence of cell phones along with social media and a 24 hour news cycle. We sadly miss out on the basic pleasures and simple joys of life because we’re so busy multitasking.

Have you heard of the amygdala? If not, you’ve certainly heard of a fight or flight response.  This is what happens when you’re overwhelmed, overworked, and anxious. It gets worked up and leaves you feeling panicked. Coloring can help to calm the amygdala, which can help you focus on a more positive life experience.

Coloring is a no-stress creative outlet that anyone can do with just a few inexpensive supplies.

mental health benefits of mindful coloring

How is Coloring Mindful?

Mindful coloring is great for stress reduction. Think about it..when you’re busy coloring, you’re just doing one thing. More than likely, you just want to focus on coloring and not check your phone, do housework or watch TV. As you focus on one thing, you’ll clear your mind of everything as you pick colors and focus on what you’re doing.

Mindful Coloring Can Be A Teaching Tool

Coloring is a form of mindfulness meditation.  The simple act of coloring can teach you to create better habits in other parts of your life. Mindful coloring allows you to learn to clear the junk out of your mind and focus on the task at hand, the act of coloring. And as you learn to focus and be mindful while coloring, you’ll learn beneficial tool to practice mindfulness in every area of your life.

Mindful Coloring Relieves Stress

One of the biggest benefits of mindful coloring is the way it relaxes you. You’re no longer focused on all the things that overwhelm and worry you. You’re focusing on something simple and childlike and it greatly reduces whatever’s troubling you. One of the big reasons for the popularity of coloring books is that it’s a great way to calm down and find focus.

Coloring is beneficial for anyone. It isn’t just for kids! Once you realize how beneficial mindful coloring is, you’ll return to it for stress relief, as a creative outlet and simple meditation. Coloring can be a great part of your self care toolbox, but if you live with serious mood disorders, please seek the help of a competent professional.

mindful coloring

How to Get Started With Mindful Coloring

There’s so many options available not it can be a little overwhelming. And if you don’t like coloring mandalas, there’s lots of options to choose from that are completely adaptable to your skill and mobility needs. Don’t think you’re limited to just coloring mandalas. There are dozens books on almost every theme imaginable. Here’s a few ideas to get you started!

Coloring Supplies for Adult Coloring Books

There’s no rules for adult coloring. Don’t be afraid to experiment and feel free to color outside of the lines! Two of the most popular options are colored pencils and markers. Each one has its own advantage.

With colored pencils, you can change the intensity of the color by varying the amount of pressure you put on the pencil, which gives you more control over how your coloring page will appear.

Markers can give your picture an intense, vibrant look. They’re also a faster way to color, if you’re low on time or energy. However,they don’t allow you to vary your hue. So if you want to color a flower several different shades of pink, you’ll have some difficulty with that. And you’ll also have to check any new coloring books you buy to ensure your markers aren’t ‘bleeding’ onto the next page.

But don’t be afraid to experiment with coloring tools that are out of the box. Some people really using gel pens to color, while other people might prefer to use a box of crayons. Try out a few options and see what you strikes you as the most fun.


How to Choose a Color Palette for Adult Coloring Books

If you’ve ever become frustrated with how your pages come out, try working with color palettes to give your adult coloring books a more uniform look. You can find inspiration for color palettes in nature or around your home. Any time you’re out, if you see a color pattern that inspires you, just take a quick picture of it. For online inspiration, you can do a Pinterest search of color palettes, this inspirational brand palette guide from Canva, Design Seeds, or Color Collective.

Mindful coloring books for adults

The Best Coloring Books for Adults

There is science to support coloring for adults, and even Crayola is excited about the social trend. The brand now carries markers, colored pencils and their own label of Coloring Escapes for grown-ups.

With the explosion of adult coloring, the subject matter of coloring pages for adults is almost infinite. Look for what motivates you and helps to express what you might be thinking…even your darkest thoughts or edgy humor. Nobody has to see it but you!


 

Still Coloring Book Picks

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The amazing health benefits of mindful coloring. A great way to practice self care! #journal #mindfulness #selfcare

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10 Stunning Bible Journal Instagram Accounts

 

10 Bible Journal Accoutns to follow on Instagram for creative inspiration. #biblejournal #journal #biblestudy #quiettime

I’ve become pretty homebound over the past few months. Wanting to take my mind off my new ulcerative colitis diagnosis and very restricted diet, I really needed to come up with a new outlet for the stress and anxiety I was feeling. Enter Bible journaling. For those unfamiliar with this craft, it’s a visual method of journaling your faith. For me, it provides a way of meditation that I hadn’t experienced before and lets spiritual truths really soak in. Looking for some inspiration, I headed to social media and found these great Bible journaling accounts to follow on Instagram.

There are new accounts to follow all the time! Here’s some hashtags to get you started searching: #biblejournalingcommunity #illustratedfaith #journalingbible #visualfaith #printandpray


Illustrated Faith. Of course I have to start here..it all began with them! I love all their products, they’re pretty without being too cutesy. Their Instagram & YouTube account abound with creative inspiration and process videos.

 

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KarenScrapsinVA. This is my favorite. I’m nowhere near as talented as she is but I learn so much from her layouts and they seem like they could be doable for me as I get more experienced with this craft.

 

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TopKnotsandJesus. Fun, pretty pages with elements from Illustrated Faith.

 

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Messy Bible. Because there’s healing in the mess!

 

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HelloJillsky. She has the new Illustrating Bible (which I can only dream of for right now) and has some really fun layouts with all the glorious room on these pages!

 

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andiebjork Inspring, fun & doable once you know a few basics.

 

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colorfuljulie Really encouraging account for people who struggle with anxiety & depression to follow.

 

 

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makewells Artist, hand letterer, instructor & foster mama

 

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Scribbling Grace Using Bible art to grow God’s Kingdom. Sometimes it’s okay to just write!

 

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my.creative.worship Another lovely account to follow for mental health & chronic illness friends

 

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Bible Journal Instagram Accounts

The Ultimate Guide to Planners for Health and Wellness

The Ultimate Guide to Planners for Health and Wellness

Using a paper planner may seem old school to some, but there’s so many benefits to using a paper planner, namely helping you to intentionally plan the life you want! The benefits of using a daily planner include being more organized in your personal and professional life and helping you keeping track of important events.  Using planners for health and wellness will help you to stay on track with all the complexities of managing your health needs.

Mental Health Daily Planners

Good health hygiene is far more than physical health, but also takes into account mental and emotional health as well. Planners offer lots of mental health benefits, from reducing stress to helping with anxiety. This is largely because as you become more organized and have a place for important information that you can easily reference, you’ll find more inner peace. Everything is scheduled and planned out, and you can have more time for a little selfcare.

How to Create A Planner for Health and Wellness

If you live with a chronic illness, you know that there’s never ending information to keep track of…including keeping track of your medications, symptoms appointments, and insurance calls. You might also need to track your symptoms and food intake. Using planners for health and wellness will help you to stay on track with all the complexities of managing your health needs.A planner is a great way to stay organized when life gets overwhelming, and is a safe place to look things up when brain fog is a problem.

Track Your Fitness Goals and Progress

Fitness and physical activity are essential for everyone. It’s so important to fit some intentional movement into your lifestyle, even on the bad days. Using a planner is a great tool for this, as you can track workouts in the calendar section and list your individual fitness goals and progress.

Keep Track of Weight and Measurements

For women who are trying to lose weight or even maintain current weight, a planner is a good tool for keeping track of weight and measurements. Of course it’s easy enough to find digital apps, but many find it helpful to have everything in one place, and being able to enter weight or measurements on a calendar. There’s power in putting pen to paper!

Planning Meals for the Week

You probably have some intentional health goals, like reducing sugar and caffeine, getting enough water in or eating more plant based foods. A planner can offer you the option to track what you eat, set nutrition goals, and even do some meal planning.

Use a Planner to Start a Daily Routine

Use your planner to check in each day, write down your to-do lists and check in on upcoming events and tasks. As you learn to use it to its full advantage, and you will be amazed by how much better you feel.

planners for health and wellness

5 Different Types of Planners You Can Create

In the world of planners (this is actually a thing!) there seems to be an endless amount of information and tips. There’s lots of ways to pretty up your planner and it’s easy to get bogged down with this instead of actually using it for planner. Before you buy anything, set an intention for what you actually want to do with your planner! Having things in order will provide a big mental health boost and give you some peace of mind.

Traditional Daily Planner

The first type of planner is traditional, which is one that is for all your daily planning needs, with emphasis on personal. Most people use their daily planner for everything, including work and other areas of their life. Having one main planner keeps you from having planners all over the place, potentially causing even more disorganization. But you know yourself best. Determine what you need to track and you may find out that you do need more than one.

Home and Family Planner

If you’d rather use different planners, you might want a separate one just for home and planning family activities. This is good for keeping track of doctor and dentist appointments, scheduling important dates for the kids, planning date nights with your spouse, andeven doing some meal planning. With a busy home life, you can definitely fill up an
entire planner just for this purpose.

Finance and Budget Planner

For people who are working on saving money for a major purpose, trying to save for retirement, or just want better control of their finances, it’s a great idea to have a planner devoted to finances. Here’s some things you might want to track in a finance and budget planner:

*Money coming in and going out
*Bills and debt
*Regular expenses
*Savings for specific goals
*General savings
*Building your investment portfolio
*Setting a budget

The Bullet Journal

Bullet journals are hot and can certainly be used as planners. With a bullet journal, you are in full control of each page, whether you set it up yourself with pen and ruler, or you can get printable pages to add to a binder that is being used as your bullet journal.

Work Projects

If you’re a blogger or an entrepreneur, you might be in need of a planner to keep track of everything. This keeps everything organized and in one place, so that you don’t have computer files, notebooks, and journals everywhere that is filled with random notes.

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How to Choose the Right Planner for You

Before you buy anything, consider what your needs and purpose are. Do you want to carry it with you or use it at home?

What’s the Best Planner Size?

Think about what you are going to use it for. This might be for your daily life and schedules, work and projects, home life, personal or a combination of all of these. This determines everything from the size to the type of pages included in your planner. It will also help you figure out if a store-bought planner works, or if you will get a binder and just use printable planner pages.

Also consider where you will be using the planner. There’s small, medium and large sizes to choose from. Consider where you’ll be using it. The larger ones are better for your desktop and you might want to have a smaller one to keep in your bag or car.

Planner Layout Considerations

I can’t emphasize this one strongly enough. I’ve had to get rid of a couple of planners because I didn’t think my daily needs through. Take a good long look at the layouts of the pages the planner it comes with and if you think you can live with it for the year. Consider what you’ll be tracking, if you need extra space for tracking and brain dumps or adding any other custom information.

And as you’re considering page layouts, look at the different types of pages as well. Some planners keep it very basic where it is primarily the monthly and weekly calendar pages, while others fit in a lot of extras, such as blank pages for journaling, to-do lists, ask lists, and much more.

planner for health and wellness

How to Add Your Planner to Your Daily Routine

Now that you’ve purchased your planner, you need to set aside some time to actually use it. A daily routine is a great way to focus your mind on one thing, get more day, and set yourself up for a productive day.

Begin by figuring out your daily routine and how to add using your planner to that routine. Do you find that you sit at your kitchen table in the morning with a cup of coffee, and have a few minutes of quiet time? If so, this is a great time to start a daily routine where you write in the planner, and maybe your journal as well. For others, it might be
during their lunch break at work, or maybe in the evening before bed to mentally prepare for the next day. Some like to use Sunday evening to enter in goals and activities for the week.

Above all, make it a habit. This is why creating a daily routine with your planner is so vital. Just think of it like any other part of your routine, like taking a shower or cooking a meal. Write in your planner around the same time every day, and it will soon become a daily routine.

Keep Your Planner Simple

As I mentioned earlier, don’t let your planner become an expensive rabbit hole. Instagram and Pinterest can be a great source of ideas but if you find yourself getting overwhelmed, then say away until you feel more confident. Have 5-10 pages to start with, then when those pages fill up or you get new ideas, gradually add in more to your planner.


10 Planners for Health and Wellness Tracking

Happy Planner

After several years of planner mayhem, this is the one I finally settled with. I’m constantly forgetting when I took meds or when I had my last well woman visit! The vertical boxes work for me and I can keep it as simple as I want or if I’m feeling motivated enough, I’ll add some washi tape and stickers. You can also get refill pages, both lined and graph so that you can create your own bullet journal spreads as needed. At the moment I have two going – one for tracking health and wellness, and another for everything else.

Self Journal

With spaces for reflection, room for gratitude, and many other self-motivating habits, you
can make space for your entire life (not just work). Used by many top performers to keep all of their goals working in tandem, it’s an organizer in journal form. (Amazon Link)

Passion Planner

I used this one for a bit and while I didn’t stick with it, it is a great planner. It’s one place for your thoughts and a tool to help you break down your goals into manageable chunks. It also provides room to reflect on the past and consider where you’re going. And it’s fun to pretty up with colored pencils, stickers and washi tape if you’re so inclined. The site offers free downloadable PDFs so you can try before you buy!

Erin Condren

Erin Condren planners are hugely popular and have a bit of a cult following. Like the Happy Planners, they have vertical boxes which are a great help to organizing your to-do lists while keeping your planner pretty. They also offer planner accessories, notebooks, stationary and just about everything that an office supplies junkie might wish for.

Panda Planner

The Panda planner can definitely be used a journal, but it’s so much more than that. With the Panda planner, it begins with sections to use as a planner. There are spaces for your daily, weekly, and monthly calendars, allowing you to keep track of everything from daily appointments to weekly goals and monthly calendars.

You can easily track all your goals and to-do lists for the week or the month, and use the blank pages included in the Panda planner as your journal. There is a section that allows you to write what you are grateful for, which is really important for mental health and to help you relieve your stress.

Leuchtturm

The original journal for bullet journals, a Leuchtturm planner is a blank slate. You can design this one completely around your lifestyle and individual needs while letting your creativity flow.

Planners can be key to organizational peace for as well as a simple creative outlet that isn’t too taxing for moms with chronic illness.

Do you use a paper planner? What’s your favorite?

Dreamer Life Planner: A Self Care Journal Review

Review of Dreamer Life Planner, a self care journal

My self care practice is in a constant state of evolution. I’ve been very committed to my yoga practice for about five years now and it’s played an integral role in my rehabilitation from my diagnosis of cervical dystonia. It’s also given me unexpected mental and spiritual clarity as well. And slowly, I’m rediscovering the girl who was before life’s craziness and responsibilities took over.

As a writer, I’ve always loved anything to do with journaling but for decades now (gulp!) I couldn’t find the motivation to do it. I have several partially finished journals and even tried to do it digitally, but I couldn’t sustain a regular journaling habit.

However for the past few months I’ve begun to make some intentional time to write in a physical journal. I’m keeping it really simple for now. Many days it just looks like some scripture writing and washi tape. Sometimes I’ll journal a bit.

self care journal

Dreamer Life Planner

I was recently given a copy of Dreamer Life Planner to review. The creator, Kimberly Simmons, is a busy entrepreneur who juggles a full plate of business, homeschooling, married life and caregiving responsibilities.

As I read through the introduction, I was struck by how much we had in common. We both think out of the box, are frequently overwhelmed with life and it’s entirely too easy to forget who we really are.

She remembered who she was & changed the game.

“The idea behind this planner-journal is to make you think about YOU and remember who you are and what you need. Its purpose is to make you tap into the part of you that is only for you and find a way tobring her to the surface. Love her, fall in love with her, love on her… respect her, praise her, appreciate her… show her the time of her life and never let her forget that she is awesome, she is dynamic, she is perfectly imperfect, and she is always enough! She is the best thing that ever happened to you (and the people in her life) and she will always be your best friend, she will always have your back, and she will never leave your side.

Find her again, give her the desires of her heart, make her dreams come true, and love on her in the ways only you know how.”

The planner begins with a self care assessment. You’re going to begin to remember who you really are and what you love. This is going to take some time so don’t rush through it. For once, this is going to be about you!

This is followed by a self care strategy which shows you how to begin to implement this into your life and a calendar. You’ll want to keep this calendar only for you. No family obligations!

Entrepreneurs who are struggling with vision and focus will appreciate the self assessment section. Even if you think you already know what you’re good at, go ahead and do this anyway. Don’t put limits on yourself about what you can’t do.

The Dreamer Life Planner helps you to put your dreams into actionable tasks that are right for you and your unique schedule.

I’m a big fan of journaling my brain dumps but my pages are inevitably a mess. The Dreamer Life plan has some pages to help put some structure to your brain dump chaos and will help you to move forward with some effective action, confronting your fears and stumbling blocks along the way.

I think the Dreamer Life Planner is a great resource for any woman who’s become bogged down with life’s responsibilities and who needs to discover who she is once again.

Go check it out here! <<Dreamer Life Planner>>

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