Here at New Leaf Counseling, we are excited to introduce our new journaling series that will be covering a wide range of topics for journaling from gratitude, to eating habits, to anxiety. First in our series is mindfulness journaling!
Mindfulness is a complete body, mind, and spirit practice. Through meditation and contemplation, you can remove negative energy from your life.
You can also begin to notice what triggers you and how your body reacts to that triggering. For more information on mindfulness check out our Mindfulness 101 post. One way to help with mindfulness is to have a journal. We put together some information on how to make a mindfulness journal and how to put it to effective use in your daily routine.
WHAT IS A MINDFULNESS JOURNAL
A mindfulness journal strongly resembles what most would call a devotional journal. In many cases, people use a small blurb or quote to prompt their journal entry. This blurb, quote, or statement gives you something to reflect on. For example, you may choose to have a reflective quote from the Dalai Lama or C.S Lewis to start off each day.
As you use your journal, you will think about the quote by writing down your thoughts on it and how it applies to you. Many mindfulness journals already have prompts in them to get your mind refocused on you and your feelings about your day or any stress in your life. We have linked a few of our favorite mindfulness journals at the end of this post.
WHEN TO USE A MINDFULNESS JOURNAL
The ideal time to use a mindfulness journal is in the morning. This allows you to bring the focus to yourself before the distractions of the day set in. By starting in the morning, it always helps you keep a healthy mindset throughout the day.
As you meditate on the inspiration you’re pulling from, your goals for the day and positivity that you’re choosing to embrace, write about your thoughts, and take those thoughts with you throughout the day.
This is a form of written meditation that can help you focus and de-clutter your mind and thoughts.
HOW DOES A MINDFULNESS JOURNAL HELP?
The overall method for mindfulness journaling is to give you a decluttering method for your thoughts. It uses meditation to bring forward the thoughts that are cluttering your soul and spirit. By partnering meditation with journaling, you give yourself the opportunity to write out your thoughts Use mindfulness journaling as a tool in your mental health tool belt.
Reflect on your entries and learn from them, don't just use it to filter out your thoughts and get them out of your head.
Use your entries to find peace, to find the issues, and to help you remove them from your life so that you can feel more peace in and about yourself.
MINDFULNESS JOURNAL TOPICS
There are many prompts to keep in mind when starting a mindfulness journal. To get you started, we have listed a few:
Who are the people in my life that make me feel most loved and supported and why?
What is a kind thing I can do for myself to practice caring for my emotional and physical needs?
I really wish others knew ______________ about me.
What is one topic I would like to learn more about?
List of everything you’d like to say no to then everything you would like to say yes to. Is there anything you can do to make some of the things on this list a reality?
What are my top 3 values? I am living into them? If not, what can I do to honor those values? If yes, do I need to do anything to continue to live into them?
RESOUCES
We hope this introduction to mindfulness journaling was helpful to you! Below we have attached some resources of mindfulness journals that already have prompts in them. Happy Journaling!