Willie Nelson famously said;
“When I started counting my blessings, my whole life turned around.”
This perspective is so powerful and profound and often overlooked. When you focus your energy in the direction you want to head, the universe will follow. It sounds so easy, but where do you even start when you're in darkness?
Journaling is one activity that can be practiced daily and will help to keep you focused on the positive. For me, journaling has helped to change my mindset and allowed me to accept gratitude daily. It’s my belief that gratitude is a practice and for me writing it down and reminding myself each day really helped to lift me up on some of my dark days.
Stand Ahead Organization is an organization committed to increasing awareness and donations to allow Women’s Brain Health Institute to reach and teach more people about Women’s Brain Health. This organization states that;
“Expressing gratitude can positively change your brain! Gratitude boosts dopamine and serotonin, the neurotransmitters in the brain that improve your mood immediately, giving you those positive feelings of pleasure, happiness, and well-being.” They also say that “People who express gratitude are more likely to share with others freely, offer emotional support and assistance, and forgive more willingly.”
For these many positive reasons, it’s why I started to journal as a daily practice. Now, finding the right journal can be difficult, or at least it was for me. I tried a couple before I landed on the perfect one.
Here are three suggestions to get you thinking.
The Hemlock & Oak Planner is a beautiful Canadian Planner that has a dedicated section each month or week for goal setting and habit planning to keep you focused on your goals. It also has an area to review your values so that you can align your goals. It’s a great way to ensure you stay true to yourself with your daily tasks.
The Passion Planner is dare I say for the more advanced journaling person. There are a ton of wonderful planner options, various workbooks and tools to help keep you focused and growing your positive habits. But what I love most about the Passion planner is the stickers and the colorful pens! As a creative person, sometimes it’s just fun to add a little sparkle and colour!
But my favourite journal is the 5 Minute Journal. It’s effortless. It truly is 5 minutes and it keeps you focused on what matters; what you’re grateful for, what you learned, the highlight of the day and more.
I think society sees journaling as trendy, again perhaps something that is misunderstood. When in fact, what I think is misunderstood as ‘trendy’, is society fearing a tool that will aid in the positive balance that we’re searching for. I mean we have the tools to prioritize ourselves. At this point, if you’re not going to prioritize you, could there be something deeper there?
With the holidays approaching, a journal is a great gift idea for that wellness enthusiast in your life. Speaking of the holidays! I’m hosting for the holidays and I can’t wait to share the details with you in my next blog.
I’d love to know if you’ve tried journaling and what benefits you’ve experienced. Drop me a comment or send me an email, I'd love to hear from you.
Happy Journaling.
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