Journal with Intention
We need to journal-- we hear it all the time from the top people in our industry, from our therapist, from Tim Ferris (who may also kinda double as our therapist). We order our lovely patterned journals and our perfect liquid pens off amazon and then boom- we finally experience writers’ block. Like we want to write… but about what?
I used to do a “mind-dump” as a lot of people said they did in their journal. But, those mind-dumps actually triggered my anxiety more, because it basically became a giant to-do list… because for everything I wrote down almost sparked something else that needed to get done.
“So thankful for my new client” quickly turned into “oh shit, I just realized I didn’t change the date correctly in that contract I sent out!”
So I tried to google prompts. Like “okay, today I’m going to write about my favorite season and why I love it.” That didn’t last longer than a week. Getting into a habit of writing about things that weren’t actually happening to me or around me became really difficult. My mind wouldn’t focus on those things. I tried to just write gratitude daily but I felt as if I wasn’t thinking the correct way of things to be thankful for. I was only thinking of the extravagant things- not the “I got out of bed, my coffee was effective, my dog extra snuggly, I didn’t kill my fern” kind of things.
BUT, when I got the Five Minute Journal- I started thinking of those things.
Basically, to break it down, this journal is created after a lot of research and professionals in psychology figured out what would make people happier, more mindful-- and to live with more intention.
It comes with a few pages at the beginning explaining all of this, and how to use it. It’s biggest effect is making you start and end the day with gratitude. At the top of each page is also either a really inspiring quote or a weekly “challenge.” Those challenges are actually some of my favorite things. They range from things like “get in contact with an old friend” to acts of good deeds, etc.
Here’s the layout for the day and night prompts:
Photo from www.fiveminutejournal.com.
When I first got it I was actually a little “blah” about it. I was like, okay, sure, for $22 I can write the same prompts over and over again in a journal. I could have just written these in my non-lined journal and repeated daily. But the beginning of the book, the research behind it, the way it feels when you hold it and put it down with a deep breath in the morning is so incredible.
This journal has absolutely been helpful in switching my mindset. Even on my absolute worst days (I mean badddddd days) I realized there are still so many positive things that happened. On those days I still set it right back down on coffee table with feelings of love, satisfaction, and gratitude. Even when I would have never voluntarily used those words to describe that day at all. And it makes it so easy to reflect on the weeks and months.
This isn’t an ad or a sponsored post, just an honest review of how I feel about something that I hands-down believe has bettered my productivity, mindset and well-being.
xx
