--In this week-long series, “Five Days to a Calmer You,” I’m talking routine. Simple practices that you can consider adding to your daily self-care routine. Ways to find your center and strengthen your stress baseline.
Stress will come and go. A routine will help you to maintain a healthier and more resilient version of you so that when stress happens, you don’t swing as high in those stressful states.
A self-care routine can help to create a healthier stress baseline; engaging in activities for optimal whole health; mind, body, and spirit.--
Day Two: Journaling
Journaling is an excellent method of naming your space; putting thoughts and words to your experiences and feelings. It allows for reflection and processing. A simple journaling routine will help you to find your calm and create a healthier stress baseline.
(An added bonus, regarding the “Seven Ways to Self-Care” (grab your free guide, button in header to claim yours now 💛), it can be a beneficial tool in ALL seven areas. All SEVEN. It packs a punch!)
Do you currently journal? What’s your favorite method? Freehand writing, journal prompts, or a premade journal you picked up? Whatever your method, if it works for you, it’s perfect.
Or, have you tried journaling before and it didn’t work? Me, too, that was me. It wasn’t until I found a journaling practice that matched my life and style that I saw the benefits.
Here’s an easy way to get started. Grab a blank page and think of the past 24 hours. Ask yourself:
What happened?
How do you feel about what happened?
What are you grateful for?
What is a lesson/takeaway to carry forward?
Or, would you prefer to set intentions for your day ahead? Try this method:
What do you want for your day to look like?
What mindset will be best for you as you walk into your day?
What are you grateful for?
How can you practice self-compassion and grace for yourself?
Write to your heart’s desire. If you like to write and could go on and on, get lost in the process. If you’re more succinct, embrace short phrases and observations. Point being, don’t judge yourself in the process. There is no right or wrong way, there is the way that works for you.
Another method is to simply choose a topic; joy, courage, bravery, authenticity, intuition, career, parenting, friendship, etc. and just…write. It doesn’t even have to be about anything going on right now, rather just your exploration of the topic.
Yet another method, even simpler…just write. Whatever is in your head, put it on the page.
Like meditation (covered on Day One of this series), this doesn’t have to take long! It can be a few minutes of quiet reflection. In fact, you can try it after your meditation. Five minutes of meditation followed by five minutes of reflection via journaling.
Go ahead and jump in, gift this activity of self-care to yourself. And let me know if you have questions! 😊
Take care,
Angela
Angela McKay LLC specializes in Life Coaching and Tarot. Angela is an Intuitive Life Coach and Tarot Professional. She stands beside her clients, lending insights into their space