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Mental health is a precarious subject at best. There are still many people who aren’t sure they believe in the concept of mental health disorders. Some people are skeptics who simply assume those who suffer from mental health disorders simply need to toughen up and get over it. This is simply not the case, and that’s why so many people are turning to the help of their mental health providers more than they did in the past. It seems the world is changing, and with that changes seems to come the wider acceptance of mental health problems.
Now it’s widely discussed, many people are taking it more seriously than ever before, and the people who suffer from mental health problems feel less of a stigma. When your mental health is in question, one thing your doctor might ask you to do is journal. There are many types of journals you can create to help you, and each one of them helps you in a different manner. Discovering what type and how your journal can help is going to help you focus on getting better.
Mindfulness Journals
The art of being mindful takes practice. It doesn’t happen overnight, and it certainly takes practice. The great news about being mindful, though, is you’re focusing on being more present at any given moment. One of the most well-received ways to keep a mindfulness journal is to create come up with a certain number of “Mindful Moments” to write down at the end of each day.
For example, if your journal focuses on “4 Mindful Moments,” you’ll write down four moments each day you felt you were especially mindful. Perhaps you really noticed the way the roses in your garden smell and you took a few moments to appreciate the beauty of the plants. Maybe you really took a few moments to think through a situation before you responded, and it helped you remain calm and in control. Whatever it is, write it down. This allows you to focus on the moments in which you are most mindful, and this allows you to focus on your overall mental health.
Gratitude Journals
A gratitude journal is something everyone should keep if they want to feel happier in everyday life. A gratitude journal is very personal, but it’s very effective. Most people spend the vast majority of their time focused on the things that go wrong in life. Perhaps you are frustrated because of traffic and you forget to enjoy the jokes your toddler is telling you from the backseat. Maybe you are so focused on how mean someone was to you earlier you don’t recognize how kind another stranger was.
Each day, write down two or three things that you’re thankful for. Some days this will be a stretch, but remember it’s not always the big things you have to be grateful for. Sometimes it’s nothing more than just the way someone smells when you walk by them at work each morning. If that makes you happy, let it make you happy. Spending intentional time focusing on what makes you grateful takes the power away from the things that make you less than grateful.
Private Journals
A private journal is just that. It’s private, and it’s your thoughts alone. There is no right or wrong thing to keep in this journal. All you should do is spend time each day writing in it. It can be lyrics you love from a song you heard. It can be a poem that touched you. It can be a rant about something someone did that really upset you or something amazing you felt happened today. Whatever you want to write about, you get to write about.
This kind of journaling makes it easier for you to recognize yourself by focusing on certain themes. What makes you happy? What seems to make you sad? You really get to know yourself when you write in a journal of this nature, and that’s what makes it so beneficial to people who suffer from mental health problems.
Your mental health is yours. There is no right or wrong way to feel, but you do know you can change the way you think and feel by focusing on the good things in life and getting to know yourself. You cannot control what happens in life, but you’re always capable of controlling your reaction to the things that happen to you in life. It’s your power, and no one can take that from you.
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