I Am Here Now: A Creative Mindfulness Guide And Journal
By training your attention to focus on the present, you wont be as likely to get swept into negative thinking. Staying in the here and now prevents you from dwelling on the past or worrying about the future. Its one of the most simple yet effective ways to relieve stress and anxiety. This journal offers everything from meditations and mindfulness exercises to coloring pages, designed to challenge your current way of thinking and start seeing the world in a new light. Check out I Am Here Now: A Creative Mindfulness Guide and Journal here.
Journaling For Immediate Anxiety Relief
In moments of anxiety, sitting down to journal can be a grounding experience, bringing your focus back to the present moment. By articulating your fears, you can better understand whats causing the anxious episode in the first place.
Writing out your physical symptoms is also useful as you can see how anxiety manifests itself in your body. Bringing attention to specific issues, like shortness of breath, muscle tension or increased heart rate, can help you regulate the symptoms.
The University of Rochester Medical Center explains how keeping an anxiety diary can help you recognize triggers and learn how to control them. You can review previous entries with a mental health professional or by yourself.
Pay attention to what happened before, during and after anxiety set in, and identify any patterns that have occurred over time. This could lead to new revelations about how you can best manage anxiety in the future.
Starting A Journaling Habit
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Write It Down And Let It Go
A popular therapeutic technique for managing anxious feelings is the act of writing down your worries and then letting them go.
This journal encourages you to do exactly that.
In a world where everyone overshares online, Burn After Writing is about sharing absolutely nothing.
You can reflect on everything from your favourite movies to your life-altering memories.
Consider important questions such as what the song would be on the opening credits of the movie of your life?
There is also space for self-reflection which might be beneficial if your mind is working overtime.
The quirky style might not suit everyone, but if youre looking for a light and fun journal youll enjoy this one.
A Fun Approach To Journaling For Anxiety
When panic sets in it can be difficult to think clearly. This Knock Knock journal encourages you to sit down and answer the prompt:
Why Im so freaking freaked out today?
With plenty of space to release your inner worries, it takes a lighthearted approach with a little stress level gauge to help you assess your mood.
The clean and contemporary design is ideal if youre slightly put off by any journal that feels too soft or spiritual!
Purchasers of the journal recommended it, in particular for teenagers going through a tough time.
They felt the sarcastic and lighthearted nature of the content made it seem more accessible to a younger user, especially if they dont want to be labelled as having anxiety.
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Do It For Yourself : A Motivational Journal
What makes you tick? What drives you on a deep level? Do It For Yourself invites you to pick a goal and go through five stages: getting going, building momentum, overcoming setbacks, following through and seeking closure. Combined with beautiful visuals and writing prompts from Kara Cutruzzula, youll be able to clear your mind and pave the path for your success. Check out the Do It For Yourself : A Motivational Journal here.
Here Are Some Of My Favorite Social Anxiety Tools
Thanks for reading! I hope you found some helpful tips. Since this site is about social anxiety, I wanted to also share some tools I use that I hope youll find helpful. Some of these are affiliate links, so if you decide to try them, Ill earn a commission. However, I only recommend things I have used myself and would recommend to a friend or family member.
Online Therapy: For online therapy, I have personally used and like the service offered by Betterhelp. It’s easy to get started from the comfort of your home. You’ll even get a discount on your first month of therapy when you use my link.
Doctor Visits: For doctor visits, Web Doctors offers convenient online appointments.
Audible Subscription: I recommend a lot of self-help books on this site, but I actually prefer an audiobook subscription over print books! My favorite subscription service is Audible because it has all the best-sellers and they stay in your digital library forever . You can and listen to your first two books for free.
Social Anxiety Masterclass: The Social Anxiety Masterclass is my signature course where I walk you through everything I know about how to manage social anxiety. If you’re not ready to enroll in the course, be sure to to hear about special deals!
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Interview Your Past And Future Self
Don’t look at this like a stressful job interview. Do look at this as a way to reflect and motivate. Interview your past self by asking questions like: Are you scared of anything? What do you want to be when you grow up? What’s your favorite memory?
Then interview your future self with questions like: How did you get to where you are today? What advice would you give your past self? What are your current fears and anxieties? Compare the two and see the similarities and differences. Obviously your future self is imagined. But picturing where you’d like to be and realizing that you’ll get past whatever your current anxieties is important to keep in mind.
Asing A Journal Is Particularly Helpful For Anxiety For A Few Reasons
For one, you can only write one thing at a time, so the process of journaling naturally forces you to slow down and work through your thoughts one at a time. Journaling gives you a place to explore the why behind your feelings instead of just feeling that swirl of dread when youre stuck in an anxious spiral. Finally, keeping a journal can help you identify patterns in your thoughts, which can help you find new ways to cope.
Remember, your journal is for you, and not for anyone else. You can journal by hand or keep a digital journal. You dont have to follow any specific format or stick to any rules. Your journal can just be a private space for you to write down what youre feeling. Your entries will probably cover a range of things, just like your brain! Some folks find it valuable to explore and release emotions. Others use a journal to brainstorm ways to cope or keep track of triggers and reactions. Journaling is a cheap and infinitely flexible way to get in touch with your emotions it gives you an opportunity to engage with them without getting overpowered.
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Can Your Diary Keep You Healthy
Other research finds that writing specifically boosts our immune system, good news when the source of so much stress today is an infectious virus.
One older study even found that journaling could make vaccines more effective. In the experiment, some medical students wrote for four days in a row about their thoughts and feelings around some of the most traumatic experiences of their lives, from divorce to grief to abuse, while others simply wrote down their daily events and plans. Then, everyone received the hepatitis B vaccine and two booster shots.
According to blood tests, the group who journaled about upsetting experiences had higher antibodies right before the last dose and two months later. While the other group had a perfectly healthy response to the vaccine, the authors write, journaling could make an important difference for people who are immune-compromised or for vaccines that dont stimulate the immune system as well.
Expression of emotions concerning stressful or traumatic events can produce measurable effects on human immune responses, write the University of Aucklands Keith J. Petrie and his colleagues.
Four: Be Open To Alternatives
Theres no right way to keep a journal. Some people keep multiple journals. You might find you need an anxiety journal, or a grief journal.
You might want journals for things that interest you, such as a nature journal, travel journal, or artists journal.
Be free to express yourself in ways that make sense to you. You might even keep a journal in which you create an alter ego of yourself.
You might want to add drawings to your journal. These dont have to be artistic even stick figures and other simple drawings, combined with words if that appeals to you, can be a helpful way of expressing a thought or emotion through art.
What about making a collage, drawing a mandala, or creating lists? If it feels right to you, then it is right.
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How To Journal For Anxiety:
Final Thoughtson These Journaling Prompts
These simple but powerful Journal/journaling prompts for anxiety will do you good. They will help you identify your anxiety triggers and help you manage your moods better. Take your journal with you wherever you go. Find time to journal when you need to and you are well on your way to overcoming anxiety through journaling. Dont forget to seek professional advice/help also to better manage your anxiety. Have you had any experience with journaling? How has journaling helped you? Have you used any of these journal prompts for anxiety? Lets chat in the comment section below.
Kinging Queen
Hi, my name is Jennifer. I am an Engineer by day and a blogger 24/7. I am passionate about Self Improvement & Productivity and this blog is dedicated to that passion! I hope you find it worthwhile each time you visit! If you do find anything helpful on here, kindly share because sharing is caring!
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Use Words As Your Fuel
Just like our body needs food in order to work, our soul also needs to be nourished.
A great way we can do that is with our words: they can have an extremely strong impact on the way we think and feel.
Open your journal and write down how you want to be feeling, but write it in the Present Tense. For example:
I am strong. I can do this.
The reason why most people fail with positive affirmations is because they just write it down and repeat it a couple of times, but they dont commit to it.
One way to truly commit to it is to take 5 minutes to feel those words taking over your body and soul. Close your eyes. Repeat them inside your head. They are not the right words for you and they dont make you feel anything? Then write different words, until you find the ones that work.
Talk yourself into your true power.
How To Start A Journaling Practice
While you can journal in many different ways, one of the most well-studied techniques is called Expressive Writing. To do this, you write continuously for 20 minutes about your deepest thoughts and emotions around an issue in your life. You can explore how it has affected you, or how it relates to your childhood or your parents, your relationships or your career.
Expressive Writing is traditionally done four days in a row, but there isnt anything magical about this formula. Studies suggest you can journal a few days in a row, a couple times a week, or just once a week you can write for 10 or 15 or 20 minutes and you can keep journaling about the same topic or switch to different ones each time.
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