{"id":2677,"date":"2020-08-25T18:43:03","date_gmt":"2020-08-25T18:43:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/?p=2677"},"modified":"2020-08-25T18:43:03","modified_gmt":"2020-08-25T18:43:03","slug":"how-journaling-for-five-minutes-a-day-can-greatly-improve-your-mental-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/?p=2677","title":{"rendered":"How Journaling For Five Minutes a Day Can Greatly Improve Your Mental Health"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Although 2020 has been a mess of a year, one good thing to come out of it has been this new age of self-care and being more open when it comes to talking about mental health and mental health practices, especially on social media. One \u2018trend\u2019 that has boomed in recent years has been journaling. If you\u2019re new to this idea, journaling is the process of writing down thoughts, feelings, or ideas. There aren\u2019t any specific rules with journaling, other than allowing yourself to be present and mindful. Journaling can help us to figure out what makes us happiest, what makes us unhappy, what we\u2019re grateful for, and work through difficult thoughts, feelings, or times in our lives.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Research shows there are many physiological benefits to journaling daily.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Journaling can help clarify your thoughts and feelings. Writing accesses your left brain-analytical and rational, while your left brain is occupied your right brain is free to create and feel. Writing can help remove mental blocks, which in turn can help clarify difficult thoughts or feelings.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Learn more about yourself. By allowing yourself to write freely and with a stream of consciousness, you might learn things you didn\u2019t know about yourself or were holding back from fully accepting.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Reduces Stress. Writing about stressful moments, angry feelings, or painful emotions can help release the intensity of those feelings which will result in feeling calmer.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can help with symptoms of depression and anxiety. When you take a moment each day to write down one thing you\u2019re grateful for, it can help put your life in perspective. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/23790815\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One study has found<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> writing expressively for 20 minutes a day reduced symptoms of people who were diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Can help reduce symptoms of PTSD. <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/journals\/advances-in-psychiatric-treatment\/article\/emotional-and-physical-health-benefits-of-expressive-writing\/ED2976A61F5DE56B46F07A1CE9EA9F9F\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Cambridge Journal<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> found writing about our deepest fears and challenges can help reduce inhibited emotions and stressful feelings.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you\u2019re new to journaling or don\u2019t know where to start, here are some tips.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Set aside a few minutes each day. Start small with five minutes, this will help you get into the habit of writing regularly.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make it easy. Keep your journal with you at all times, or download a journaling app on your phone so it\u2019s always with you. (Some apps we\u2019d recommend include <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dayoneapp.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Day One Journaling App<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/gratefulness.me\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gratitude<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/jour.com\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Jour<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">).\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Don\u2019t overcomplicate it. Journaling doesn\u2019t have to be a daily epiphany or emotional break-through. Allow yourself to write from the heart.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you don\u2019t know to even write about, use prompts to get you started.\u00a0<\/span>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is one thing you are grateful for today?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">My favorite way to spend the day is\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make a list of 30 things that make you smile<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The words I\u2019d like to live by are\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make a list of the people in your life who genuinely support you, and who you can genuinely trust. (Then make time to hang out with them.)<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What does unconditional love look like for me?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Find more prompts <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/psychcentral.com\/blog\/30-journaling-prompts-for-self-reflection-and-self-discovery\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Please note these are suggestions and journaling should not take the place of professional care. If you or someone you know is struggling wants professional help for mental health, request an appointment with one of our licensed therapists today! <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Although 2020 has been a mess of a year, one good thing to come out of it has been this new age of self-care and being more open when it comes to talking about mental health and mental health practices, especially on social media. One \u2018trend\u2019 that has boomed in recent years has been journaling. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2678,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,8,9,10],"tags":[24,73,141,160,164,169,235],"class_list":["post-2677","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-relationships","category-self-care","category-trauma-resilience","category-wellness","tag-anxiety-relief","tag-depression-relief","tag-journaling","tag-meditation","tag-mental-health","tag-mindfulness","tag-self-care"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2677","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2677"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2677\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2678"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2677"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2677"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stillpointcounselingandwellness.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2677"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}