June 1
Check in
Journaling: How’s your day so far?
Recognizing the highs and lows of your day can help you avoid negative assumptions about your emotions. Fixation on a single negative event that took five minutes of your day can derail the rest of it. Writing in a journal to keep track of your responses can benefit your mental health greatly.
What are some of the most positive moments of your day so far? Take a moment to visualize these. Write them down if you feel like.
Activities!
Journaling Activities: How to Get Started
Feeling lost? Here are two easy ways to get started on your journal:
photo by Joanna Kosinka (Unsplash)
Gratitude Journaling
Write down what you are thankful for in your life. Don’t worry about tallying up as many things as you can think of; go for one or two detailed entries rather than five or six vague ones. These may be friends, family members, pets, opportunities - anything that you want to write down. Gratitude journaling can help improve your focus on the positive things in life. It can help ground you when you’re busy or help you adjust course in the face of a run of several bad days.
photo by Noémi Macavei-Katócz (Unsplash)
Visual Journaling
Some people find it hard to express themselves through writing, and that’s okay. Visual journaling has shown to be an effective method of mental health journaling as well.
If you need a few prompts to help you get started, check out this link: https://mindfulartstudio.com/how-to-start-an-art-journal/.
Mindfulness Resources
Tips for Visual Journaling
Visual journaling has an aspect of art therapy in it. Here’s a video where you can learn easy and quick ways to start and keep your visual journal going.
5 Tips for When You Can’t Draw Your Feelings
Video content from and belongs to Thirsty for Art: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-69F3psM5mmAFyONnAnNYQ
Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tz5T7tnpE_8&list=PL_kul4vFAUIkyiAHjRx9SCbvmBr28r8eB&index=20
Meditation for Stress
Once you’ve watched the intro to meditation video on the first day of the course, you can get started with this video from Headspace. The more often you meditate, the easier it’ll get. Don’t worry if it’s hard to stay focused on your first try; you’ll get there!
Video content belongs to Headspace:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Getsomeheadspace
Direct link to video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sG7DBA-mgFY