This was an out of blue inspiration (Don’t you love it when that happens?). I brainstormed a fun way for those who want to get into journaling, or who have journaled but want to be more consistent about it. So I came up with the 30 Day Journaling Challenge guided journal.
This book consists of 30 unique writing prompts to help make journaling a new and fun habit.
Here’s a sample of some of the prompts that can be found in this book: I love to think about, I feel good about myself when I, one of my favorite memories is, the thing I do that brings me the most joy is, and one of my favorite people to spend time with is.
Here is the official book description…
Are you new to journaling, or simply wish to recommit to a daily journaling practice?
Then this book is for you!
This journal provides 30 unique writing prompts to get you started, helping you create a positive habit your future self will thank you for.
Are you up for the challenge?
Journal size is 5.25″ x 8″ with a glossy cover and white pages on the inside.
This guided journal is now available as a paperback on Amazon and a printable on Etsy.
If you decide to take the challenge (and create a new habit of journaling for yourself), please leave a comment below and tell everyone how it went for you! I’d love to know about your results.
Last weeks post, Why Is Self-Care Important?, I got the ball rolling on what I hope will be a regular blog series talking about self-care. I say hope, because self-care is my number one priority. It comes before even committing to do things like writing posts for this blog.
Be Aware Of Triggers
In fact, I try to stay away from any hard commitments on purpose, because I can’t stand being on hard deadlines. It’s one of the things I have recognized as a trigger point for me, so I try to soften this trigger point as much as I can.
That, my friends, is one important aspect of self-care. Recognizing your triggers, and being kind enough to yourself to stay away from them, or find a way around them, or soften things until you can face the trigger more head on.
Learn To Know How You Feel
Self-care is about being aware of how you feel. It’s about noticing when you get angry or upset and asking yourself why. And asking––Is this really worth getting upset about? Is this worth my peace of mind?
Does something, someone, or a situation make you feel bad? What can you do to minimize or cut any of these feel bad things from your life?
Minimize what feels bad and increase the good feeling stuff (whatever that might be for you). Do more of what you love. Do more of what you feel passionate about. Do more of what lifts you up.
Build Up More Awareness Of Yourself
Self-care is about getting in touch with yourself and recognizing what feels good and what doesn’t. Do things on a daily basis that’s going to help you get the awareness you need to identify your emotions.
For me that has been meditation and yoga. These two things have allowed me to raise my awareness significantly over time.
There are other ways to do the same thing if mediation and yoga is not for you. Do some research and see what resonates with you. I personally think that any sort of regular exercise, even just walking everyday, would be helpful. Regular movement of the body and mind are important for not just physical health, but mental as well.
An important part of self-care is taking care of yourself. That means implementing choices that are going to help you on a physical, mental, and emotional level.
Do Something For You First Thing In The Morning
The best way to get the day going on the right foot is to do something for you as soon as you roll out of bed. It doesn’t matter what it is or how long it takes, the main priority is to get those good feelings going right away. When you feel good, the day will go a whole lot better for you.
My usual go-to first thing in the morning is to journal. I do this either in bed before breakfast, or first thing after breakfast. I can spend anywhere from 10 minutes to 30 minutes journaling. It just depends on what I need for that particular day.
My journaling can include releasing negative thoughts and emotions, but I also make sure to end my journaling session with some sort of uplifting writing that sets me up for my good mood to start the day. This is why I created the Journaling To Feel Good series.
The content in this journaling series is from what I shared with my recent in-person journaling class. My original idea was to try and create an online class, but ultimately decided to create a blog series in which to freely share this information.
We all know how hard it can be to stick with something, but it helps if we can get some inspiration here and there. Here are some great places to help inspire your writing!
Kaizen Journaling, a home for people who want to have their personalized arsenal for success, which is fueled by their dreams, guided by their courage, and stamped with their unique personality. http://kaizenjournaling.com/
Creative Writing Now, where you’ll find creative writing courses, ideas, prompts, free online classes, and step-by-step guides to writing fiction, poetry, and drama. https://www.creative-writing-now.com/ (also has a creative journaling section)
A Writer’s Wings, my writing blog that has posts mostly on writing techniques and writing in general, but also things that inspire me, or books that I read and have really strong feelings about. I’m also using it as an author page to promote my published works. https://cynthiadgriffin.com/
The content in this journaling series is from what I shared with my recent in-person journaling class. My original idea was to try and create an online class, but ultimately decided to create a blog series in which to freely share this information.
Last week in this series, I talked about Why Journaling is Important? This week let’s talk about what journaling is and is not. Let’s also get rid of some preconceived ideas and stereotypes about journaling and understand how powerful a tool it can be for every person of any age.
What is Journaling?
Is first and foremost an expression of the Self
A form of self-expression that works best if it comes directly from the heart (don’t lie, don’t be in denial, just let it all out)
Is a written record of thoughts, experience, and observations
It can be something you do regularly or just when you feel you need it
There are no rules to journaling, expect for the ones you make yourself (if you decide to make any at all)
You are in charge of what you write or don’t write and when you write
What Journaling is NOT.
Something you HAVE to do (so don’t stress over journaling if it’s not something that speaks to you, or you only journal every once in awhile)
A place where you need to worry about proper grammar, spelling, or punctuation
Journaling is NOT just writing, it can include paintings, drawings, pictures, stickers or keepsakes that have meaning (like ticket stubs for a dried flower, ect.)
This sounds easy enough, and usually it is, but I think journaling can have a bad stigma because it might seem to only be for “girls” or something that can be considered boring because no one thinks their life is interesting enough to talk about. I say not at all to both these things. Journaling is for EVERYONE of all ages. It can be very fun too. It all depends on how it’s approached. What kind of journal you keep matters too. What might work for one person, may not be as effective for another.
The content in this journaling series is from what I shared with my recent in-person journaling class. My original idea was to try and create an online class, but ultimately decided to create a blog series in which to freely share this information.
I feel very passionate about journaling and the great tool it can be in helping to discover more about who we really are, but I find information on journaling is scattered over many places. Also, there’s a lot on bullet journaling (the most popular type of journaling right now), but there isn’t a focus on all the broad possibilities of journaling or why it is so important. I hope through this blog series I can address these things as well as express why I find journaling to be such a vital part of my life.
So let’s start with why I believe journaling is so important. The best way I can do that is to tell you how journaling has affected my life.
I didn’t always journal, and when I did start it was very infrequent. Maybe once a month or two and it remained this way for a while. Usually my journaling was just a dump of negative emotions and when I went back to read what I wrote, I’d become incredibly depressed. Because of this, I decided I didn’t want to write because I didn’t want to depress myself further. I thought “What’s the point?” “Life sucks and it’s nothing but a gaping raw wound. Why make it worse by spilling my crap on purpose?”
Cynthia D. Griffin 