When it comes to using journaling to boost your mindset I don’t often recommend it and here’s 3 reasons …
Why I don’t always believe in journaling for bad days!
Firstly, what is journaling. A journal is a written record of your thoughts, experiences, and observations. You can write in your journal daily, or only when you feel the urge.
A journal entry doesn’t have to be several pages long. It can be a few words that describe what happened, a few sentences about the highlight of your day, or it can be a short description of an event from your day, where you describe details to help you remember what happened. You can see how much growth or changes has happened over time.
Traditionally a journal is a bound book with a strap to hold your place for writing daily. There would be space at the front for your name, month and year so you can log and keep them somewhere in sequence for reviewing.
A journal is fabulous for topics you want to review over time but NOT for when you’re having a bad day …. And here’s 3 reasons why
1: On a bad day you’re feeling frustrated and upset
2: On a bad day old thoughts can be triggered
3: You just want to get PAST your bad day
So let’s delve into each of these more fully and at the end I’ll show you what to do instead!
1: On a bad day you’re feeling frustrated and upset …
there’s a lot of emotion and hurt trying to get out. You get angry, you might yell and scream, or go inwards and clam up. You body is trying to process and release these feelings
2: On a bad day old thoughts can be triggered …
Old hurts can trigger negative self talk. You know that stuff you tell yourself about how hopeless you are, how every time you try to get ahead something happens to prevent it. There’s a whole list of them.
3: You just want to get PAST your bad day
You’ve been told that writing it all out in your journal is good for you. You can say whatever you felt you couldn’t say during the problems of the day. You can vent to your hearts content and get it all out and feel much better.
But Here’s the Thing …
A journal is your written record of your thoughts and experiences to help you remember so this is WHY I don’t recommend journaling for bad days!
If you write in your journal on bad days you’re holding onto all that crap and squishing it between your thoughts and observations about your vacation, a lovely meal you had with friends, a great workshop you went to or some other insights on your personal growth.
(Pssssst…. You can 📌 pin this article for reference to your “Mindset is Everything” or “Habits that Empower” board!)
So Here’s What to Do Instead of Journaling for Bad Days
Use Burn After Writing Prompts Instead
For bad days, overthinking, over worrying, busy days, in fact whenever there’s something you’re mulling over in your mind take a pen and some sheets of paper then do a mind dump. I like to just bullet point my answers, it keeps it concise and specific.
- Start with what’s on your mind, the bare bones of the situation.
- How does this make you feel
- What are you thinking about it
- What do you believe about yourself
- Has something similar happened in the past
- Is there something you need to do next
Once you’ve got all this negativity dumped out of your mind, grab a highlighter or circle the words that stand out to you. This tells you what you need to release and leads you to the positive change you want to promote. You can do this through meditation or intention. I teach a simple energy technique for doing this in my Mindset course
This is even better than journaling for bad days.
Burn After Writing Ritual
Next take those sheets of paper to a safe spot outside in the garden for a burning bowl ritual. You could use your fire pit, a sage burning bowl, old metal saucepan, terracotta pot (that will take a bit of heat and without a hole in the bottom). Usually, I only have one sheet of A4 paper written on both sides. I twist it loosely and light the corner of one end. As it smokes and burns, I’ll say a releasing intention and drop it into the bowl making sure every part of the paper burns to black or goes to ash.
Finally take some action on that change by using chakra affirmations or meditation to give focused attention to your new intentions.
Then and only then you may write in your journal about your insights from this experience, if you’ve a mind to. This allows you to journal from the point of realisation or growth with words like, this happened, I felt like, I now understand. Both the energy and the mindset have already changed.
So, there you have it! … The three reasons why I don’t always believe in journaling for bad days and how to do a mind dump instead to create a positive mindset
And, remember…If you’re ready to combine chakra steps with a mindset practice that focuses on you – with ease, every day – I have something to help you start