Relationships That Work with Michelle Farris
How to Journal (Using Journal Prompts for Mental Health)
How to Journal (Using Journal Prompts for Mental Health)
Journalling for mental health is an underutilized tool. Learn how to journal and how to use journal prompts for mental health. Whether you're new to journaling or you've been keeping a journal for years, there are many benefits to journaling. Learn the easiest way to start journalling to heal a particular problem in your life. #journaling #journalprompts #journal
📒 Here is my self-trust journal (and video) I refer to in this video. https://counselingrecovery.lpages.co/the-self-trust-solution
Time stamps
00:00 Introduction
00:20 What is journalling
00:36 Examples of when to use journalling
01:17 How journalling helps
01:40 Journal writing helps you say what you need to say
02:21 Journalling helps you express feelings of anger and resentment
03:14 The best time to journal
05:24 Benefits of journalling
06:24 Journalling helps you heal yourself
07:04 My Self-trust Journal
Here are a few ways to get extra support:
✅ FREE Journal Prompts for Self-care and Boundaries!
https://counselingrecovery.lpages.co/codependent-worksheets/
✅ FREE Relationship Checklist to assess your relationships!
https://counselingrecovery.lpages.co/relationship-checklist/
🖥️ NEW COURSE – Healing Codependency Course
https://counselingrecovery.lpages.co/codependency-online-course
📒 Healing Anxiety & Emotional Triggers E-Journal
https://counselingrecovery.lpages.co/anxiety-triggers-journal
📒 Healing Narcissistic Abuse with Self-trust E-workbook
https://counselingrecovery.lpages.co/healing-narcissistic-abuse-reg
Connect with me on social media!
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/counselingrecovery/
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/mshellmft/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/counseling_recovery/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michellefarrismft/
Michelle is a psychotherapist, codependency expert, and anger management, specialist. She’s been featured in The Daily Positive, BossMom, Psych Central, The Good Men Project, and Your Tango just to name a few. Her relationship recovery helps people go from relationships that don’t serve them, to learning how to trust themselves and create mutually satisfying connections that work. Michelle loves creating online products and courses on relationship skills, codependency recovery, anger management, conflict resolution, self-esteem, and self-trust.
– So what are the benefits of using journal prompts
for mental health? That's what I'm talking about this week, because in this video, I'm going to show you
how to start journaling and the power of using journal prompts, what they are, and how
they can help you heal. But first, my name's Michelle Farris. I'm a psychotherapist, and I love helping people
create relationships that work. So what is journaling? Journaling for mental health is really a process of
writing down your feelings, your thoughts, your experiences with the intention of healing some aspect of yourself
or your own behavior. So I'm going to give you an
example of how I use it myself. Usually when I'm feeling really funky, I'm upset about something, but I don't really know
why, I start to write. And usually a couple of paragraphs in, I find out exactly what bothers me. I did this a couple days ago. I started writing and I realized I was
really upset at somebody. And it clarified for me
where I was at emotionally, what action I needed to take or not take depending on the choice I had. And it gave me a place
to vent my feelings. I've used this tool many
years in my own recovery and it's really, really helped. And I know if you've been
journaling for a while, I want you to say yes in the comments, because this is a great tool and I'm hoping that it helps you too. So how journaling helps is it really helps increase your awareness about what's bothering you or
what's happening in your life. It can really shed light
on a certain problem. Another way it helps is that
it helps you stay grounded and current emotionally, because a lot of times,
when people have feelings or when you're upset about something, you might just want to brush it off. And writing gives you that space to say what is bothering you
without having to censor it. That's probably my favorite
aspect of journal writing. I can say anything I want on paper without worrying about
how it's going to sound, without worrying about what somebody else is going to think of me, because I'm using foul language
or because I'm blaming. Writing is the place to express yourself without needing it to look
or sound a certain way. You don't even want to worry
about spelling or grammar, because that's not the point. The point is to give
yourself a chance to voice whatever is inside of you
that really needs healing. Another way journaling helps is that it really gives you a safe place to vent feelings of anger and resentment, because a lot of times,
people stuff those feelings and when you can write about 'em, you can really see on paper
what's really bothering you, and you can do it in a way
without hurting yourself or other people. Another way journaling helps is that it helps get
things out of your head. Like before you go to bed at night, if you have a million things going on, if you just take a couple
of minutes to write, it can really decrease your stress, because a lot of times we
carry a lot in our heads, and we think we have to remember it all. And if we just spend five
minutes writing it down, it helps us let it go because
it's already on the paper. So when is a good time to journal? Some of you might say you
want to journal every day and create a routine around
it, that's perfectly fine. I've never been able to journal daily, so the best time for me to journal is when something's bothering
me, when I'm feeling funky, when I don't know what I'm upset about, or when I really need to express feelings that I may not want to talk
about with somebody else, because they're too vulnerable
or I just don't feel safe, that's when I do the writing. Because journal writing
is going to give you that private sacred space to
say what whatever you need. And that to me is a real way that you
can honor your own healing without always having to sound like you're doing it the right way. So for instance, a great time to journal might be maybe you just had
an argument with your partner, and your best friend is out of town and you know they're busy, and there's really no one to support you, but you really are upset and you need to get rid of these feelings, 'cause otherwise it's
going to ruin your evening. This is the perfect time
for journal writing, because all you need is five or 10 minutes to write what's bothering
you to get clarity, and to figure out, okay,
how do you feel right now and what do you need to do about it? Because for me, every single
time I write in my journal, it not only clarifies how I feel, but it also helps prompt me and well, what do I want to do about it? Because that's the natural
progression of things. Once you realize you're upset, you can also start to ask yourself what you need to do about it, whether you need to do something or whether you need to do nothing, and just take care of yourself around it. Journaling is a quick
tool to vent your feelings without having to worry
about how it's going to sound and what other people's
reactions are going to be. but research has actually shown that the physical act of
writing is more cathartic and it connects us more
emotionally to what's being felt. But again, this is personal preference. If you prefer to do it in your
iPhone, absolutely do that. So here is my journal. This is something that
I've been writing with. I really like something colorful and big. Some people prefer something smaller that you can actually fit in your purse, which is a great other solution. But no matter what, find
one that you like the best, whether it's colorful or
whether it's peaceful, just pick the right journal for you. So what are some of the
benefits of journaling? Writing helps you get to
the core of the issue. And what I mean by that is sometimes we think
we're upset about something and we're really not. We're upset about something
that happened years ago. And writing is a way to do that, because you can start with
whatever's bothering you, but usually if you let
yourself keep writing, it will connect sometimes to a past event or something else that's been unresolved. And that's the power of journaling, because it's not just about today. It's about what is unhealed in you. And that's why I love writing. The next benefit is that it
helps you express your feelings and that will decrease your stress, because if you can stay
current emotionally, even if you do this a
couple of times a week. You don't have to do it every day. It's going to help you feel like you're not bottling everything up, because that's what I don't want for you. I want you to be able to express yourself in a safe uncensored way so that you feel grounded within yourself. The next benefit is that it really empowers
you to do your own healing. I can't tell you how many
times I've done this, but this is where journal prompts come in, and journal prompts I'm
going to talk about next are really statements or questions like fill in the blank statements that prompt you to do more healing. So one of 'em might be, “I'm feeling really anxious, because. I'm really upset at my partner, because. I don't feel good about myself, because.” All of these statements are prompts to help you dig a little bit deeper. Journal prompts are great for
healing a very specific issue. So I'm going to show you
one of mine as an example. So I have one that I made
called the self-trust solution. And the reason I made this is because it was a
gap in my own recovery. For years, I didn't trust myself, and I didn't really realize
how important that was until I got overly
addicted to a friendship about 10 years ago. And that really did me in. And after that experience, I really had to do a deep
dive into self-trust, but there was nothing out
there, so I had to do it myself. So another choice you have is you can have a digital
journal, which is what I have. This is something you print out, and it's also in electronic form, so you can do it on the computer. Or you can buy a written journal. Okay? Either way, it's really
personal preference for you. So I'm going to read a couple of questions to give you some idea of what
some journal prompts are. So in one section, I write about writing your
vision of what self-love and self-trust would actually
look like in your life. Often when you're starting a journal, you want to know, “Okay,
what am I shooting for? What's the goal here?” And then another section I have is what actions are preventing you from taking care of yourself? What are those things in your
life that are preventing you from really trusting and loving yourself? Like past instances where
you need to forgive yourself, old hurt and resentment. Those are examples of
other journal prompts. So there's a section in here where I have people
write all of their gifts, because part of self-love and self-trust is looking at the positive. So those are some examples of what journal prompts look like. Okay? They're very specific
exercises to help you heal. I have another section in here
that talks about intuition. What does your intuition look like? What happens when you listen to it? What happens when you
don't listen to it, right? So see how specific those questions are? And they're very targeted to the topic. So what I want you to do is I want you to think about what issue in your life right now do you
need the most help with? Okay? Is it self-trust? Is it resentment? Is it your relationships? What type of journal prompts would help you the most right now? Because journal prompts are
such a powerful way of healing. Writing the uncensored version of whatever you're feeling
is a great way to start. But if you're wanting more
help on specific topics, that's when I want you to
look for journal prompts, whether it's mine or somebody else's. I'm going to leave the link to mine so you can get a copy if you like. And let me know in the
comments, do you journal? Do you like it? Do you need any help? Do you have any questions about it? Let me know in the comments. And thanks so much for watching. Bye.
#Journal #Journal #Prompts #Mental #Health
source
I tried to journal everyday but I found it bothered me when I didn't have anything to write somedays. I'm glad you say you journal when you're not feeling great because I started that. I now journal about happy things too like what went great that day or if someone has made me laugh. My journals are now a massive jumble of moans and groans, daily stuff and happy thoughts xx
Thank you I needed this ❤
Yes
YES! Thank you so much for this video. I've been journaling for a long time, but I still occasionally feel lost when writing about things that bother me. The prompts will be super helpful. You've earned a new subscriber!
Yes!! I've been journaling for years, and it has saved me!!
Thank you .
Where is the link of the prompts?
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes!
Hi… where can I purchase these prompts for my journal book.. I do journal writting but I'm struggling to identify excately where I'm struggling. I'm feeling emotionally broken from childhood conditioning and inturn this has affected my relationships with my three children.
May you help me please 🙏
Kindest wishes
Paula 💗
Bullet/ dot Journaling is the best routine I've added to my life. It's a journal, planner, and to-do list all in one. 'Dot Journaling a practical guide' is a good book to get started.
I love to journal. It has always been of great benefit.
Your video was very helpful, I truly struggle with journal prompts. I think my perfectionism issues "block" me when I see a prompt. It is like getting an assignment and you do not want to put the wrong answer. Seems silly, but the struggle is real. Most prompts seem to be things that I have never considered for myself, which probably stems from pretty significant codependency issues.