What is Writing for Self Reflection?

Mental Health and Covid 19

Covid 19 continues to have an impact on the mental health of people in every corner of the world. Whether it’s the loss of a loved one, the loss of employment or the loss of a familiar way of life, the pandemic of 2020 has left its mark on us all.

Perhaps the most unexpected loss we’ve experienced is that of our entertainment, or seen from a different perspective, our distractions.

Due to worldwide quarantines we’ve been stripped of eating out, the movies, the mall, parties and even going to work. We are now left in doubt about who we are and what’s really important. What’s worse is that we don’t have a way to find answers to those questions nor a way to address the stress the pandemic has caused.

Feeling out of Control

Ironically, Covid 19 isn’t the root cause of our poor mental health. It has merely magnified our underlying feeling of being out of control so much that now we’re painfully aware of it.

Believe it or not bringing our repressed fears, mild anxiety and depression and stress to our attention is a good thing because now we can do something about it.

We can choose to do something other than automatically popping pills or eating our way through stress. We can start journaling with the Writing for Self Reflection method.

The Problem with Stress

Under normal conditions we don’t pay attention to what we’re thinking or how we’re feeling. By the time we do we’re already overwhelmed, anxious or depressive. Unable to bear how this stress feels in our bodies, we lash out at our loved ones, our co-workers, even strangers.

Ultimately we feel anger at ourselves for being weak and “so emotional”. Then guilt and shame set in and the cycle repeats itself. What we need is an alternative to drowning in this emotional burn out.

What is Journaling?

Journaling is a lifestyle choice and therefore a long-term investment in improving mental health. Writing for Self Reflection is a journaling method that invites us to focus positive attention not only on our thoughts and emotions but on how we feel about our thoughts and emotions.

Through regular journaling, we write our way through the muck of old, unacknowledged, unvalidated emotional responses to the events of our lives.

Our rewards for choosing this “onery” process are clarity, peace of mind, and the trust that we can handle whatever happens in our lives.

How Does the Journaling Method Work?

We think thousands of thoughts every day, the majority of which are negative. More specifically, our thoughts center around some version of the same theme: “I’m not good enough.”

Writing for Self Reflection works with journaling prompts that direct us to those nasty, negative thoughts! Huh??? Yes. This journaling method shows us how safe it is to look at the thoughts that cause us so much pain.

These journaling prompts help us identify thought patterns that sabotage our mental health. Once identified, we can acknowledge and validate the emotions (usually anger and/or fear) behind the thoughts.

By investing our time in dismantling our negative core beliefs, we begin to dissociate who we are from what we think and which emotions we feel. We start accepting ourselves... flaws and all.

How Do I Start Journaling?

Click on this link to access the 7-Day Journaling Challenge.