Little DIY: create mindful journal with me & what benefits mindful morning routine gives you
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Friday, 8 March 2019
I wished to create a separate mindful journal already in February but decided to wait until March, however, it doesn't matter whenever to start 'cause I'm going to use it and further too after this month.
To create a mindful journal you need:
1. Pretty A4 notebook from your local store *
2. Kraft paper for the front label (or any your fave kind of paper);
3. Scissors, glue stick;
4. Black and white pens, pencil and eraser.
2. Kraft paper for the front label (or any your fave kind of paper);
3. Scissors, glue stick;
4. Black and white pens, pencil and eraser.
*(or A5 if it's more convenient for you, I'm going to fill it up at home so a bigger format doesn't bother me, besides it has more place for all written segments so you can see your day at once and on one page)
These pics speak itself so it won't be hard to make own journal (if you don't want to create it from scratch).
The journal is done but not the beautiful cover does really matter. A mindful journal can be a simple but powerful instrument to control own mindfulness (not living in autopilot mode) during the day (especially if to add the night routine too).
I've decided to divide the page into two sections. On the left is a segment for my morning routine, an area for the night one is on the right. I think it is good to look through your old notes from time to time for reflecting and learning (but identifying meaningful information from my trash journal can be hard sometimes so I've decided to take more tidy notes for this reason too).
I've decided to divide the page into two sections. On the left is a segment for my morning routine, an area for the night one is on the right. I think it is good to look through your old notes from time to time for reflecting and learning (but identifying meaningful information from my trash journal can be hard sometimes so I've decided to take more tidy notes for this reason too).
I understand that this DIY is fairly short and simple so I'd like to pay a bit more attention to the mindful morning routine. And what benefits it has given me after one-month following this routine (every day without falling out).
My mindful morning routine includes:
1. Exercise (quick home workout or short yoga sesh)
2. Meditation
3. Visualization
4. Gratitude list
5. Daily intentions
6. Journaling (depends on days, sometimes I just skip this step)
7. Book (at least a couple of pages)
8. Adjust my plan for the day
2. Meditation
3. Visualization
4. Gratitude list
5. Daily intentions
6. Journaling (depends on days, sometimes I just skip this step)
7. Book (at least a couple of pages)
8. Adjust my plan for the day
I do this routine exactly in this order 'cause this doesn't stress my mind after it's become my habit and I don't have to wonder what I should do next. But of course, you should follow own morning routine which suits you in the first place.
Benefits:
☆ It's still hard to make myself workout in spare time so exercising in the morning covers my night feeling of guilt haha
☆ As it includes the gratitude segment (5 things I'm grateful for) it gives me a more optimistic view on my life.
☆ This routine builds some sort of discipline (you can accomplish a bunch of meaningful things for our mind at the hour of waking up! That's amazing, isn't it? You've just waked up and already finished an important daily task. Ticking off is fairly satisfying. And it tunes me in a more productive mood than if I start the day with checking my phone.
☆ Starting the morning without a phone can prevent prolonged procrastination during the day 'cause you start your day productively (with 8 meaningful activities in a bunch!) instead of procrastination with Instagram, for example (of course, it depends but you get it).
☆ You can make some things which you'll hardly accomplish in the evening (reading, exercise, meditation e.g.). And again it's fairly individual, but in my case, the morning time is the best time for the practice of mindfulness 'cause I have no willpower to accomplish this bunch of things in the night. I'm sure you know this feeling when you're tired you not likely wish to do anything even it's quite enjoyable activities like visualization and meditation, and not time-consuming ones like gratitude list and set intentions. Our mind just doesn't have space and energy for this activity in the evening, so we can't rely on the evening if we didn't finish it in the morning {However this month I want to add mindful night routine for the sake of experiment and tell you later if it suits me and makes any meaningful difference during the day.}
☆ It makes my mind more resilient and optimistic 'cause I'm practising it regularly (every single day) and for pessimistic and anxious mind is the best cure, the whole system of subtle auto-suggestion I would say (I don't use direct auto-suggestion now, however, I've used it during a couple of months before and I can say that it's the first steps toward an optimistic mindset. And I'm grateful that I did it. So, for now, I can easily tune in positive (receiving) mode during my mindful morning routine than before when I didn't use auto-suggestion. It helped me a lot, it convinced my mind that I can get through my negative belief system and deserve things I'm dreaming of (not completely to be honest but I feel I'm close to it). This is the whole journey, you know, and it's lasting the whole life so let's just see it like another stage has finished and another more beautiful chapter of life is starting.)
☆ You learn to visualize so you learn to know what you want. And I can say that it's a big deal to identify what exactly you want. This practice helps you to become accustomed to your desired life in your imagination day by day so that's slowly will free up space for real things and desires coming into fruition (not immediately but surely).
Let me know what do you think about it? Do you have own mindful morning routine? Does it help you if you're usually struggling with anxiety or depression (or both)?