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The Best Journaling Techniques for Mental Health
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Dec 11, 2024
Get Free Health Training At http://HealthyWildFree.com/ Get Health Coaching At http://HealthyWildFree.com/coaching Get Vetted Health Products Discounted At http://HealthyWildFree.com/shop Are you ready to improve your mental well-being through journaling? In this step-by-step guide, we'll show you how to start journaling for mental health, even if you've never picked up a pen before. Journaling can help you gain clarity, reduce stress, and promote both mental and emotional healing. Whether you're a beginner or looking to enhance your current practice, this guide will help you make the most of your journaling journey. ✨ Ready to start? Grab a notebook and hit play! 📌 Chapters: 0:00 - Introduction 2:00- Our Brain is Full Of Thoughts And Emotions 3:05 - How Journaling Affects Decision Making Processes 4:09 - Journaling is a Processing Tool 5:17 - Dates - Thoughts - Perspective (Journaling Framework) 7:02 - How Your Thoughts And Feelings Create Self-Identity 8:40 - Journaling as a Self-Reflection Tool 11:20 - Journaling For Forgiveness and 13:00 - Using Your Journal For Prayer and Meditation
View Video Transcript
0:01
hey what's up ladies and gentlemen this
0:02
is David Benjamin from healthy Wild free
0:04
in today's video I'm going to be sharing
0:06
with you a howto guide and how to get
0:09
started journaling a step-by-step guide
0:11
to take journaling and make it something
0:13
that's impactful on your life for your
0:15
mental health and your emotional health
0:17
and really your spiritual health as well
0:19
now I've been personally journaling for
0:21
over 10 years and I've had maybe five
0:25
six seven journals I don't even know I
0:27
have a bunch of journals I have a whole
0:28
stack of them now and I just started a
0:30
new journal the other day and I realized
0:32
that journaling is such a powerful and
0:34
helpful tool for mental and emotional
0:37
health and there's certain Frameworks
0:38
that I have utilized that I'm going to
0:40
share with you in this video that will
0:42
help you if you're getting started
0:43
journaling or you want to utilize
0:44
journaling as a tool as a mechanism to
0:47
support the your mental health and your
0:49
emotional health then that's what you're
0:51
going to learn in this video so uh you
0:53
know kind of a caveat before I share the
0:56
contents of this video I have never been
1:00
to a therapist in my life I am a
1:01
35-year-old man and does that mean that
1:05
I should have not had therapy at certain
1:07
points in my life definitely not uh
1:09
there were definitely points in my life
1:11
where I had low lows where I could have
1:15
definitely used a therapist or some sort
1:16
of professional in regards to mental and
1:19
emotional health and wellbeing but
1:20
thankfully I've had healthy people in my
1:22
corner uh in my family and friend Circle
1:25
that have supported me in my mental and
1:27
emotional health along that Journey and
1:30
because of that and journaling uh I feel
1:33
very grounded and balanced today and I
1:35
believe part of that too is my spiritual
1:37
walk as well which I'll I'm sure I'll
1:38
talk about in future videos so in
1:40
regards to journaling there are certain
1:43
things that you need to know first
1:45
things first is that in our everyday
1:47
lives we are busy and our head is full
1:49
of thoughts right so we have uh we have
1:52
we think about what we need to do we
1:54
think about traffic we think about work
1:55
we think about stress bills uh all of
1:58
these things are occurring our mind at
2:00
any given time we think about our
2:01
relationships uh we think about people
2:03
oh did they judge me uh did they think
2:05
of me in a weird way we think about all
2:07
these things and we have so much going
2:08
on in our brain and the problem with
2:11
that is that there's this saying that my
2:13
mom actually uses and you probably may
2:15
have heard in other places as well and
2:17
the saying is if you're in your head
2:19
you're dead in other words what that
2:21
means is that if you're too much in your
2:23
head if you think too much you literally
2:26
it causes sort of this death it it sort
2:28
of robs life from from you because
2:31
everything in life is happening all
2:32
around you any given time and it's very
2:34
difficult to live in the present moment
2:36
and to enjoy life and to be healthy and
2:39
happy if you're always kind of
2:41
constantly uh in that paralysis by
2:44
analysis State uh so what's great about
2:48
journaling is that it's a tool it's a
2:49
mechanism to remove and sort of do a
2:52
brain dump and remove those things from
2:54
your mind and get into a better place
2:56
mentally and emotionally so that you can
2:59
be more clear and have more clarity be
3:01
more level-headed and make decisions
3:03
from a place of understanding as opposed
3:05
to a place of all that's going on up
3:07
here and kind of having all these crazy
3:08
thoughts perspectives and judgments and
3:10
emotions that are navigating your life
3:12
so it helps to remove those things and
3:14
put them on paper so that you can move
3:16
forward and act with more clarity in
3:18
life so with that being said imagine
3:20
your head full of thoughts emotions and
3:24
your worries and anxieties um you know
3:27
your uh your past and your future that's
3:29
also a component of it where we kind of
3:30
we go back into the past or we go
3:32
forward into the future instead of kind
3:34
of being in this present moment and
3:35
living right here right now and uh and
3:38
then we also have emotions so we have
3:40
the whole scale of negative to positive
3:42
emotions so this is all going on it's
3:44
all playing in our brain any given time
3:46
and this is obviously going to affect
3:48
your mental and emotional health so what
3:51
I like to describe journaling as is I
3:53
describe it as a processing tool so what
3:55
that means is that out of everything I
3:57
just discussed the thoughts the feelings
3:59
the emotions
4:00
thinking about the past thinking about
4:02
the future the anxieties the worries
4:04
thinking about what other people think
4:05
about you all these crazy things that go
4:07
on in our head journaling is a
4:09
processing tool what journaling does is
4:12
it takes everything that's going on in
4:14
here and it processes it so that it can
4:17
be removed from your head and removed
4:20
from your psychology and then you can
4:23
once again operate in Clarity so uh the
4:27
two Frameworks I want to give you in
4:29
this video that have been really
4:30
impactful and Powerful for me is the
4:32
first one is just sort of my go-to
4:34
journaling mechanism or my my go-to
4:36
journaling uh protocol and that protocol
4:39
is very simple it just you write the
4:41
date so whatever the day is because you
4:42
want to record the date and the reason
4:43
you want to record the date is because
4:45
going back and reading it'll give you
4:47
perspective and it'll allow you to see
4:48
the progress that you've made as a human
4:50
being and that's very valuable because
4:52
in different seasons of our life we go
4:53
through different things and if we don't
4:54
see how we've grown we're not going to
4:56
acknowledge or see that growth and then
4:58
we feel more hopeless hopeless and those
5:00
negative emotions that have per
5:03
potentially pervaded our mind become
5:05
stronger and grow over time so we want
5:06
to weaken those negative thoughts and we
5:08
do that by recording the date so start
5:11
with a date and then simply sharing your
5:14
thoughts next so I'll write the date so
5:16
November 15th 2024 or November you know
5:19
December whatever whatever the date is
5:21
write the date share that date and then
5:24
simply start writing your thoughts and
5:27
the reason this is so valuable is
5:29
because you're writing the date and
5:30
you're writing your thoughts so
5:31
whatever's on your mind it doesn't
5:32
matter what it is and it could be like
5:35
you know today it's kind of like you
5:37
know you could start with the weather
5:38
you could start with something that
5:39
happened at your work you could start
5:41
with you know I had this amazing
5:43
breakfast you know I cooked up like six
5:45
eggs and pepper jack cheese and some
5:48
some garlic and jalapenos and hot sauce
5:51
and that that's for me that's like
5:52
that's a great breakfast so you just
5:55
literally start by writing what your day
5:58
is so date thoughts and perspectives now
6:01
the next one is perspectives so after
6:03
you're writing your thoughts you get
6:05
your thoughts out you do a brain dump
6:06
and get rid of your thoughts the next
6:08
thing you do is you write the
6:09
perspectives of that so whatever your
6:12
thoughts are when you get those thoughts
6:13
on paper you can then write a
6:15
perspective of those thoughts so what
6:17
that means is that if the thoughts are
6:18
sort of like oh I had a great breakfast
6:20
you don't really need to write a
6:21
perspective on that but if you're
6:22
writing a thought about something you
6:24
start with whatever your thoughts are
6:25
whatever's in your mind whatever's top
6:27
of the surface right but then as you go
6:29
deep as you continue writing you might
6:31
write about a a social encounter that
6:33
you had at work or a social encounter
6:35
you had at the gym or or whatever it may
6:37
be and as you write about that you're
6:40
writing that thought out so you're
6:41
getting that out because there's going
6:43
to be a perspective that you have of
6:46
that experience and that's what that's
6:49
the that's the soil that's what the the
6:51
depth that you're trying to get to so
6:53
after you write the date you write the
6:54
thoughts you know kind of what's in your
6:55
mind what's going on and then you write
6:57
the perspective of the thoughts that
7:00
have dep or meaning so the things that
7:02
have mental health or emotional health
7:05
contingencies or tangents off of those
7:07
thoughts you Branch off of those and you
7:10
write the perspectives on those and the
7:12
reason that's valuable and the reason
7:13
that's important is because often times
7:15
when we go through experiences in life
7:16
our thoughts and our emotions kind of
7:18
they override whatever occurred and if
7:21
we don't step back and have a healthy
7:22
perspective of that of that account of
7:24
whatever occurred then those thoughts
7:26
and emotions which can potentially be
7:28
very negative or even harmful to us
7:31
become our beliefs so if your thoughts
7:34
and your emotions are negative and those
7:36
become your beliefs that then becomes
7:38
your identity and your identity when
7:41
rooted in negativity or or trauma or
7:43
whatever it may be is not a positive
7:45
thing obviously so what's beautiful
7:47
about journaling is you get the thoughts
7:48
out and then you write the perspectives
7:50
on those thoughts so for example you
7:51
could have had something happen with
7:52
someone where you feel like they
7:55
offended you or they did something to
7:56
harm you and you can write the
7:58
perspective on that and as you write
8:00
that thought out the perspective can
8:02
shift as you're writing it because you
8:04
can start to understand oh well they're
8:06
coming from this perspective they have
8:08
this sort of thought process or
8:10
mentality or this is how they were
8:11
raised or this is their perspective on
8:13
life so perhaps this is why they acted
8:16
in this manner and it's not that you
8:18
justify the wrongdoing of others but it
8:20
allows you a path it allows you a a
8:23
roadway to forgiveness which leads me to
8:27
my next point so the first frame is very
8:29
simple date thoughts perspectives just
8:31
remember
8:33
dtp dates thoughts perspectives so
8:36
that's a good framework to follow uh the
8:38
next one is really just uh understanding
8:41
that your Journal is a great reflection
8:44
tool so in life there are two things
8:47
well really three things God number one
8:50
but number two and number three are
8:52
number two your relationship with others
8:55
and number three your Journal these
8:58
three things in life will give you more
9:00
of a perspective these are mirrors for
9:02
your psyche these are mirrors for your
9:04
emotions these are mirrors for things in
9:06
your life that change uh who you are as
9:10
a human being and if you don't have
9:13
these mirrors if you don't have a
9:14
relationship with God if you don't have
9:15
a relationship with other humans that
9:16
can mirror for you and if you don't have
9:18
a journal where you're literally
9:20
mirroring yourself that's what a journal
9:23
is if you use it properly then the
9:26
self-growth and self-reflection part of
9:28
your life which is incredibly important
9:30
for who you become as a human being gets
9:33
put to the Wayside and you miss out on
9:35
all these beautiful growth opportunities
9:38
so your Journal is a self-reflection
9:40
tool think of it as a mirror your
9:42
thoughts your feelings your emotions
9:43
your beliefs whatever you're feeling put
9:44
that on paper and let it reflect back to
9:46
you and then even as you write it and
9:48
read it you'll continue to write further
9:52
and kind of process that further so the
9:55
next uh formula or framework that I
9:57
really like with journaling is that you
9:59
can utilize it as a tool to process the
10:03
past and
10:05
write quite literally direct like a
10:08
director would of a film your future so
10:11
I've used it as an incredible tool when
10:14
I've gone through difficult seasons of
10:15
my life difficult relationships
10:16
Financial loss uh you know heartbreak
10:19
whatever it may be anything that I have
10:21
lost in my life or processed and and I
10:24
or I don't feel like a fully processed I
10:26
go to my journal and I write about it I
10:29
process it in my journal I literally
10:31
work through thoughts feelings emotions
10:34
beliefs self-identity all of these
10:36
things that a lot of people get stuck in
10:38
their head with once again in you're in
10:40
your head you're dead I put that on
10:43
paper and when I put that on paper I
10:44
release it and I let it go so there's
10:46
spiritual significance in the releasing
10:49
it's cathartic you get to release things
10:52
from your being from your body that are
10:55
not meant to be in your body right so
10:57
your body holds these negative emotions
10:59
it stores them so you get to release
11:00
that and let it go so write your F uh
11:03
excuse me write your past let the past
11:06
go on paper but then also use it as a
11:09
tool as a framework to direct and
11:11
navigate and paint a beautiful picture
11:14
for the future of your life so that's
11:17
another great framework that I've
11:18
utilized processing the past and
11:20
directing the future and last but not
11:22
least there are uh really two other sort
11:26
of beautiful beneficial aspects of
11:28
journaling that I would recommend that
11:29
you do and that is number one
11:31
forgiveness forgiveness is one of the
11:33
most difficult things that any human
11:34
heart can possibly do you can go to the
11:37
gym and bench press or squat 1,000 PBS
11:40
but for some people it's more
11:42
challenging to forgive someone who hurt
11:44
them than it is to go to the gym and
11:46
lift a ridiculous amount of weight and
11:48
that's because in order to forgive we
11:51
have to we have to find peace we have to
11:53
we have to be okay we have to have peace
11:55
and process that so forgiveness is an
11:57
incredibly valuable tool and honestly
11:59
hurts my heart that there's a lot of
12:00
therapists that operate and this is
12:02
actually what turned me on to therapists
12:03
at one point in my life is I went on a
12:05
date with a therapist and she told me I
12:07
had these different psychological
12:08
conditions and I literally laughed at
12:11
her at the date because I was like I
12:12
know I'm good I'm I'm fine at least at
12:14
the time I was and I still am now and um
12:18
years later I asked that same therapist
12:19
I said hey do you talk to your your
12:22
clients your patients about forgiveness
12:23
and she said no and I was like like what
12:27
are you doing this is literally one of
12:29
the most important things for emotional
12:31
health arguably the most important thing
12:34
for emotional health is to forgive so
12:36
I've used my journal to forgive people
12:38
that have betrayed me wronged me taken
12:41
money from me broken my heart physically
12:44
attacked me I mean I've literally used
12:46
my journal as a self-reflection tool as
12:49
a mirror to find forgiveness in my heart
12:52
which has given me a tremendous amount
12:54
of Peace because it is once again a
12:55
spiritually healing modality forgiveness
12:58
is a spiritual healing modality so use
13:01
it as a tool to forgive but also use it
13:04
as a tool for prayer and what I mean by
13:07
that is uh I believe meditation and
13:09
prayer are two of the most powerful
13:10
spiritual processes that anyone can
13:12
engage or activate within their lives
13:15
meditation being listening praying being
13:17
speaking uh two sides of the same coin
13:20
but both valuable in their own
13:21
respective ways and I've used my journal
13:24
at times to just simply pray because
13:26
sometimes I feel like I've had points in
13:28
my life where I've been like I I want to
13:30
pray but I don't know what to say and
13:32
sometimes the words don't come to me in
13:34
my head or I don't really like have what
13:36
it what I feel like I need to pray so to
13:39
speak but when I start writing and I'm
13:41
like okay I'm just like I'm writing to
13:42
God right now I'm literally writing to
13:45
Aba father I'm literally writing to God
13:47
and whether you believe in God or not is
13:49
irrelevant if you can use your Journal
13:51
as a tool to pray you're letting things
13:55
go that your body doesn't need to hold
13:57
that your emotions don't need to hold
13:59
the negativities the the pain the trauma
14:02
the suffering all these types of things
14:03
so your Journal is a tool
14:06
self-reflection it's a mirror right just
14:09
like another human being is a mirror
14:10
it's a mirror that I can use to see
14:12
myself more clearly and I have found
14:14
that a lot of difficult seasons and
14:17
things in my life I've been I've learned
14:18
to process with more grace and more ease
14:22
and I have quite literally used it you
14:25
know for goals as well so getting rid of
14:27
the past embracing the future
14:29
and uh just it's just been a it's just
14:31
been a tremendously valuable tool so I
14:33
hope this video was Val valuable for you
14:35
I hope these Frameworks were valuable I
14:37
hope this gives you some insight as to
14:39
how you can begin journaling and utilize
14:41
this in your life for your mental and
14:42
emotional health usually on this channel
14:44
I talk about nutrition and diet and
14:46
things like that but honestly I think uh
14:48
mental emotional health are these are
14:50
areas that I have uh probably more
14:52
expertise in than even health and
14:54
nutrition physically so I'll probably be
14:57
talking about these things more in the
14:58
future I hope you enjoyed this video
14:59
video If you enjoyed it or if you have
15:00
questions you want to get started leave
15:02
your comments below I will respond to
15:04
your comments leave your comments below
15:05
leave a like subscribe to the channel
15:07
for future videos and make sure to live
15:09
healthy Wild and Free peace
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