Journal prompts are a way to get started writing easily so you can sort your thoughts and feelings out on paper. Since journal prompts ask you things you may not have thought to ask yourself, they may help uncover repressed memories, unconscious thought patterns, and hidden emotions. After many years of forcing positivity, 2020 was my final breaking point. In these trying times, employing toxic positivity was like looking for sunshine in a clogged toilet. The constant search pushed me toward emotional exhaustion, to a point where all I felt was bored… or so I thought.

Smyth JM, et al. (2018). Online positive affect journaling in the improvement of mental distress and well-being in general medical patients with elevated anxiety symptoms: A preliminary randomized controlled trial.

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Alternatively, children can fill this in on their own, in private. This might help them to be more honest about their emotions if they know that nobody is going to read it. More resources like this Specifically for me, depression showed up when there were feelings I didn’t want to feel. So, I would enter a state of emotional numbness until my brain decided the coast was clear. It turns out not feeling anything actually meant I was hiding a lot of damn feelings. When we pause for a bit of self-reflection, we can usually identify the situation fueling an emotion. You don’t have to do this if you’re struggling to feel the exact words. I didn’t do this until 2 months in, when I realized that my anger had nuance, depending on the situation. For me, being able to name the nuance and get more specific was the key to letting my emotional flood gates go, and also in having supportive conversations with friends. So often, emotions get tangled up inside and cause confusion. Especially when there are a lot of them, all vying for attention.

Make it easy. Keep a pen and paper handy at all times. Then when you want to write down your thoughts, Please know that you are not alone and that you are stronger than you think. May you be blessed to feel the love of The Universe and God all around you, and tap into all the inner wisdom you need to heal.In another activity, readers learn to define their feelings even further by completing the following sentences for basic emotions: happiness, sadness, fear, longing and humiliation. Don’t be discouraged, though. Continue journaling and fine-tuning your action plan to find what works best for you. Recognizing that an episode has stretched over a whole week helps “wake me up” and motivates me to break the cycle or get help. Jacobs concludes the chapter with a powerful thought: Getting distance from your feelings can help you “survey your situation with greater breadth and flexibility, and that, in turn, can help you feel calmer and allow you to make better decisions.” Defining Your Emotions

Some children may need extra support when they are filling this in. You can give them prompts to help them, such as “how did you feel today? Were you happy or sad? Did you feel upset or angry at all today?” This will help to jog their memory and remind them of how they felt. This Wellbeing Journal can be used at a time of school closure to guide and support children with the thoughts and feelings they might be experiencing. The journal enables childrens' thoughts and worries to be expressed, whilst also recognising positive thoughts and feelings. This allows children to think freely, let go of thoughts and get reassurance and support where necessary. Our Wellbeing Journal is structured to enable children to complete the activities independently and prompt further discussions where needed. Children have the chance to write down the things they'd like to do each day, the good things in their life and the best thing that happened each day. There is also a different question every day for kids to reflect on, such as what they would like to change in the world. What other Wellbeing Journal resources can I use?A mood journal is a journal that is used to reflect on emotions. You can use a mood journal as little or as often as you like. A mood journal is similar, but since it’s focused on your emotions, it’ll bring clarity to how to improve your mental health. I remember a good feeling _______ [when]. I simply felt ______________ [describe the feeling in a few words]. I was __________________ [where], and I remember noticing _________________ [something sensory]. It was a time in my life when I was doing ________________ [an activity or a general description]. I’ll never forget ________________ [people, weather, environment, etc.] around me. I’ll never be right there again but I know I CAN feel that way again.