Journaling for Less Stress

Guest post by Lynda Monk

Stress is a fact of life and not all stress is bad.  Ultimately, it is how we respond to stress that determines what affect it will have on our lives and health.  Stress in moderation is manageable.  However, chronic stress overtime is known to cause burnout and a wide range of negative effects on our overall emotional, physical and psychological health.  In other words, stress can make us sick.

Some people avoid dealing with stress and don’t really have any active stress management strategies in their lives.  This is known as an avoidant style of coping with stress.  Other people take an active role in managing the stress in their lives through healthy and effective stress management strategies such as talking it out, eating healthy, getting regular exercise and for some, regular journal writing.

Journaling is a form of mental and emotional fitness and that can help you manage stress and improve your overall health.  Regularly writing about your thoughts and feelings is a proven way to reduce the negative effects of stress and also help you gain clarity about what the actual stressors in your life are – which can then help you begin to reduce these stressors.  Journaling is a form of emotional-based coping which is a healthy way to deal with the stress and stressors in your life.

Try this Stress Less Journaling exercise…

1)      Write about a current stressor in your life – what is causing you to feel stress?

2)      Write about your feelings – how does this stress make you feel?

3)      Write down any stress effects (stress symptoms) that this stressor causes you (for example, you might feel inpatient, suffer from headaches, muscle pain, have a sense of hopelessness) – whatever it is, write it down (awareness is part of turning things around) – how does this stress affect you?

4)      Write down how you imagine you would feel or what would be different, if you could reduce this stress from your life?

5)      Write at least one action you could take to start to reduce this stress.

6)      Notice how you feel now.  Simply notice.  Mindfulness is a powerful way to heal stress.

Journaling is a pathway to greater mindfulness, less stress and optimal health in mind, body, heart and spirit.  You can write for the health of it!  Journaling is inexpensive, effective and good medicine for your soul.

image by http://www.flickr.com/photos/kennyuhh/2917293212/

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Lynda Monk, MSW, RSW, CPCC is the founder of Creative Wellness.  She inspires and teaches people how to use journaling and expressive writing for self-care, personal growth and optimal health.  She is the author of Life Source Writing™ – A Reflective Journaling Practice. Learn more about Lynda’s coaching programs and access her free e-book to Discover and Nourish YOU at http://creativewellnessworks.com.