The human mind thinks about 12,000 to 60,00 thoughts per day.
Unfortunately, most of them are either depressing or nagging thoughts that keep you from living a happier and more fulfilling life.
If you want to live a life free of all those thoughts, the best way is to start journaling your feelings and emotions. We will share a process for how to journal for anxiety and depression.
You will better be able to work your emotions out, change them and create a new mental frame that will afford you the best life you can ever imagine.
Journaling relieves stress by helping you to display your inner thoughts. Left unexamined, anxiety results in stress and rumination. Making a focused examination of your daily thought patterns will help minimize and even eradicate those negative mental movements.
So, in this article, we will take you through a five-step process on how to deal with anxious thoughts. Consider it your own personal therapist.
Now Let’s Dive In!
Write About Your Troubles
Set a timer and begin symbolizing your thoughts on paper. It could be at least twelve minutes of focused writing about the troubles on your mind.
You could even take a mental inventory of all the things in your life giving you hell. It could be your job, relationships, and even your finances.
Start writing everything down. Anything that comes to mind should be jotted. Don’t judge it. Write it down and then you can start analyzing each idea so that you start thinking of ways to solve them.
Create Alternative Versions Of Recurring Situations
Another way to really get rid of anxious situations is to create on paper the opposite version of a situation that causes those feelings.
Ask questions like these:
- How could I act differently the next time?
- What thoughts should I be thinking when this situation comes up?
Keep Diary For Your Thoughts
Anxiety is always creeping in when you don’t realize it. You might be performing your day-to-day tasks or even at work when a nagging thought will just flash through your mind. If you have a thought diary at hand, you can note it down and explore it later
Keeping a thought diary will offer you the opportunity to explore your thought patterns in any situation.
Knowing how you respond to situations offers you the mental tools to combat feelings of depression or anxiety.
Here are some steps to create a thought diary:
- First, grab for yourself a journal.
- Add fancy pictures of yourself if you like.
- Then, start writing out your thoughts, emotions, and feelings.
- Always note down the context of your thoughts, feelings, and emotions.
Keeping a thought journal will help your design your mind in such a way that will alleviate negativity from your life.
Reiterate Your Strengths
The best way to combat feelings of depression is to focus on the good and awesome wins you have accomplished in your life.
Moments when you passed an exam with an A+, you managed to solve a problem, or even when you were congratulated by your significant other. These are all situations you can rely on to give you the strength to face the storms of the present moment.
You will find reasons to keep going on.
Conclusion
Journaling is an effective tool to help you deal with day-to-day depressing thoughts. By focusing on the steps discussed you can achieve a state of calm and stress-free living.
If you have not journaled before, here is a beginner guide to journaling.
We also have an article on the different types of journaling available for exploration.
