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Friday 4 May 2018

31 Journal Prompts For Mental Health & Well Being.



This week may have been Mental Health Awareness Week 
but why not have a
Mental Halth Awareness Month?


Mental health is one of the most common unrecognized health issues we face and many suffer in silence. I thought it would be great timing to present 31 journal prompts dedicated to mental health and well being for the month of May. Especially  as it perfectly exampled the journalling technique I was discussing this week with my Just Pick Up A Notepad Group

What Was This Method?
 The Journalling method of monitoring an area or areas of your life by outlining 31 topics to cover over a month. A method I originally learnt from Kathleen Adams book Journal to the Self. Within the book, this method is called 'Topics Du Jour' a journal technique originally designed to meet the needs of business executives who were "too busy to stay on top of everything."

The concept is simple all you have to do is:

  1.  Number down a page from 1 to 31. 
  2. Write next to each number one are of your personal or professional life you would like to monitor.It doesn't matter what order you place your topics or whether you have a theme or not.
  3. Each day look at the topic that corresponds with the date. for example if today is the 4th of the month, find number 4 on your list. If today was the 26th find the number 26 and so forth.
  4. Use the headline of your topic as a prompt or springboard to journal on. What's happening this area of your personal or professional life? What action can you take in this area?

So here we have it '31 Journal Prompts For May Mental Health Awareness' I hope you find them useful throughout the Month of May, enjoy!

1.What are five things that help you feel better when things are difficult?
2.When things seem tough, I want to remember _________
3.Write about one thing that you look forward to every day.
4.What are three things you can do today to enhance your mental well being?
5.On scale of 1-10 my mental health is __because _______
6.What are the signs my mental health is declining?
7. List 5 reasons not to give up.
8. Right now I am being challenged by _________
9.When I feel _________I usually _________but I am going to start _________.
10. Do your emotions get in the way of you fulfilling life? If so How?
11.List the times when you felt truly  loved.
12.What/Who has animpact on your emotions?
13. What has been a strong emotion felt recently?
14. List three things that made you happy today?
15.Describe the last time you had fun that made you smile.
16.Write down activities you could do to feel more relaxed.
17.Write about something that you forgive yourself for
18.Build a list of 15 songs that can help change your mood.
19.Write about something you need  to let go of and surrender to God.
20.How can I make myself feel safe?
21.List 10 things you love about yourself.
22. Describe a time in your life when you failed. What did you learn from it?
23.What are three of the biggest lessons you’ve learned from having (anxiety, depression, etc.)
24. Choose one thing that triggers anxiety or depression, and then write about a few ways that you can combat this trigger
25.What patterns about yourself need attention.
26.Write about a difficult time in your life and how you overcame it

27.Make List of people you are grateful for.
28.Write a letter to your biggest supporter (you don’t have to give it to them)
29.Make List of things you sometimes struggle to be grateful for.
30. Describe why your grateful for an opportunity received.
31.List 10 things your grateful for today.






This blog forms part of a blog series that’s In conjunction with my #WhyWriteWednesday Facebook Live discussions and tutorials 8pm (GMT) on the reasons why journaling is beneficial.

 Within my group I share journalling techniques that can be used to either begin your journaling journey or take your journalling up a gear. Group member's also have access to Free journalling templates and tools within the Groups Files section. 

Join The Group

If this sounds appealing you are more than welcome to join our community.
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Wednesday 2 May 2018

April Progress + May Goals

April has been a month of learning to express Gratitude daily. Being thankful for everything I have, will have have and praising God in advance for all my blessings.
Here’s a recap of my APRIL progress and what I learned:

April Progress:
— Pray + Praise! These two things will keep me on track for the rest of life! I marked this as my top priority on my April Cultivate what matters tending list. Praying, praising God daily has been the highlight of my days. Singing and dancing to a few tracks of praise and worship music every day has elevated my mood in a phenomenal way so I am building up a playlist to play every morning when I am getting washed and dressed. I've especially loved listening to Marvin Sapp Praise In Advance  as he rightfully said, Praise will confuse the enemy.

— Write an about page on my website- This is still a work in progress. Mainly because I am having to reflect on what is beneficial to share and what isn't. I am a private person, I believe in only putting out there what you are comfortable putting out there. I believe social media doesn't need to know absolutely everything about me, there are some things we all need to keep sacred and private. Yet at the same time there are elements of my life story I desire to share with others because I believe it will be of benefit and will help others. Those are the pieces of my story I wish to share. Yet its still a little bit scary to share my story, as part of me feels it is like allowing someone to read my diary or look into my soul and see things I have kept hidden. That being said, blog posts like these help build my confidence to share parts of my story in a meaningful way. So I will continue to write my about page and publish once I have finished it.

 Get my head around convert kit- I want to start sending out a weekly newsletter to let my group and anyone that subscribes know of any updates e.g New Blog Posts, New Podcasts, Facebook Live Dates etc 

I joined Covert Kit realized I could use another provider. So I'm still not quiet ready to start building an email subscription list but I will get there.

— Treat myself to day off on my own child free- Haven't gained any child free time but I gained some child sleep time and I chose to make the most of those times by choosing to carve some 'Me Time' to just sit and write, time to journal to myself, focus on what I will do to feel the way I want to feel. 

When the wether was nice I had the pleasure of going to the park, laying in the sunshine and writing while baby slept.


Danielle La Porte Desire Map Planner
— Couple Time- It was my intention to have a Date Night or Day Date with my Partner. Whatever that may be as long as it was without children. That was the plan, however that did not pan out this month. The reality was we watched Avenger's Infinity from the comfort our bed on Kodi while baby slept beside us. In order to make progress with this goal, I will have to pre-book my mum for baby sitting duties. She's more than happy to help I just need to ask, so I will be asking from now on.

My Son's now 6.5 months and my daughters now 11years old and in the entire 6 months there's only been two occasions I've actually had away from him for a few hours so I could go on a date with my partner and socialise with friends. I am grateful to have such understanding friends who get what phase of life I am in now and get that balancing motherhood alongside everything else is a juggling act.


— Use purchased groupon vouchers- I purchase groupon vouchers ahead of time to use towards my goal of having weekend fun, mother daughter time and couple time. This month I had a Shakes and Burger date to use over half term.  I didn't realize the voucher had expired the day before I intended to use it. What can I say you snooze you loose. This was just one of many Mercury Retrograde boo's boo's I experienced this month.
Weekly goals:
Set Working Days/Hours to focus on my dreams- Not managed to conquer the set hours thing just yet, still working on trying to wake up early 5am to work before baby rises as opposed to working late into the early hours and felling tiered in the morning. I shared how old habits are hard to change within my daily Podcast.

— Strength training Squat Challenge 3x/week- for the second month in a row I have not even attempted to do anything in relation to picking back up my get fit routine. I have concluded that whee I am right now, working out, getting super fit and having an arse even JLo would envy is just not that important to me right now. My exercise routine consists of walking daily, considering I only gave birth few months ago I feel my body has bounced back well. Yeah I could be more toned, yeah I could have more definition in some areas but I am happy in my body and I am not going to 

— Weekend Re-creation / Weekend Fun Goal- My daughter Hermione turned 11yrs old this month so we had a great day celebrating her birthday. I took her and a few of her school friends for bowling and food. It was a fun filled Birthday, we all had a fab time. The following day we went shopping for the whole day together with her cousin. We literally shopped till we dropped. 

— Set Aside undisturbed Mother/Daughter time.- This month me and my daughter have had the pleasure of enjoying some quality mother daughter time. Her little brother has always been present, so it has necessarily been undisturbed, but we've managed to gain quality time the times he fell asleep.

We are so fortunate to benefit from having a lovely park on our door step  that we can go to on a regular basis, especially on warm sunny days. We had some unusually high temperature so I made the most of the sunshine experienced and we had a lovely picnic in the park together.



Daily goals:
— Walk The Dog- Made progress with this goal. Happy to have had some lovely sunny days in the park with the pooch. On days where a stroll round the block or in the park wasn't possible he's had the back yard.

— Kiss My Partner - I'd be lying if I said I have managed to do this every single day this month.
I haven't and thats precisely why its a goal and will continue to be a daily goal until expressing affection even if it is the smallest of gesture of a kiss on the cheek is expressed daily. When you've been with someone for years like I have, over 15yrs, it is easy to get comfortable and complacent. The things you did at the beginning have a tendency to drop off if your note careful. So expressing tender loving care that creates intimacy and keeps the fire alight is important. Relationships take work and require our focus or else they fizzle out. So thats why I have this goal and why I have placed it as a daily goal because everyday my relationship needs to be nurtured.

— Check Planner /Tending List- To keep me on track with developing new healthy routines I placed checking my tending list as a daily goal. I found when I checked the list daily it kept me on track with all my other goals. When I didn't check I fell off a little. I really should include that I need to check my emails daily too as my mailbox is full.


 Read Daily- Currently reading Moonology: Working with the Magic of Lunar Cycles by Yasmin Bland.
Park Time With My Babies & Fur Baby


On to May  Goals!
May Monthly Goals:
— Pray + Praise! These two things keep me on track and prove to be two goals I will hold dear to for the rest of life! I marked this as my top priority for April with one of my favorite Carpe Diem stickers and I am doing the same this month.
Continue to make work hours productive
— Treat myself to day off on my own child free

— Couple Time

Weekly goals:
— Weekly blog series that links with Facebook LIVE discussions.
— Weekend Re-creation / Weekend Fun Goal
Set Working Days/Hours to focus on my dreams
— Set Aside undisturbed Mother/Daughter time
Daily goals:
— Walk The Dog
— Kiss My Partner 
— Check Planner /Tending List/Emails
 Read Daily 


Are You Ready to dig into MAY? 

Writing Challenge 

Do you have any goals for May?

What would you like to see happen this month?

Write down what monthly, weekly and daily goals you would set yourself for May.
#JustWrite #JustPickUpANotepad


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Saturday 28 April 2018

Pink Full Moon in Scorpio





Full Moon Advice April 2018
Things are usually illuminated during the Full Moon and although it can often feel very intense during this phase, there are many lessons to be learned if we are open to them. 

April's Full Moon on April 29th/April 30th marks the arrival of the Pink Moon In Scorpio.

As with all water signs, people can feel a lot more emotional under this energy. Water rules our emotions and the moon controls the ebb and flow of the sea. So the current placement of the moon in Scorpio pushes and pulls us to dive deep beneath the surface and get in touch with our deepest core feelings, the good, the bad and the ugly.

You can't hide anything from scorpio, there intuitive powers run deep so if you need to get to the bottom of something and find answers to questions you have been pondering or have been in turmoil over use this energy to delve deeper into gaining resolve.
sure to not just dig for answers, make sure you actually evaluate what you've learnt from the answers gained and seek a way to refine and realign with what you have learned during the cycle.


The Full Moon Phase is a great time to Pray & Manifest
This phase is all about fulfilment and just as the Moon reaches it's full fullness and illumiantion, so too can our manifestations. 

Yet full moons are not just about having a great opportunity to manifest, they are also an ideal time to pray and gain emotional and psychological release. 

The full moon presents as ideal times to heal from past hurt and pain.To heal from any damage your soul has encountered that has left you feeling vulnerable, battered and bruised.

 Nows a good time to gain release and let go of any hurt, pain, fears, dysfunction and darkness that lies within. 

Allow the moons light to shed light on your darkness, allow the moons light to light you up within.

I found some great Full Moon PRAYERS to share that can be said and/or written down.

Written By Adrianna Hopkins

Written By White Witch Parlour

Pink Moon? Where Did The Name Come From?

 Named by some American Indian tribes for the little pink flowers called Wild Ground Phlox that appear in the meadows at this time of the year. 

Many say it is very uncommon to actually look in the sky and see that the moon is pink during the pink moon phase. 

That being said, I count myself fortunate to say I have witnessed the moon present itself as appearing pink during a pink moon phase. 

April 2017 Pink Moon
Last year on 11th April 2017 This picture was taken, as you can see the moon does in fact appear to look pink. This photo was taken on my sisters samsung galaxy phone on and no filters were used to edit the photo in anyway. The Moon was pink during the pink moon phase.Therefore I don't believe American Indian tribes called it a pink moon after the wild ground phlox for no reason.

Will everyone look and see the moon as Pink probably not! 
Its not necessarily guaranteed, I suppose it depends on where you are when you see it.
Whether you look in the sky and the moon as pink or not.
Seek to find what can be learnt from this phase!

Writing Challenge 

 What can you release and let go of, 
so you can make room 
for something fresh and new to come into your life?

 Moon phases are the perfect time to start writing down your hopes, dreams and wishes. The energy for manifesting is going to be extremely high at this time, so definitely use this to your advantage.


When it comes to manifesting the newness you wish to attract your life, focus on what feelings you want to create for this new chapter. For example, instead of trying to manifest the perfect job, perhaps try to focus your energy on manifesting the feelings that this perfect job will give you. When you work from this place, it allows your energy to stay open to the Universe and open to the opportunities that come your way.

#justwrite #justpickupanotepad 
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Friday 27 April 2018

Guided Journal Printable's





As a Journal Mentor I often hear people say,

   'I Love Journalling but I just don’t have the time to stick to it” 
or 
“I Need this in my life! Every time I start journaling I get too busy and it doesn't last.”

Does this sound familiar? Can you relate?

Making the time journal is a struggle for many, yet journalling need not require you to write tons and tons or take an extremely long time either.

 Over the years my methods and style of journalling changes and it continues to evolve.
 
The tools I use to help me journal adapts according to my needs, the amount of time I take to journal changes with the ebb and flow of my life.

Thats why as journal mentor I can assure you...there are no rules to journalling, your journalling style, technique and methods will shift and change depending on whats happening in your life and thats ok!
 

 Finding ways to journal in way that works for YOU, that's what matters.

If you love journalling but you don't have the luxury of time and your struggling to fit journal time into your daily schedule, make the commitment today to just journal for 10mins a day. 


I mean we all have at least 10mins a day to take out for ourselves, right?

I've found Journal printable's are a great way to make the process of journalling easier.

I was simply amazed and wowed when I discovered Christie Zimmerman designer of guided journals,10 min Journal Printable’s. They are so vibrant, colourful and bright.

They are guaranteed to make journalling in them for 10mins an enjoyable experience. 





Christie has made these amazing Journal Pages with all kinds of journal prompts, quotes, hand-drawn doodles, etc.

I came across Christie on Pinterest and immediately loved her work and knew I wanted to share her with others.



Christie has oodles of talent and shares her printable journal Templates as part of her Monday series over at Patreon, where you can journal with her and support her work all at the same time. 

Her Instagram profile is called @guidedjournaler. The link to her Patreon page is on her profile.

Access Christie Zimmer Printable's
Christies printable's are just a few dollars per set on her Easy store. 

Money well spent for her creativity if you ask me! Do you agree?


Below you'll also find links to additional collections of her journal printables over at her previous website Adventures in Guided Journaling.




 I am so pleased I found Christie and can share her work with you all. 

I have so much fun scrolling through Pinterest finding new inspiration for journalling. 
I always find and discover so many amazing journal ideas to re pin onto my boards.

 I pinned Christie's printable's to my  “10min Journal Printable’s” board. A board that has journal printable's from a variety of sources.

If you love journalling, if you love using pinterest then I have you covered as I have a wide variety of boards that provide journalling prompts and tips. 

Whether you wish to journal for self discovery purposes or to improve your mental health and well being. There's bound to be at least one board that will have the perfect prompt you've been looking for. So Check it out, the links below!


Follow Me On Pinterest



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Wednesday 25 April 2018

Automatic Free Flow Writing.



When you apply automatic free flow writing to your journalling practice it’s about Tapping into your intuition and Streaming Conciseness through the process of journaling. 

Recently I’ve been reading Awaken Your Indigo Power: Harness Your Passion, Fulfil Your Purpose and Activate Your Innate Spiritual Gifts by Doreen Virtue and her Indigo Son Charles Virtue. The book is very much about encouraging people to Superpower their life by hearing, speaking, and living in their inner  authentic truth and living with purpose.
· 


My greatest take away from this book to share was On pg.10 where Charles Virtue talks about how to discover your life purpose and stated that ‘One method that a lot of Indigos have great success with is automatic writing.’ When I read this I was delighted, as an indigo Child myself I have had great success with using the method of automatic writing.  Primarily because it’s about getting in touch with your intuitive super powers and revealing your innate spiritual gifts and purpose.

We all have a purpose, we all have something to offer, we are here for a reason so in times when your not entirely clear on what that reason is, what your purpose is or what direction you should be heading now. Automatic, free flow writing is a great journalling technique

If you don’t know what Indigo Child means Read Awaken Your Indigo Power: Harness Your Passion, Fulfil Your Purpose and Activate Your Innate Spiritual Gifts Doreen and Charles discuss how the new energy that the Indigos have brought to our planet enables us to heal physically and emotionally at a faster rate. Whether you’re an Indigo yourself or a parent or caretaker of one, this book will usher into your life new levels of understanding, peace, and purpose.

They explain the Indigo purpose of bringing truth and integrity to our planet, and show how this new energy is beneficial to us all.

Through reading this book You will learn how to:
· Harness the Indigo intensity for positive healing purposes
· Overcome fears related to leadership and being authentic
· Superpower your life by hearing, speaking, and living your inner truth.

Whats This Method Good For:


If you want to discover your own inner truth, this method is for you.

The process of automatic, free flow writing is an intuitive exercise of letting yourself flow into the stream of your own consciousness. Basically you are able to discover all that is hidden within yourself and bring it to the surface onto the page. This is a really great method to use if you've been feeling that something is holding you back, something which you just can't see or put your finger on, but it leaves you with a deep sense and knowing that it is almost within reach. 

This method is good for self discovery purposes. Especially when you feel you are not living with purpose or living in a way where you are utilizing your full potential. This method will help you in discovering what your innate super powers and gifts are and you'll gain clarity on what your purpose is and what special gift you have to offer the world.

Here’s how to do it:

(1) Grab a pen and piece of paper, or you can even do this at your computer or within notes on your phone. 

It really doesn’t matter whether it is electronic or physical. I have tried using both method and they both work well.

With a blank page/document in front of you, write down the first thing that comes to you.


(2) Enter this process with the knowledge that the universe has your back, have faith the universe will provide a stream of conscious thought to you through you. Trust and believe in the process, that this process will provide you with the answers you seek. Charles Virtue encourages this method be used when you find yourself wondering, What am I supposed to do with my life! What am I supposed to do in this world? 

Here’s an ecsript from the book ‘Awaken Your Indigo Power’ where Charles Virtue beautifully describes how this method is about centring yourself, taking a deep breath and mindfully entering into the process.

pg10 Awaken Your Indigo Power
Seek and you shall find, knock and the door will be opened.

Based on my own experience I have found If you use this method consistently.The answers will flow through to you and you will be able to gain clarity on the questions you ask. If you put regular effort into channelling these messages through you are going to find an answer. 


Tips when using this method: 

You Gotta Have Faith

Your body, your energy, your heart, your soul,  knows why you came here, knows what purpose you have, knows what gift only you have that you came to offer the world.

Step Two of this process relies on having faith and belief. belief that all the answers you seek are within and  faith and belief that God, the universe, source however you wish to term this. ALL the unknown entities around us who support us and love us,our spiritual counsel will assist in revealing to us what we need to know.

-Keep a journal/record of what comes through.
Keep a record  of all your automatic writing, streaming sessions. Whether that be on paper or an electronic document. After a couple of weeks or even a few months read through the notes and look for consistencies. Analyze if there're common theme's in what has been written.

-Brain dump without censor. 
Don’t overthink this process just allow yourself to write free flow. 

-Just Keep Writing
If your trying this method by hand, even if your writing suddenly because cursive, un-readable and messy, just keep writing. Even if it feels your writing a whole heap of gibberish that doesn’t make sense, just keep writing. Even if your sentence structures are totally out of whack, just keep writing.Don’t have the expectation that your words or sentences have to make sense. They don’t!

-Give yourself TIME to express yourself within the pages of your journal/notepad. If that means setting a timer for 5-10mins to just fee flow do so.

-Quiet Space
Make sure when you do this you have a quiet space with no distractions.

This blog forms part of a blog series that’s In conjunction with my #WhyWriteWednesday Facebook Live discussions and tutorials 8pm (GMT) on the reasons why journaling is beneficial.


Why Write Wednesday Blog Series

 Within my group I share journalling techniques that can be used to either begin your journaling journey or take your journalling up a gear. Group member's also have access to Free journalling templates and tools within the Groups Files section. 


Join The Group

If this sounds appealing you are more than welcome to join our community.
SHARE:
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