Unlock Your Positivity Advantage: Why Journaling is Your Next Best Habit!
Welcome Back Friends!
As your friendly mental health professional, I often speak with clients about finding simple, yet powerful tools to boost their well-being. Are you curious about a simple yet incredibly powerful tool that can genuinely enhance your daily well-being? Let's dive into one of my favorites:
Journaling!
It's not just about pretty notebooks (though those are fun too!). It's about training your brain to truly capitalize on positivity. You might think success leads to happiness, right? Well, a decade of research in positive psychology and neuroscience actually suggests it's the other way around: happiness is the precursor to success, not the result. Cultivating positive emotions, or "positivity," has a direct causal relationship with your productivity and success. This "happiness advantage" can even give you a competitive edge!. Companies like Google, Yahoo!, and Virgin actively cultivate work environments that foster positive emotions in their employees because they understand that fun and positivity lead to bottom-line results. Even short bursts of positivity can increase happiness and provide a serious competitive edge.
So, how can you tap into this “happiness advantage?”
Through journaling! It's not just about pretty notebooks (though those are fun too!). It's about retraining your brain to capitalize on positivity. Here are a couple of super simple, impactful ways to start:
The "Three Good Things" Power-Up!
Pioneered by happiness researcher Dr. Martin Seligman, this exercise can boost your positive attitudes, build resilience, and even reduce harmful self-criticism. Studies have shown that doing this for just one week can make you happier and less depressed for months!
How it works: Each evening, before bed (or whenever it works for you!), take a couple of minutes to write down three things that happened during your day that you made happen or were actively involved in.
This isn't just a general gratitude list – it requires you to reflect on your actions and choices. Maybe you helped a colleague, cooked a healthy meal, or finally tackled that task you'd been putting off. You need to pick new good things each day for at least seven days to really get the benefit!
Side Note - If life is feeling really difficult for you right now, then put down things that you did even if they may feel small, they are still important, you still accomplished them!
Got out of bed.
Ate something.
Returned a phone call.
Attended your therapy session.
Remember, small behavioral changes support eventual change and can support a positive shift in your mood over time!
Meet yourself where you are at and offer yourself some grace!
Why 3 Good Things can be awesome!
Recognizing your role in creating positive choices is critical for empowerment and resilience.
It trains your brain to notice the good things you do, which can lead you to choose to do more positive things and even see more positivity in others.
In other words it helps us to see the glass 1/2 full or makes the “lens” we view the world through a little brighter!
Gratitude Gains & Positive Playbacks!
Simply listing three gratitudes each day has a profound effect on how your brain is wired. This trains your brain to tune into the positives and opportunities around you, helping you be more successful, healthier, and even live longer.
Journaling about a positive experience for just two minutes a day has been shown to decrease stress, increase energy, and make you twice as likely to rate yourself as happier!
BONUS - This can be a stand alone journey you undertake independently. While it wonderfully complements any existing therapy sessions, even those not currently in therapy can achieve significant benefits simply by dedicating to the effort!
Ready to give it a try?
Choose one of these simple journaling habits and commit to it for just a week, then maybe see if you can keep it up for a month. You might be amazed at the shift in your perspective and energy! Just like a personal trainer helps you build physical strength, daily journaling helps build your mental strength and resilience. It's like having a little sunbeam you can turn on inside your brain, where happiness and resilience can truly flourish, even on cloudy days!
We will continue of our series on Social Media, the Internet and Gaming Next Week!
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