Journaling Activity - Learning to be kinder to Ourselves

Here's a reminder of the 5 steps to challenge unhelpful thinking. 1) Identify the thought 2) Write it down 3) Challenge it Ask yourself, Is this true?  Is this fair? Is there another way of looking at the situation What would you say to a friend who had a similar thought? 4) rewrite the thought. Create a more balanced and realistic thought. We can also apply mindfulness which helps us to learn to interact with our thoughts differently.  We have a choice how we engage with them.  When we practice mindfulness we learn to become more present and in the moment and living less in our heads. Now we all have an inner voice.  This is simply the inner dialogue that is going on inside our head. Everyone has this. Unfortuntley for many of this voice can be harsh, critical and rather unkind. Here is todays task that I suggest.   Think about a recent situation that has been a struggle for you or you have been finding difficult. Write specifically about what has bene challenging for you. Write about in as much detail as possible what has been challenging for you about this situation. I want you to write about this for 5 or 10 minutes. You might set a timer on your mobile phone. And really don’t overthink this exercise, you really can’t get it wrong. You don’t need to worry about punctuation, grammar or spelling. This is only for your eyes. You can use your mobile or computer . Do what works for you. Now I want to ask yourself, how have I been talking to myself about this situation? How have you been speaking to yourself about this? The problem is that when we are feeling low , anxious or stressed this is often the times we talk the most harshly and unkind to ourselves. This is such as shame isn’t it, because this is the time we really need to talk to ourselves when we need to be supportive, understanding and offering ourselves reassurance. I then ask you to reflect on how you talk to yourself and ask yourself what effect do you think the things you are saying to yourself are having on you? Is this way of talking to yourself helping or hindering you? Are you been encouraging and supportive or is the way you speak to yourself about this bringing you further down. Think about the effect you are having on yourself by Are you been kind supportive? Would you talk to a friend the same way you talk to yourself?  Feel free to come and be part of the Create Yourself Facebook group where I share a variety to tools and practical activities for self-discovery and change.  You can also find me at kay.holdsworth.com

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