This is our first guest post on our blog & I hope we have many more to come!
Melanie Bowen contacted me a couple weeks ago about doing a guest post on Sincerely Smeda after she read this post. She is an awareness advocate for natural health and holistic therapies for cancer patients. She was recently asked to contribute to The Mesothelioma Cancer Alliance Blog. Through her writing she highlights the benefits of tracking your thoughts and goals, because thoughts are just thoughts unless they are written down.
Today she'll be guest posting about using a journal to help achieve your goals
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Journal writing, according to research, improves memory, reduces intrusive thoughts and reduces avoidant thoughts. Whatever your life challenges, whether you are living with a serious illness like mesothelioma cancer with an unfavorable prognosis or suffering from debilitating anxiety or depression, journal writing will help you regain control of your life.
Write in your journal to help you organize your thoughts and outline the steps you need to take to achieve your goals. First, write out your goals. This is your first concrete step towards achieving your goals. Your goals can be physical or emotional. Perhaps you want to begin taking yoga or increase your spiritual practice. Write in your journal daily on your progress towards achieving your goals.
As you progress through the steps you originally outlined, you may find that you have a new perspective and need to adjust your steps to achieve your goals efficiently. Writing in a journal every day, in addition to being therapeutic, helps you to clarify your thoughts and feelings. A journal will help you adjust your steps in a way that keeping your thoughts and plans in your head only cannot. Journaling everyday gives you the discipline to stay focused on your goals. If you write about your goals every day, you have to think about your goals every day.
Some of your goals may be connected to your recovery. These goals can include things like taking your medications on time every day, getting to your doctor’s appointments on time, engaging in a regular spiritual practice and changing your diet according to your doctor’s suggestion.
Use your journal to create a bucket list. The goals on your bucket list can be anything. Set a goal to spend more time with the people you love and care about. Write out activities you can do together and then do them. A possible goal may be taking your wife out to dinner once a week or watching a DVD at home with you husband every Friday. Another goal may be to take a trip to a country you have always wanted to visit. Using a journal to help achieve your goals is about bringing your desires to the level of consciousness and acting on them.
According to Dr. Pennebaker, a psychologist at the University of Austin who has researched the practice of journaling extensively, journaling can improve your physical health. Dr. Pennebaker says according to studies, regular journaling strengthens immune cells and reduces the impact of stressors on your physical health.
Dr. Pennebaker contends that after suffering a traumatic event, your ability to focus is compromised. Journaling can help you regain your focus or develop focus for the first time. Additional benefits of writing in a journal include clarity of thoughts, clarity of feelings, improved problem solving abilities, increased self-awareness, decreased stress and an increased ability to handle conflicts in a positive way.
Write in your journal to help you organize your thoughts and outline the steps you need to take to achieve your goals. First, write out your goals. This is your first concrete step towards achieving your goals. Your goals can be physical or emotional. Perhaps you want to begin taking yoga or increase your spiritual practice. Write in your journal daily on your progress towards achieving your goals.
As you progress through the steps you originally outlined, you may find that you have a new perspective and need to adjust your steps to achieve your goals efficiently. Writing in a journal every day, in addition to being therapeutic, helps you to clarify your thoughts and feelings. A journal will help you adjust your steps in a way that keeping your thoughts and plans in your head only cannot. Journaling everyday gives you the discipline to stay focused on your goals. If you write about your goals every day, you have to think about your goals every day.
Some of your goals may be connected to your recovery. These goals can include things like taking your medications on time every day, getting to your doctor’s appointments on time, engaging in a regular spiritual practice and changing your diet according to your doctor’s suggestion.
Use your journal to create a bucket list. The goals on your bucket list can be anything. Set a goal to spend more time with the people you love and care about. Write out activities you can do together and then do them. A possible goal may be taking your wife out to dinner once a week or watching a DVD at home with you husband every Friday. Another goal may be to take a trip to a country you have always wanted to visit. Using a journal to help achieve your goals is about bringing your desires to the level of consciousness and acting on them.
According to Dr. Pennebaker, a psychologist at the University of Austin who has researched the practice of journaling extensively, journaling can improve your physical health. Dr. Pennebaker says according to studies, regular journaling strengthens immune cells and reduces the impact of stressors on your physical health.
Dr. Pennebaker contends that after suffering a traumatic event, your ability to focus is compromised. Journaling can help you regain your focus or develop focus for the first time. Additional benefits of writing in a journal include clarity of thoughts, clarity of feelings, improved problem solving abilities, increased self-awareness, decreased stress and an increased ability to handle conflicts in a positive way.
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Thank you Melanie for guest posting! I too agree that journal writing is a great way to express feelings! To view the MCA blog and see more of Melanie's great posts, you can visit them here.
Lets get writing!!
I need to do this ASAP, thanks a million!
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