Joy Challenge #2

Welcome to our Joy Challenge! As a reminder, for the month of April, our regular newsletter is being replaced by a 4 week Joy Challenge – featuring simple but effective tools for happiness.

Give each one a try for the week and see if it works for you! Our hope is that by the end of the challenge you’ll have found at least 1-2 tools that are effective for you and that you can draw on during challenging times. If you missed Challenge #1, you can find it HERE.

Challenge #2 – Journaling 

Journaling is so much more than “keeping a diary”, it’s an amazing way to work through difficult events and emotions, get to know yourself better, and can even be a form of relaxation/meditation.

THIS post from Positive Psychology Program explains how to journal effectively, lists 83 benefits of journaling, and provides journaling prompts. It’s well worth checking out if you’re new to journaling or just more interested in what it can do for you.

Try it for yourself:

Commit to a daily journaling practice this week.

Determine the following:

• When you’ll do it – Morning can be an amazing start to your day!
• How long you’ll do it for – 15 minutes tends to work AMAZING for me. Just when I think I have absolutely nothing left to write, that’s when I dig deep enough to uncover the good stuff
• What you’ll write in – Some people and studies claim that handwriting is way more effective than typing when it comes to journaling. I like using spiral notebooks like this, but I also love these pretty notebooks if I’m feeling fancier. {affiliate links that support our blog at no cost to you}

Adapt during challenging times:

I have to admit, I’m not consistent with a daily journaling practice, but it’s a tool that works wonders for me during difficult times.

I set a timer and write whatever comes to mind, without stopping, for 15 minutes. Sometimes that might be “I don’t know what to write, this is stupid”, but eventually I come across GOLD.

Here are prompts that have worked for me. I choose just one for the 15 minutes:

• What about this situation is actually bothering me?
• What can I do to resolve this situation?
• What can I learn from this?

I also really really really love this series of prompts:
(adapted from Earn Your Happy podcast)

Identify an area you’re feeling nervous about, resistance towards, anxious about

The worst thing that can happen is ____

I’m afraid people (or myself) will think I’m _____

That makes me feel:
_______

When is the first time you remember feeling that same way? Recall everything about that experience 

What was going on for you internally during that experience? What judgement(s) did you have about yourself? Others? The universe?

Forgive. I forgive myself for buying into the belief that ____

The truth is actually ___________ and now that I am free of my past beliefs I would like to ________________.

We hope you enjoy this week’s challenge! We’d love love love it if you let us know what you think about the Joy Challenge so far and if you like having things like this once in awhile in place of our regular newsletter. We really appreciate your feedback! 

xoxo, Lena & Bassam