More about journaling.

There's a great article about journaling, heBusiness Insider.   It not only lets you know (again) how journaling can be helpful, it has a writing prompt to use and explains why it is so helpful.  (As good as an antidepressant without the side effects!)  One of the things it says is to really write about what is bothering you and why this helps so much ...

re on
"The foremost reason is disclosure. Psychologists are basically in agreement that avoiding or inhibiting unpleasant emotions or suppressing your thoughts makes makes your body tense, your mood negative, and your cognition impaired. But if you access, express, and process those blocked-up emotions, you'll feel better, in all of the ways. For the same reason that talking about your breakup with your best friend makes you feel better, journaling about getting fired lets you process it."  

So dig in, start journaling.  Write the bad stuff out and then if you don't want to keep the notebook around, throw it away or burn it.  Get that stuff out.  

You will feel better.  

Coping Skills.

Art has been an invaluable tool for me. 

Where I work, we are always talking about coping skills.  Basically a coping skill is something you do to cope with your feelings or pain that are not hurtful to anyone.  Sometimes a distraction is the key.  Some coping stategies we just fall into, or we've used them since childhood and sometimes we need to try and think really hard to come up with something to do.
 When my dad passed away, I had overwhelming grief, and I wanted to sleep all the time, but I couldn't so I distracted myself in many ways.  I watched TV and played video games simultaneously.  I found that I couldn't read, couldn't cook, couldn't draw and so I needed to find something, anything, to help me get through the pain.  It was The Sims and NCIS for me.  It was months before I could cope with any down time.  Every time I was alone in the shower or car I would cry so showering became the only thing I really did alone, asking someone to ride with me everywhere I went, so that I wouldn't get to my destination with red eyes and a wet face.   When my son was terribly afraid of thunderstorms, the counselor taught him ways to distract himself and just get through it.

Here's a list of things to do when you are feeling bad.

Coping Skills.

A good free resource.

Art Journal Guide - Daily Reprieve Center  This art journaling resource combines education about mental health and recovery with information about art journaling and looks like a good way to get started on the art ... and it's free!

Reverse Bucket List

Go on over to Boho Berry for what a reverse bucket list means and get inspiration from her list. Okay,

I'll wait while you go read the blog post and her list.

Now lets do some brainstorming for our own lists, maybe categories ...

Places I visited.

People I have treasured along the way.

Creative things I did.

Just plain fun experiences I would never trade for anything.

Have fun with it!

A simple change that can make a difference.

It's very simple.  At the end of every day, perhaps at the dinner table, you ask yourself or your family, what "went well today?"  I can see how this would help.  It's kind of a gratitude practice.  I didn't have a great day yesterday when I read about this, and I was thinking/focusing on the parts that did not go well, but then I read this and started thinking about what had gone well.
 A piece of mail that I've been anxiously waiting for for 9 weeks, finally arrived yesterday.  That was huge and in my mind, that detail was kind of buried in the stress until I took a second look at my day.

There's a little bit more to it, read the rest at Exuberant Lives

Money and Happiness?

How to Buy Happiness.  This is a link to a fascinating Ted talk that tells you what to do to make yourself happier with a little bit of money.