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After January’s adventures in Reflexology, I was feeling a bit more Mick Jagger than Chris Martin. I changed up my playlist for a bit of rock, bit of punk and walked with less of a shuffle and bit more attitude! I’m pleased to report that I kept feeling bloody great for most of the month but the week before I was due to go for another session at Heaven Therapy, I started to feel a bit flat again and had a few headaches. After my return visit though, I’m back in the game and now have a monthly appointment booked in for as long as they’ll have me...pure bliss!
By mid-January, I was starting to have a look around for what else might add to what has officially become the “Fix Yersel’ Regimen” and I came across a load of reading material about the benefits of Journaling. Now, I was never the type of teenager who kept a diary and poured her heart (and tears) all over the pages about James from English who she had a massive crush on, or slated her parents via the medium of ink and paper for not letting her go to Leeds for a night out when she was 15. It was just never my style. I was more of a get on the phone and yak it out with my mates! But as the research was stacking up to journaling being good for the soul, mental health, self-confidence, inspiring creativity and boosting memory, there didn’t really seem to be a reason not to give it a go. For the price of a new notebook (and I do love an excuse to buy new stationery) and some new cartridges, I was ready to begin…
I was learning that the format of journal writing can take many forms. A gratitude journal is a short list every day for the things you’re grateful for. I’ve been doing this. I started on 17th January and decided I’d write a minimum of 3 things every day that made me feel grateful for this extraordinary life I’ve found myself in. This was my very first entry:
· There is the most amazing crescent moon this morning. I messaged my brother and he was seeing it too, all that way away
· Better Man by Paolo Nutini. Sing along on the drive to work. “She makes me smile… She thinks the way I think..”
· Couldn’t stop laughing sharing the story of the seagull commentary and remembering the friends I was with
Every day since, I’ve found things to write that I would otherwise have dismissed and forgotten. I’ve read back through a couple of times when I’ve been having a low moment and oh, my word…life is actually bloody good! Already in a month of writing I’ve amassed a written collection of memories, new experiences and little snippets of Daisy that will make me smile until the day I stop dancing!
Just re-reading the things that have brought me joy is having a really positive impact. And giving the memories an escape route from that tiny box at the back of my brain onto the paper, where they are free to live and breathe again, gives me a feeling of joyfulness that I could never have expected. Don’t get me wrong, I have also written a couple of things in my journal that were winding me up big time. But even doing that has had a massive impact on me. When I read the whingey bits back a few days later, I suddenly realised that none of it has any significance in the scheme of things really. “Let it go, Daisy.” I keep saying to myself. Does it really matter that the kitchen was a mess when I got home from work? What my journaling is teaching me to do is look for the good things. The kitchen might be a mess but when I walked in the door, my pooch was so happy to see me it made my heart almost burst with love. And whilst I’m doing the dishes, there was the most amazing sky that I’m certain I haven’t noticed before – probably because I was having an internal rant about the amount of glasses one person needs to use in a day!
A definite benefit of journaling for me is that I make myself see the positives. Life can be tough. Each and every one of us has our struggles and battles, but if you take a few minutes every day to reflect on what’s made you smile, laugh, remember and even cry sometimes, the silver lining starts to emerge.
Wednesday 15th January
· Sharing my thoughts on journaling
· Bit of Faithless on the way to work….going to b ea good day!
· Amazing sleep last night