mindfulness and self-awareness

These two go hand in hand and are essentially the same thing.

body scan + journaling

I tried both the Body Scanning and the Journaling exercises. The Body Scan is something I have tried before to help induce me into sleep, which my doctor recommended. Although it didn't help me get to sleep, it was definitely a great exercise to do to open my self-awareness and be aware of more than just my mental being. This is still a frequent practice of mine, and I try to do it nightly - after I take my sleeping pill, and before I actually fall asleep.

Truthfully, I have never been "into" journaling, or having a diary. I'm unsure why this is, but it has never really been my thing. Despite this being the case previously, I tried the journaling exercises and would love to try and continue them daily. Having a prompt was helpful, as opposed to staring at a blank page thinking "what do I write about?". It was definitely a difficult exercise, simply because I would keep running out of stuff to write about, so I started noting down my "thought train".

For example, mine went:

• feeling = happy
• why = brother
• what should I cook for dinner
• something lithuanian
• write something

I am planning on continuing the journaling process and hopefully will become more comfortable that it's okay if there's nothing to write.

what did you learn?

It's about the process, not the product.
Being aware of what and who you are behind all of the emotions, and feelings, is an incredibly important to learning how to control the uncontrolable.