Journaling for intentionality

Every so often, I realize I've left behind a habit that was really helping me. Often, this is caused by some sort of external change. Something that causes a massive temporary upheaval, forcing me to rearrange my life. I may think I will return to all my habits once the dust has settled, but often things get dropped, and sometimes I'm lucky enough to -- eventually -- notice.

This particular habit was listening to a podcast regularly. The podcast is called The Mindful Kind, and it's a lovely, quick listen. Every episode is only around 10 minutes long, and the host, Rachael Kable, discusses mindfulness in the context of daily life. For me, it served as a regular reminder to pause and breathe, to find little ways to engage more fully in my own life. ​I'm in the middle of a few big job and life transitions right now, which are exciting and scary at the same time. I started listening to this podcast again every morning, just to take a few minutes to keep my brain in this mindset of living in a more intentional way, so I don't get caught up in the chaos of all this change. As part of this intentionality, I'm journaling more often. 

This is more than just 8 weird tricks to boost your productivity. This is about connecting with yourself and thoughtfully building the life you want. In order to do that, you have to be prepared to ask yourself questions and listen for the answers.

Journaling is a form of mindfulness, and it doesn't have to take any particular form, be any particular length, or produce words that you would ever want to share with other people. I have struggled to establish a steady meditation practice, even using apps like Calm and Headspace, but the kind of mindfulness Rachael talks about is more all-encompassing. It's not (just) about sitting down for a structured 30 minutes to meditate, but more about how to incorporate mindfulness into everything you do, one small step at a time.

So I've begun to pause a few times a day and just jot down what I'm feeling, what's stressing me out, what I'm excited about, whatever is on my mind in that moment. If I can't quite pin down what's going on, which is often because there is just so much competing for my attention that I can't figure out which one is most important, then it really helps to ask myself a few questions.

Journaling, like meditating, has always been a tough habit for me to form. It's easy for me to use a planner or to write something that has a clear purpose in my day job, but regularly checking in with my own feelings in written format felt too daunting. So for this month, I thought it would be helpful to share some prompts I've used to make this process a little easier. I recommend taking some time periodically during your day to look at these prompts, pick whichever one sounds most interesting to you, and just jot down a few thoughts. It doesn't have to be clear or complete. It just has to be enough for you.

These three sets of prompts are focused around three scenarios: starting your day with intention, managing overwhelm thoughtfully, and closing out the work day with reflection.

Click on the images to get downloadable PDFs. I hope these help you when you're feeling like you need to pause and collect yourself. It only takes a minute to respond to one of these prompts, but it can change your whole day for the better.