5 WAYS YOU MIGHT BE JOURNALING WRONG

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Journaling is a wonderful practice that can help you find clarity, reach your goals, and find your next direction in life. ​

But if you feel bored with it, don’t know what to write about, or find that you aren’t being completely open and honest, you may be doing it wrong.

While there are no rules with journaling, you could be unintentionally taking away from the many benefits it provides you.

 

1. You Aren’t Enjoying the Process

Do you find journaling to be extremely tedious, boring, or just not beneficial to you at all? If so, this might come down to how you are journaling and what mindset you are in.

Take a few minutes to meditate or practice mindfulness before you pick up your pen and start to write. Consider how you are feeling at this moment, what you are struggling with, what part of your life you are enjoying, and what your plans are. Get into a mindset of gratefulness, positivity, and kindness before you start writing.

2. You Keep Using it Like a Diary

While many people do actually benefit from using their journals just to write about their day, this isn’t the best option for everyone. Look at how you are journaling and determine whether or not you are actually digging deep or just using it like a diary, where you list what you did today, and didn’t actually get to your thoughts or emotions.

Using a journal should help you work through difficult thoughts or behaviors and be used as a tool for self-reflection that will lead to change.

3. You Never Have Anything to Say

If you feel like every time you open up your journal, you have nothing to say, there are a few quick ways to remedy this. The first way to fix this problem is to use journaling prompts. These are questions or statements that give you a topic to write about in your journal. These often lead to other ideas in your head about what you want to say in your journal.

Examples:  

  • What triggered a powerful emotion today?
  • Did I behave in a way that I didn’t feel good about? How could I have handled that differently? Did I get triggered by a similar situation from my past?
  • Did I say something today that was hurtful toward another person?  If I did, what was I feeling at that moment? What was coming up for me?

Another option when you feel you don’t have anything to say is to make a list each day. It can change by the day, such as today writing down 3 of your best moments, then tomorrow writing 5 goals you have for the next week.

4. Your Stress Has Increased Since Journaling

Journaling should be helping your stress, not making it worse! If you find it to be super stressful or the act of journaling is actually making things worse for you, it’s time to try and figure out why that is.

Consider what you have been writing about, and whether or not you are being kind to yourself. If every journal entry is a rant or negative, and you beat yourself up a lot, that is probably the cause. Try to write at least one positive thing about yourself and express gratitude in your journal.

5. You Find Yourself Holding Back a Lot

You might want to keep the journal to yourself because you fear who might find it one day. However, this is holding you back and stops you from being open and honest with yourself, and can really halt your progress. You need to be able to be candid if you want to find any sort of clarity.

Journaling is a process and one that can do amazing things, but not if you find that you are filtering out certain parts of your life because of fear.

If this feels true for you, try to journal differently. Use these tips above and see if helps make a difference.

I would love to know how you are doing, leave me a comment or send me an email!

 

Amanda Roy

CURRENT HOME FITNESS TRENDS

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You do not have to go to a gym to get in a good workout.

If you want to get in better shape and tone your body but aren’t interested in outdoor exercise or going to a gym, not to worry!

There are many workouts you can do right from home, and there are a lot of new fitness trends related to staying out of the gym. Here are some of the top home fitness trends to try out.

HITT

The first type of workout that is still super popular to do at home is HIIT – which stands for High-Intensity Interval Training.

With this type of workout, you are increasing your intensity as much as you can, but you are doing short intervals. This might include doing sprints, jump squats, jumping jacks, and similar exercises that get your blood pumping and speed up your heart rate, but only for a few minutes at a time. 

MINDFULL WALKING

While not necessarily at home, this is a workout that gets you out of the gym. Mindful walking is not only walking for exercise, including hiking and even jogging, but you stay mindful and present during the entire experience.

Mindfulness puts you in a state where you are only thinking of the activity and how you feel right at that moment. While walking, instead of listening to music or a podcast, try just walking in silence. Take in the sights, experience your breaths, feel your body and muscles moving. It almost puts you into a type of conscious meditative state, turning your daily exercise into a spiritual experience.

YOGA

Next up is yoga! You can definitely do yoga at a local studio, but more and more people are starting to do this workout at home. Doing yoga at home is certainly not a new concept, but it is becoming more popular for a few reasons. 

First of all, there are ways to find amazing yoga teachers and workouts thanks to YouTube, and straight on people’s websites or blogs. Plus, social media is helping a lot because it creates this entire community around people who are also doing yoga at home.

WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY

More than ever before, people are using wearable technology for their home workouts. Apple Watches, Fitbits, and other wearable devices let you track your activity throughout the day, including during your workouts. That way, you know how many steps you took, calories burned, the intensity of workouts, and so much more.

SUBTLE SIGNS OF STRESS IN YOUR DAILY LIFE

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Do You Feel Like You Cant Handle Your Stress Anymore?

It is easy to know when you are dealing with extreme stress, such as a serious illness or job loss. But there are so many other sources of stress that you might not realize are affecting your body and mental health. Here are some subtle signs that you are dealing with stress in your daily life.

 

Lady feeling stessed

You Are Constantly Tired and Fatigued

 

Do you feel like you are always tired, no matter how much sleep you get or the caffeine you consume? If fatigue becomes a problem, it might be from your emotional stress. When you have a lot of stress in your life, even very small sources of stress, it can cause your cortisol levels to be out of balance. This, in turn, affects your ability to get a good night’s sleep and also reduces your energy levels during the day. So, if you struggle with insomnia and fatigue or just being tired no matter how much you sleep, it could be a sign of stress.

 

Your Mood is Unpredictable

 

Another sign of stress that people often think is from other sources is when you are moody, agitated, or irritable. Your brain is handling a lot when you have multiple reasons to be stressed out every day, and you probably focus on your stressors more than anything else. This causes overwhelming panic, anxiety, and many more emotions that can lead to moodiness and agitation.

 

Your Anxiety is Getting Worse

 

You may also notice that when you have more to stress about, your anxiety is also worse. There is a big connection between stress and mental illnesses like anxiety and depression. People with chronic stress find their anxiety worse, and those with anxiety find that stress affects them more severely. It is a difficult cycle to be caught up in. If you have an anxiety disorder, it is even more important to recognize the signs of stress and try to keep it under control as best you can.

 

You Feel Confused and Lack Focus

 

Lastly, you might have brain fog from the stress, which can confuse, lack of focus, and poor concentration. If you notice that you are getting behind in work, you can’t focus on a task for very long, or your concentration is suffering, it may be from your stress.

If you say, “that is me” to 2 of these, you are experiencing a lot of stress. Stress leads to a lack of sleep, weight gain, relationship issues, and hormone imbalances.

If you are overwhelmed by these feelings and are unsure how to change the habits causing the issues, contact me, and we will discuss your next steps.

Amanda Roy

3 FOOD HACKS FOR FAT LOSS

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3 Recipe Hacks For Fat Loss

Try these 3 Easy Food Hacks out for the next 30 days, and see how quickly your fat loss results ramp up. The improved results will motivate you to workout harder and more consistently, which will then add to an even greater level of fitness.

Working out hard is an essential part of any fat loss plan. It sculpts your muscles, raises your resting metabolism, whittles down your waist, and gives you functional strength and endurance.

The only catch is that you can seriously slow, or even reverse, your results by eating poorly. There’s nothing quite as frustrating as when you are working out like a champ only to face the same belly rolls each morning.

To keep you from giving up in frustration, I’ve put together the following 3 Easy Food Hacks to amp up your results.

These hacks are the most common carbs we eat. When we make swaps, we can increase our results!  Combined with movement, we can see results quickly and learn new ways of losing weight.

 

Easy Food Hack #1: RICE

Rice is a big part of many a meal. There’s white rice, brown rice, stir-fried rice, sticky rice, wild rice, and the list goes on. All of these kinds of rice (yes, even brown rice) are packed with carbs and calories. This is great, if you are a growing child or an athlete, but not so great for someone like you with a fat loss goal.

Rather than give up rice completely, because that would make your veggies and meat look really lonely on a half-empty plate, let’s turn to Easy Food Hack #1.

CAULIFLOWER RICE: Now, don’t get skeptical of me until you give this food trick a try. To make rice from cauliflower first wash it and trim the leaves and stems. Chop into small pieces and then run those pieces through a food processor with the grating attachment. This will result in a rice-like consistency. Place the cauliflower rice in a large skillet with a Tablespoon of olive oil and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and you are good to go. Serve your normal vegetable and meat dishes over a bed of cauliflower rice just as you would traditional rice.

 

Easy Food Hack #2: NOODLES

Have you ever noticed that when you crave your favorite pasta dish, you’re actually just craving the sauce? Noodles alone are bland and unspectacular. The magic, as well as the protein, is in the sauce.

Noodles, like traditional rice, are packed with calories and carbs that get in the way of your fat loss results. So, rather than just eating a bowl of sauce, try Easy Food Hack #2.

ZUCCHINI NOODLES: Again, try this trick before you knock it, I’m guessing that you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Wash zucchini, and then run a vegetable peeler down its sides, creating long, wide noodles. Stop when you reach the inner, seedy part of the zucchini. These raw, zucchini noodles do not require any cooking, simply throw them onto your plate and top them with your favorite pasta sauce. (Of course, I’m assuming that you’re not going to use a white, cream-based sauce, but that’s another article for another day.)

 

Easy Food Hack #3: BREAD, BUNS, TORTILLAS

Cauliflower rice and zucchini noodles are all fine and dandy for those meals that you prepare at home, but what about your meals eaten out? Many restaurant meals revolve around bread, buns, or tortillas. These things are tasty, yet filled with calories and carbs that add to those annoying belly rolls.

That’s when you turn to Easy Food Hack #3.

THE LETTUCE WRAP: This trick is more popular than the first two, so you may already be familiar with it. How does it work? When ordering your meal, be it a sandwich, burger, or taco, ask that it be wrapped in lettuce in place of the bread, bun, or tortilla. Most places are really cool about it, and you end up getting to eat the good part of the meal – the meat and flavors—without the carb-filled extras. If for some reason the restaurant is unable to wrap it in lettuce for you, then ask for the filling to be placed on a pile of greens and eat it with a fork.

Amanda Roy