Why Keep A Positivity Diary?
A positivity diary can help our mental health and make us grateful for areas of our lives we do not appreciate, in many ways. For example:
· Have positive thoughts!
· Encourages us to be confident and happy in our day to day life
· We will focus away from the negatives, helping resist anxiety and mental health issues
· Gives us the chance to slow down our fast-paced life and be able to relax
· Have a clear mind to focus on being more productive and organised
After a stressful day, we can have negative thoughts. Therefore, it is good to write a positivity diary in the evening to filter out the bad thoughts by noticing the good things that happened. For example, you can write ‘I am grateful for…’ and to show the good things you have done. Therefore, this could lead to more confidence in your work and personal life!
Discussing Negative Thoughts
By writing down your negative thoughts, you can let them go from your mind. Therefore, the positivity diary helps you show gratitude for the happy, positive things in your life. Also, the journal can help you understand what creates negative thoughts that are damaging your mental health.
Feeling of Appreciation
First, we show our feeling of appreciation for ourselves by being grateful for our strengths and accepting our weaknesses. We can show this with the positivity diary. By saying ‘I am grateful for…’, we benefit our mental health because:
· We notice our positives
· We minimise our weaknesses
· We are mindful
· We accept ourselves for who we are
Why suffer when we can accept our positives and improve our mental health and wellbeing?
In our fast-paced life, we are always taking on more and more stressful roles. High-pressure situations make us criticise ourselves. As a result, we devalue ourselves which can damage our mental health. Therefore, this hides the accomplishments that we should take the time to notice.
A positivity diary makes us value ourselves. For example:
- We boost our best qualities
- Positivity helps to remove negativity
- We can tackle anxiety and mental health issues with a positive approach
By writing a positivity diary, we can get a feeling of appreciation from day to day life. When going to work, it is important to see the positives of this even though we do not always want to go! For example, the social aspect and getting fresh air are positives from our work life. We spend so much time at work; we have to enjoy it. The positivity diary can help to appreciate these positives.
Sleep
Writing a positivity diary before going to bed means we go to sleep thinking happy thoughts. Therefore, we have a better night’s sleep! Then, we will be more productive the next day. The positivity diary can benefit our work life and our personal life. For example:
· Less exhaustion
· More time to give to friends
· Higher energy levels
· Generally more optimistic
Sleep plays a large part in developing healthy, positive mental health. For example, arriving at work exhausted and unhappy every day impacts us as well as everyone else at work. Then everyone becomes unproductive at work.
We could enter a vicious cycle of sleeping poorly and being unproductive at work. This cycle will repeat until we make changes to our lifestyle. These changes can begin with a positivity diary. Therefore, telling ourselves on a nightly basis what we have achieved and what we are grateful for can help break the cycle. Finally, we will improve our mental health and wellbeing.
To read more about practicing gratitude, visit our website to read our full article.
Written by Lily Shaw
