Are you stressed out?
What kind of question is that? Is there someone who isn’t stressed out?
A more realistic question to ask would be this one: how stressed out, are you?
Some of us get small doses of stress on a daily basis. We have to wake up early, get ready for work or school, and give 100% of ourselves every single day.
Jacky Mersier, an academic writer for College-Paper, explains that people of all ages are under a lot of pressure: “I work with students, so I know they don’t have it easy. The expectations imposed on them are huge. And when I observe the people I work with, I also see a lot of stress going on. They have to meet deadlines, make revisions, and meet crazy quality standards. I guess when we retire, we’ll worry about other things. It just never goes away.”
Jacky is right. Stress never goes away. It’s an integral part of our lives. To some extent, it serves a good purpose, since it makes us alert and able to respond.
When you want to deal with stress, it’s not a matter of making it go away. It’s a matter of management. It’s there. You want to channel it, so it won’t affect you on a deep level.
What could possibly help?
Meditation Might Be the Answer
Cat Willow, team manager and editor at Scholar Advisor, says meditation changed his life.
“When I became a team manager, I accepted the promotion with extreme enthusiasm. That lasted until I realized that the responsibilities were more than I was ready to handle at that point. Coincidentally, I joined a meditation course during the same period,” – he says. “Meditation was what helped me gain self-confidence and deal with the stress at work. Bit by bit, I got better at meditation and stress management. You can never get to the state of perfection here, but every effort counts.”
That’s just an individual experience. But the good thing about meditation is that it works for everyone.
One research study found that meditation was a highly effective technique for reducing stress and treating anxiety disorders.
Another study found that it was also effective in improving the physical and psychological status of people who suffer from chronic pain.
Meditation is effective.
You just need to learn how to do it, and you need to start meditating regularly.
But how do you learn how to meditate? Do you just sit in a comfortable posture, close your eyes and wait to see what happens?
Well, meditation is simple. But it’s also a complex process. You’re practically facing your mind, and you might awaken its demons.
If you’re not ready to face the thoughts and emotions that arise, you might get more anxious.
That’s why meditation teachers always recommend people to start meditating under proper guidance.
What if you cannot join a meditation course at the moment for any reason? Maybe you don’t have the time or finances, or maybe you cannot find a good meditation teacher in your area.
What do you do?
There’s a practice that doesn’t require much preparation. It’s really simple and you can do it on your own. We’re talking about journaling. Well okay; maybe you will need some training if you absolutely don’t know how to write. But a single tutoring session with a writer from Best Essays will do the trick.
Journaling as a Meditation: How to Do It the Right Way
Understand What Journaling Means
First and foremost, you need to understand what this practice calls for. Let’s try to explain it, as briefly and as clearly as possible.
- Journaling is a candid, spontaneous, and unrestricted expression of your thoughts, memories, and emotions. You can practically write whatever you feel like writing. You just need to let yourself go and be very, very honest with yourself. Do not restrict your words. No one can judge you on this. You cannot judge yourself on what you write.
- When you practice journaling as a form of meditation, it’s best to use it as a tool for observing your thoughts. The so-called antar mauna meditation is based on that principle. You just allow your thoughts to come and go, without provoking them and without analyzing them. With enough practice, you reach the “level” of inner silence. When you write in your journal, you can implement this technique. Just let your thoughts come and go, and write them down without trying to analyze them. Be the observer!
- You can write about anything. This is not a blog and you don’t need a niche. Write about the things that make you happy, worried, frightened, excited, stressed… anything is acceptable when it’s related to you.
Do It Daily
Let’s think: what does journal mean?
The word comes from the old French word journel, which means “a day; time; a day’s travel or work.” The word journal in modern French means “that which takes place daily.”
Journaling, by definition, is done on a daily basis. Just as meditation, it needs to be developed into a habit in order to become effective.
That’s probably the hardest part. It’s why most people start, see temporary benefits, and eventually stop doing it.
- Writing something in your journal at the same time every day is a nice method. When you set a precise hour for journaling, you’ll start doing it as a habit. You may do this before going to bed or in the middle of the day. Do whatever works for you. It’s simply important to fit journaling in your daily schedule and make it a constant part of it.
- You don’t have to write for too long. If you write for an entire hour today, the thought of spending the same period of time in journaling tomorrow and every other day will be overwhelming. You can write for 10 minutes. It’s something. It’s enough. But do it regularly!
It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect
Journaling is hard for the perfectionist. They approach this task as an academic assignment. They try to evaluate this content as good or bad.
Some people even turn to services like Best Dissertation when they want to learn how to do journaling properly.
Let’s clarify something once and for all: it’s okay to rely on a professional writer when you don’t know how to start a journal and what to write in it.
You’ll greatly benefit from their guidance. However, trying to write highly advanced content and asking an editor from A-Writer to improve it might be a tad too much.
Relax! No one will read this. Don’t be harsh on yourself. Even if there’s a grammar mistake or two, it’s okay. In journaling, it’s the essence, not the form, that matters.
Associate Journaling with Meditative Practices
Journaling, on its own, is beautiful. It’s a great practice that makes you more aware of your thoughts, feelings, desires, fears, and overall personality.
But when it becomes a meditation, it goes deeper in all those aspects.
Let’s see how a meditation usually starts and develops:
- You get into a comfortable position.
- Feel the body, so you can relax it.
- You become aware of the breathing process, without affecting it in any way.
- Go on with your chosen meditation technique.
As you can see, it takes some preparation. You can use a similar method to get into the “journaling” mode. Just sit, close your eyes, and relax. Observe your breathing. Breathe in, breathe out.
Don’t try to slow your breath down or do anything with it; just allow it to flow naturally and become fully aware of it.
Then, start observing your thoughts as they appear. Don’t cause them on purpose and don’t block the ones you don’t like. You’re into the process. It’s time to start writing!
Journaling Is a Great Meditation Method
Some people don’t like traditional meditation techniques. They feel like they are overly active or too anxious to sit still with their eyes closed.
If you’re one of them, it’s okay. You can still meditate; you just need to turn to a form of active meditation. Journaling is perfect for you!
