Memories

A trail of memories, one so precious it follows behind you reminding you of who you were yesterday. Just like a picture, a memory frozen in time at times can guide your steps: journaling entails a picture drawn so vividly with your thoughts and words.

Mapping The Way Forward

It is thinking aloud, projecting the conversations in our head in an organized manner to map our path forward.

Journals Are Tools For Mindfulness.

Keeping a journal creates an opportunity for one to channel their inner selves, to converse with oneself, and get a clear picture of what is within. It allows you a chance to get to know more about yourself. Just like when we get to have dates with people we are trying to get to know, journaling can be equated to going on a date with yourself, writing the different facets that make you who you are. It is meant to be a collection of your ideas, observations, and even to record anything of importance you wish to get back to at a later day. Day after day we find our perception of life, our thoughts, and even our beliefs evolving and we need to keep these on the record as they show us how much we have grown.

Keep Track Of Your Decisions.

A journal is a tool to keep track of the important decisions that you make, and serves as a reminder of why you made them in the first place. It allows you to lay down your goals in a clear and organized way. When goals are not written down, they forfeit their importance and just remain in a realm of dreams. To realize your goals, you need to keep track. For a goal to be realized there is a need for a plan to be put forward and constant journaling allows you to make step by step plans to reach your goal.  By journaling, you can ensure accountability and make it possible to go back and re-evaluate the progress of your goals concerning the plan detailed in your journal. Having a written plan of the path to your goals also allows one to be able to re-strategize.

When you keep a journal, it is fairly easy to sort through the mental clutter and be left with what really matters daily. It also allows you to understand your coping mechanisms. It allows you to improve mental clarity and focus by emptying your mind as you are writing down your thoughts. Giving you a better insight of how things are supposed to be.

Growth and progress cannot be seen when there is nothing to compare them to and journals facilitate that growth. The person you are has been built over a long period, being molded together from your experiences and decisions. A journal is a way to document your experiences, the hurts, mistakes, joys, and lessons that have brought us to be where we are. Being able to go back and get a reference from your past experiences when your memory fails you is priceless. You get to refer to past lessons to give you an idea of how to handle the situations at hand.

Help You Keep Your Life Organized.

A journal enhances your organizational skills. They can be structured in a way so that things are written in order, maybe in chronological order or perhaps in some order that makes sense to you. This in turn can help you to plan and structure your day, your week, your life. Knowing when to do what, in turn helping you escape from procrastination. You get to structure your life into a clear vision on paper making it easier to follow through.

It is more beneficial to brainstorm when you are recording the thoughts flowing through your mind. When you keep a constant journal you rarely go through instances where you lose an idea to the wind because the very moment it crosses your mind you write it down before it fades from your mind. Journals expand your mind and keep you creative and innovative as every moment of writing down your thoughts gives you time on your own to discover what you really think and feel.

A Journal Can Be A Therapy Tool.

Journaling is therapeutic. It can serve as a way to heal oneself from different kinds of trauma. It allows you to be free, to open up about your feelings, to embrace those feelings, and get to understand them. It allows you to be vulnerable even without having to share your thoughts when you find it uncomfortable or having witnesses during those moments of vulnerability. You allow yourself to delve deeper into your relationship with your own feelings and reactions, in turn, it can help you be more in control of how you react to situations. For instance, you could work on anger management and strategies to control your temper by resorting to writing down why you are angry and why you feel that way and then how to deal with it and cope with it.

Our minds are not computers so we tend to forget stuff. Journals serve to improve our memory and to keep us self-aware. When you feel like you need a boost of inspiration and motivation, getting back to your journal always gives you an opportunity to push you forward. Not only do you improve your mental health by decreasing stress but you also get to perfect your writing skill from the constant writing. Be intentional about keeping a journal and watch yourself grow every day you self-reflect.

 

 

 

 

No one likes it when they are stuck at a simple problem and can’t find an instant solution to it. It can feel like a giant gas balloon inside you that starts to grow as soon as you face the problem and it is almost on the verge of bursting if you do not find a solution soon. The problem could be in your kitchen while cooking and you can’t find a kitchen tool that you know you had yesterday or searching for your credit card at the shop counter with a queue building up behind you. There is no point in panicking or getting angry because these will not help to solve the problem. That is where creative problem solving methods come to your rescue. They can keep you from unwanted tension and the consequences of that tension.

Creative problem solving techniques you should know

The problems you face daily may not be the same each time. But, if you calm down and think, you will understand that there may be some simple solutions to those problems and following a few easy techniques may help to get rid of the problem. So, here are some of the techniques that you need to keep in mind:

Keeping your head together and finding your center (getting grounded).

Many problems arise when there is inner confusion amongst people. You may have several options and you may get confused as to which option would be suitable. Your mind says one thing while your heart says something else. This leads to conflicting beliefs, perceptions, and wants. Whenever such a situation arises, you should concentrate on what is more important to you. Finding your center is the way to do it. When you center yourself (become grounded), the options will automatically get shortlisted leaving you with an easy choice.

Walk away from the problem

Although this might seem to be running away from the problem it is actually helpful and is one of the most effective creative problem solving methods. Walking away doesn’t mean you don’t want to face the problem. It is just that the problem is not worth spending time on, that’s all. However, it is the timing that you should keep an eye on. You need to know when to let go of the problem. Sometimes, you just need to walk away for a while, not altogether. Getting some space to think or to ignore the problem can be really helpful. Kicking up leaves under the trees or actually going for a walk can truly help you find a solution.

Try a different perspective

Sometimes, it is not just what we think is right. Shifting your perspective and thinking from the point of view of others can actually help to understand their viewpoint as well. You can approach the problem from a different angle and that can help get a solution quickly. For instance, I received a parcel the other day. The sender had put so much parcel tape on it that it was difficult to open but when I turned it over, the bottom was very easy to open!

Your mind may tend to run always to the same solutions because of the life you lead. Trying a different tack or trying someone else’s solution or looking at it from their point of view may open up avenues you might not have dreamt of. This may take you out of your comfort zone but that can be very helpful (if initially uncomfortable) in finding new and creative solutions.

Ask questions

When there is a given set of problems, you have to look at the possible outcomes to those problems. Asking more questions like “why not?”, “what if?”, or “what would be the solution if the problem could be solved backward?”, and so on, can help you get an answer to the problem. Sometimes, a head-on approach to the problem does not lead you to the required solutions. You may have to take a few steps around to find the answer to the problem. These steps may initially seem like time wasters but they allow your brain to come up with better solutions.

Come up with multiple ideas

This may seem to contradict the “find your center” technique but unless you have a number of ideas that can solve a problem, you cannot come to terms with finding your center. Research has shown that the more ideas you have, the easier it is for the brain to come up with a definite solution. That is why there are brainstorming sessions at offices so that everyone can collaborate in finding the best and most acceptable solution from all the possible solutions. However, you have to be non-judgmental while coming up with the ideas. It will allow you to develop plenty of ideas before evaluating which is best.

The problems that you have in your head are far more confusing than the problems that you had to solve when you were at school. There was a definite problem solving solution to those problems but in order to solve life problems, you need to come up with unique creative problem solving methods.