Your prescription for wellbeing - do less or more of these
The Your prescription for wellbeing journal is a journal to help you keep notes of what helps you to get back on track when you're out of sorts. You'll can buy it here and find out more about it here.
Two very important lists you're asked to write on every prescription are:
Things I do that help
Things I do that don't help or hinder me
The premise is that when you're out of sorts you're often so caught up with how you're feeling you forget that there are things you can do that will help you, and things you might be doing that are hindering you. Writing a list of these activities is a nudge to do more of those on one list and less of the other. A list you can then refer to and update in the future.
You'll find a list of suggestions later in this post.
Here's one activity on my list of 'things I do that help' recorded during a personal training session with my PT:
There's a list of suggestions about what might go on each list later - please remember though that one person's support activity might be another person's nightmare stress inducing activity because as as I say in my what is normal poem:
"my normal isn't your normal, yours isn't mine"
Things you could do that might help
(a list that tells you more about me than it being an exhaustive list of things to do - so do please use it as something to get your creative juices going about what would be on your list - on page 8 of the journal you're encouraged to write your own general list of things that work for you - that you can then pick from when writing a specific prescription.)
Affirmations, Action, Adventure, Art, Asking for help, Appreciation, Awareness,
Movement, Meditation, Mindfulness, Music, Me time, Mountains, Massage, Mandalas, Mentors, Mobilisation, Musicals, Mudras, Mind, Mindset, Metaphor in your language,
Patience, Poetry (and is why I've included some of my poems in the journal), Playing, Podcasts, Pets, Plays, Purpose, Puzzles, Plank, Passion, Pilates, Plants,
Quirky, Quiet, Qigong, Quotes, Question, Quiz,
Resting, Recharging, Recycling, Reading, Rain, Releasing, Reciprocity, Refer to your prescription for wellbeing journal, Relationship, Reframing, Running (this would be on my hinders me list), Rivers, Repairing, Role model, Respect,
Resentment, Refusing help, Resistance, Rejecting, Risks (taking too many),
Shoulding, Shouting, Skipping meals, Slowing down, Speeding up, Stuck, Sacrifice, Sabotage, Showers (would be on my list as they get me too hyper whereas a lovely bath starts my day more calmly)
A post from the archives tells you a little more about the zigging and zagging - ie the mindsets that Inhibit growth and those that Accelerate it.
What's on your list?
The aim being to do more of the first list and less of the second - and I appreciate that's sometimes easier written and said than done. Awareness however is the first step allowing your pre frontal cortex to get to work in finding solutions about how to stop or release this unhelpful mindset, belief or behaviour.
For more about the Your prescription for wellbeing journal, examples of how it is being used, and other more unconventional tools to help you when you're stuck to get back on track why not: