The Power Of Mindfulness Meditation And A Creative Journal

As you head in to each of your creative sessions you need to have done everything that you can to put yourself in the right state of mind for what is to come. If you do not do this then you will find that your session is a real struggle and you may not come up with any creative ideas at all.

 

In order to overcome this, there are two things that you can do prior to your creative sessions to provide you with the best chance of being rally creative and to come up with the results that you desire. These things are mindfulness meditation and the maintaining of a creative journal.

 

You Need a Clear Mind

 

If you go in to your creative session with your mind full of the clutter of the day then you are not going to get the best out of it. Things happen to us during the day which are best left behind when you are trying to be creative.

 

When you mind is full of other thoughts it is going to be tough to find the necessary brain power to generate creative ideas. You need to clear this mind clutter so that you can focus on coming up with innovative solutions. A great way to clear your mind is to be in the present and forget about the past and the future.

 

Learn and Practice Mindfulness Meditation

 

A lot of people are aware that mindfulness meditation is a great way to clear your mind and ground yourself in the present moment. But they do not practice it because they believe that it is too difficult to do.

 

Mindfulness meditation is a lot easier than you probably think. People all around the world are now using this for a few minutes each day to clear their heads and prepare themselves to be in a calmer and more relaxed state.

 

There are plenty of resources online that will explain what mindfulness meditation is, what it does and how you can learn it. You will find a lot of helpful videos on YouTube that will show you how to practice mindfulness meditation. Don’t make excuses, just learn how to do it and practice regularly.

 

Practice mindfulness meditation before every creative session. You only need to spend a few minutes doing this. It really is effective in clearing your mind and grounding you in the here and now. This is exactly where you want to be for your creative session.

 

The Creative Journal

 

If you are not using a journal right now for recording your thoughts, your goals and the actions that you need to take every day to achieve your goals then you need to start one right now. You do not need a fancy leather-bound journal – just use an ordinary note pad.

 

As you develop your creativity you are going to come up with a lot of creative thoughts. It is vital that you pay attention to these thoughts so you need to keep a record of them so that you can evaluate them properly.

 

When you record all of your creative thoughts in your journal you will be able to reflect on these to see how much progress you have made in the development of your creativity. This is great way to motivate yourself and keep going.

3 Ways to Get Clear on Why You Care So Much

One way to learn to stop caring so much about irrelevant issues and thoughts of others is to dig in deep and study yourself in a new way to get to the bottom of the reasons you care so much. 

 

Three ways help you get clear on why you care so much that you can use.

 

Journaling 

 

You can use your computer, buy a specialized journal, or you can simply use a notebook you have created to journal. It's up to you what type of system you use and whether it's modern or analog. 

 

The important part is that you try to use your journal to express your thoughts, emotions, and stream of consciousness about a problem you're trying to solve or a feeling you're trying to explore without judgment or censoring. 

 

Write in your journal every day when you're trying to understand why you care so much. You may end up discovering your life purpose or a new reason for getting up each day that you had not realized before. 

 

Meditation 

 

Before you use your journal, it can help to clear your mind using meditation. Meditation practice is all about not thinking and not judging your thoughts or feelings even as they still happen during the meditation. 

 

Each time you meditate, you can have a purpose of self-discovery or have a goal to clear your mind and relax. To practice this type of meditation, you'll want to find a quiet, comfortable place to sit or lay down. Then concentrate on your goals for the meditation, close your eyes, and start focusing on your breathing. 

 

Think about the situation you're trying to understand for a moment, then clear your mind. If any intrusive thoughts come in, brush them aside by refocusing on your breathing. You mustn't allow any outside information or sensation to distract you during this time. 

 

Therapy 

 

These days you're so fortunate because you can get psychological therapy from the comfort of your home using your computer or smartphone. Numerous companies offer this service and varying price points, but you can expect to pay $60 or more per hour to get therapy. In addition, many insurance companies include several sessions as part of your benefits.

 

If you seek therapy, make sure you find someone experienced working with you on overcoming people-pleasing and putting yourself last in life. Remember, your wants and needs matter too. Most therapists can guide you through the self-discovery process to finally know what you want and feel good about it regardless of the reactions from other people. 

 

Any or all three of these methods help you become crystal clear regarding your motivations to seek approval from others and even help you stop doing it. Remember, what you want from life is important too, and following someone else's dreams will never get you what you want and need to feel successful and, more importantly, satisfied and content in your life. 

 

Decision-Making: 9 Causes of Indecisiveness

If you have trouble coming to final decisions, you may want to explore a few causes of your indecisiveness. Then, if you discover you're doing these things, you can eliminate them and start making decisions much faster. 

 

Thinking Too Much – If you allow yourself unlimited time to make a choice, you may never make one. Sometimes that can lead to choices being made for you by default. This can make you feel a little out of control. Instead, set time limits on research and decision-making. 

 

Too Many Options – For some choices, there are simply too many options for you to choose from. If you keep looking at all the possibilities without narrowing them down, you need to create better criteria for yourself to finalize your decisions. 

 

Listening to Others – While it's fine to get opinions occasionally for some things, especially if the opinion is an expert one, such as contracting CPA services, for example, for the most part, if the choice only affects you listen to yourself more. 

 

You're Allowing Guilt to Control you – When you first begin to live for yourself to reach your personal goals in life, some people will push back against you. This action can cause guilt on your part. The problem is guilt never helps you make good choices -- only facts do. 

 

Not Listening to Yourself – You know a lot more than you give yourself credit for. Therefore, you need to listen to your internal thoughts based on the knowledge you already have. 

 

Seeking Perfection – Perfection simply does not exist. Therefore, it's a fool's game to keep trying to produce it. In fact, perfection-seeking can just end up in no action being taken at all on your goals because it's impossible. 

 

Lack of Self Confidence – If you lack confidence in your choices, sometimes it's due to a lack of education on the topic. In that case, educate yourself to make sound decisions, and as you make good choices, your confidence level will grow. 

 

Fear Of Making the Wrong Choice – If you fear making the wrong choice about something, step back and ask yourself whether this will matter to anyone in 100 years. If you're not changing the fabric of society with your choice, it probably isn't going to change much. However, if it does matter that much, seeking expert advice may be necessary. 

 

You Forgot Your Overarching Goals – Each decision you make in life either keeps you the same, takes you backward or advances you toward achieving your goals. If you aren't sure about your main goals, it can be hard to match current choices with the right actions. Get clear on your goals, and your choices will become easier. 

 

To overcome any of these decision-making blockers, train your mind to think differently. Instead of thinking of any of these issues, think about what your goals are and whether this decision affects those goals at all or not. If they do, ensure they take you closer to achievement, but if they don't consider that your choice for this one thing may not even matter in the scheme of your life. 

Do You Feel Guilty for Having Interests or Hobbies of Your Own?

The hustle culture surrounding you can sometimes make you feel guilty for having interests or hobbies of your own, especially if it takes you away from your career or your family. 

 

Sadly, this is truer for women than for men, but sadly, men are also catching up to being overworked like most women are these days. 

 

If you feel guilty for having interests or hobbies of your own, it's important to realize that well-rounded people have more than one passion, don't see non-money-making tasks as unproductive, and recognize the benefits of having more than one interest. 

You're Not Obligated to One Passion 

 

Over a lifetime, one person can have hundreds of passion projects and learning experiences related to having and developing interests and hobbies outside of their immediate job, family, or social circle. 

 

While you may not want to pursue too many hobbies at once due to finances and time, you don't have to stick to just one, and you don't have to stick to one your entire lifetime. It's okay to pursue one interest for a few months or years and then drop it for a while to do something else. 

You Don't Owe Anyone "Productivity" 

 

One issue that comes up for some people who want to pursue a hobby or an interest that is new to them is that they start to feel as if they're not productive enough. But here is the thing, your entire life is not about productivity. Sometimes your life is just about being and doing something you enjoy. There is value in doing things outside of building relationships, making money, and being consistent. 

 

Redefine productivity in your mind to do anything beneficial for yourself, not just for others, and not just to pad your bank account. You don't need to monetize every interest or hobby to make them worthwhile in your eyes or someone else's. 

 

The value of the hobby or interest may be intangible or something you can name. But the main thing that a hobby or interest needs to be is something you like to do that fills you with contentment and not something that adds stress to your life. 

There Are Many Benefits to Having More Interests 

 

Every interest or hobby you have offers benefits outside of what most people see as valuable. For example, a hobby or interest costs money and does not make money, and for some people may feel as if it's wasteful. 

 

However, if you have the budget for the hobby and the time for the hobby, and that hobby makes you feel good, the benefits it offers to help you build your self-esteem, feel more confident, and learn new things are also important. 

 

Having interests and hobbies outside of what you are doing now is a great thing to do if you have the time and the budget to do it. However, if you don't want to do these things, find a way to generate the income and free up the time to make it happen. You'll soon find that the benefits far exceed the costs.

Do You Suffer from Approval Addiction?

Receiving validation from other people feels rather good, so good that some people develop an addiction to receiving that outside approval instead of being motivated intrinsically. If you can't motivate yourself without someone else's approval, out may suffer from an approval addiction. 

You're Obsessed with Getting People to Express Interest in You

 

You like being on social media, dating sites, or in any situation where you can attract people and get their attention by having them express interest in you. It might even be hard for you to settle down with a partner because you enjoy the dating world more than the partnered-up world. 

You Need Constant Reassurance 

 

When you are in a relationship, you find yourself asking whether they're "mad" or "upset" with you. This may happen with lovers and friends, and even family members daily. If you often ask for reassurance about how someone feels about you, this may be due to a validation or approval addition. 

You Like to Talk About Your Awesomeness

 

This may be weird, especially if you lack confidence, but sometimes people who aren't confident will talk about all the impressive things they've done to appear more worthy than they think they are in the hopes that the people hearing the tale will agree and validate their thoughts about their awesomeness even though they don't generally believe it themselves. 

You're Money Focused

 

If you tend to think more about money than the value you provide the world, you may have a problem with approval-seeking that is boarding on an addiction. Of course, money is important globally, but it's not the only thing important about you or anyone else. 

You Enjoy Name Dropping 

 

If you find yourself dropping names of people you've worked with or met that other people find important, this is a sign of insecurity. You never need to make yourself look better by your company because you are special just as you are without anyone else. 

You Make Friends with Folks Based on Their Wealth or Reputation 

 

When you look at your closest friend group, are they really your friends, or did you pick them based on what you think they can offer you? Friends should be chosen based on shared values more than shared finances. 

Your Beliefs Change Depending on The Company You're Keeping

 

If you're not keeping the same ideas and opinions across all friend and professional groups, you are part of, and you may be trying to please people too much. It's okay to have your own fact-based ideas, thoughts, and opinions, and it's okay for everyone else too. Hint: It's also okay not to have any views or opinions about a topic you're not educated enough about. 

You Prefer Being in Control of Each Social Situation 

 

When it comes to networking and making friends or building relationships, if you need to be the one in control of the event before you feel comfortable, you may have an issue with approval addiction. Letting other people oversee social situations and relationship building may seem scary because your self-esteem is low but letting people lead a clear sign that you are confident about your thoughts and ideas. 

You Easily Feed into Your Own Victimhood 

 

If something starts going wrong, do you have a hard time seeing answers within yourself? Do you place blame on others? Do you feel good and safe being a victim instead of admitting where you have control and where you can make the change? 

Rejection Makes You Feel Out of Control 

 

If you've ever been rejected professionally or personally, you know that it hurts. However, if you have an approval addition, it might make you totally flip out if someone rejects you because you are doing everything (in your mind) to give them what they want, but they don't want it anyway. If you take this personally, consider that you're not even really being yourself and this rejection is not personal at all. 

 

If you often find that you're doing anything that you don't want to do, only to gain acceptance of a person or group, you may be a people pleaser and even have an approval addiction. To overcome this, you need to figure out who you are, your personal values and design a path to reach your goals based on your own values. 

How Caring Less Reduces Your Stress and Improves Health

Living with stress can lead to poor health and is a large contributing factor in heart disease, asthma, obesity, gastrointestinal problems, and other physical health problems. In addition, stress increases your chance of experiencing depression, anxiety, and even Alzheimer's disease – not to mention premature death. 

 

Training yourself to care less and stop seeking approval for your life will help reduce these problems exponentially. 

 

If you often feel stressed out or worried about what others think or believe when you differ from them, it may be due to having low self-esteem, or it may simply be due to not developing the knowledge or confidence to speak with authority about your goals and objectives without second-guessing yourself or hiding from those who disagree with you like your mom, mother-in-law, boss, or community leader. 

Stress Is a Biological Response 

 

Many people think of stress as being "just a feeling," but the truth is, the feeling is a symptom of a bigger response your body produces in the form of hormone releases like cortisol and adrenaline. When your body releases these chemicals, your entire body responds physically, not just mentally.

 

Your blood pressure rises, your heart beats harder and faster, and even your breath may come in smaller, more rapid gasps. Unfortunately, these physiological changes can lead to, over time, many serious health problems. For this reason, learning how to care less to the point your body also cares less will improve your health. 

Manage Stress with The Right Tools 

 

Now that you realize that stress is more than a feeling, you can manage your stress with the right tools. For example, learning to focus your breathing, using guided imagery, journaling, and meditating mindfully helps you find the root cause of your stress, which is often simply caring too much about what other people think. 

 

Using these tools can help you focus on what matters most while putting in perspective your own thoughts and feelings on the subject instead of just someone else's. When you learn to mind your own business while desensitizing yourself from the triggers that make you feel stressed, you'll amazingly stop overthinking and make better choices based on your own life goals and your personal principles, morals, and values. 

 

If decision-making gives you stress due to your worry about what others think or believing that others are mad at you all the time, or generally not considering what you yourself think about a situation – the added stress can literally make you sick in a physical way. 

 

Identify the cause of your stress and mitigate for it by educating yourself enough to give you confidence about your ideas and opinions, so much so that you'll stop second-guessing yourself when you find out what they think. Learn how to focus on the moment more so that you're mindful at all times of what you really think and feel instead of what others think and feel. After all, your honesty cannot read anyone else's mind, so most of what you think about how they feel is likely wrong anyway -- worry about yourself, and mind your business, as they say, and you'll be a lot less stressed. 

How Journaling Can Help with Achieving Your Goals

Journaling can help you achieve your goals because it will force you to think about them, consider the why and how, and delve deeper into the situation so that you can examine all sides of it. Read on to find out how journaling can help.

 

* It Forces You to Write Down Your Goals - When you start a journal, it basically is a way to force yourself to document your goals. Whether you write them down on paper or you use technology to get it all down doesn’t matter. Once they’re written, they are ready to tackle.

 

* It Makes You Consider Why and How - As you enter data into your journal, you’ll be forced to face the why and how of your goal. This is especially true if you write down a goal and focus on it in your journal. 

 

* It Enables You to Examine the Opportunities and Threats - When you are focused on goal making with your journal, you’ll also explore opportunities and threats coming your way due to your goals. It helps you avoid roadblocks in advance. 

 

* It Makes You Develop Steps for Success Based on Your Goals - When you see it written down, you’ll want to notice and pull out any steps you’ve developed in your journal and put them in your calendar for scheduling. 

 

* It Helps You Improve Goal Setting and Achievement - Each time you intentionally set goals, define steps to achieve the goals, and perform them, you are setting yourself up for being able to improve your skills. 

 

* It Provides Accountability - Even if no one else is reading your journal, a private journal can help you become accountable to yourself. If you develop the habit of looking at your journal each day and put something else in there each day, it’ll work great for helping you become more accountable. 

 

* It Provides a Permanent Record - Having a permanent record of the things you’ve done in your life, whether it’s personal or work, is a beautiful thing. Hardly anyone has a perfect memory, so you’ll maintain the lessons learned better with the record to look back at.

 

* It May Be Inspirational - Depending on the journal, you might even be able to take the information inside and compile it into a real book for others to read to inspire them. You might also take from it steps for your success for a project and turn it into a course to inspire someone else.

 

Journaling is an excellent way to work toward achieving all your goals. It will even help you make better goals because the process of entering facts in your journal will cause you to see them in a more logical way that is more useful. 

How Journaling Can Help with Mental Health Issues

Keeping any type of journal will help with improving any mental health issues. However, if you really want to tackle a specific problem you’re having, it will help to determine the right type of journal to keep. Keeping a particular kind of journal may work best for your issue. 

 

* Boosts Your Mood - If you really want to boost your mood, keeping a gratitude journal is where it’s at. All you have to do is once a day, preferably before bed, write down what you’re grateful for today. It might not seem like much but it’s very powerful for going to sleep, thinking positively about your life.

 

* Increases Your Sense of Well-Being - As you write out your thoughts, you’ll start seeing issues from a new angle just because you’re opening your mind to think about it. This is going to make you feel more capable of dealing with whatever happens.

 

* Lessens Symptoms of Depression - Understand that depression is something different from sadness, and that you likely need a counselor. Writing it all down can make it seem less horrific so that you can feel better. Plus, you can look back at days you thought life was "over" and see better days after. 

 

* Reduces Anxiety - The problem with anxiety is that it was designed to help us get away from immediate danger. It triggers the "fight or flight" response. If each time you have that anxious feeling you choose to write in your journal how you are feeling and why, you’ll start to control it better.

 

* Lowers Avoidance Behaviors - Many people who have mental health issues practice avoidance behaviors such as not going to places that cause them anxiety, or not doing the things they need to do due to how they feel. When you write it out, it helps you get the feelings out but do the thing anyway.

 

* You’ll Sleep Better - Pouring your heart out into a journal is a great way to get things off your chest. However, for sleep, go to the gratitude journal and write down what you’re thankful for today and go to sleep thinking of that.

 

* Makes You a Kinder Person - Exploring your own emotional state and accepting your own feelings while you work through what makes you who you are in your journal is going to make you naturally more empathetic to others too. Letting go of judgment for self improves your thoughts for others also.

 

* Improves Your Memory - This is almost a situation where you want to say "duh" but it has to be said. Writing down things helps you remember them because you can go back and read it, but also because the act of writing something down enables you to recall it.

 

One thing that can really help you make your journaling work is to learn how to keep one effectively. Make some journaling rules, do it every day to create a habit, and keep it private unless you decide to let your therapist see it or you decide to use it to help others. This is for you and only you for the most part. 

 

How to Get Started Writing a Journal

Getting started journaling isn’t something that you need to think about too hard. Yes, there are numerous types and styles of journals and ways to do this that may or may not be more effective depending on your goals, but you can simply get some paper (or your computer) and get started today.

 

* Dust Off Your Pen and Paper - You don’t need anything special to keep a journal; in fact, purists believe that using pen and paper is the best way to journal because you can carry it with you anywhere and you don’t need technology. So, there will be no excuses. 

 

* Do It First Thing in the Morning - Don’t procrastinate about keeping your journal. It’s best to do it in the morning before you begin your day so that you have the right frame of mind for the day. Plus, you only need five to ten minutes, so it’s not that big of a deal. 

 

* Do It Last Thing at Night - Another time to do it is before bed. This works especially well for gratitude journals. That way you can go to sleep thinking about all the things you are grateful for instead of things you’re worried about.

 

* Write Every Single Day - Whenever you choose to do it, try to set it up so that it becomes a ritual and a habit. Journaling every single day is going to be more effective than just doing it when you feel like it.

 

* Start Simply - Don’t start being worried about style and substance right now; just work on the daily habit with pen and paper (or if it’s easier for you, a computer or smartphone). Don’t make it hard - just get going.

 

* Begin with Today - Start right now and write about your day today. That’s the easiest thing to do. What of significance happened today? How did you feel about it? What would you do differently? What would you do the same? 

 

* Try Different Types of Journals - Once you develop the habit, you can start trying different types of journaling like a bullet journal, or a vision journal, or maybe even a project journal for your next project. 

 

* Keep It Private - The main thing to remember about your journal is that it should be kept private. The only exception is if you want to share thoughts with a therapist, counselor, or coach. Or if you want to turn it into a book or course, to help someone else overcome whatever you overcame.

 

Keeping a journal will help you deal with the things that happen to you as well as the things that have not happened to you. The main reason is that writing it down helps you remember what you did right and what you did wrong. It helps you improve your decision-making capacity for similar situations. The main thing is just to get started journaling in any way that works for you.

How to Make Your Journaling More Effective

Any type of journal that you keep can be beneficial. It doesn’t matter if it’s just to document your life or to work through problems - you can use a journal to do it all. From tracking your projects to documenting vacation to overcoming anxiety, a journal will work for you if you pick the right type and make journaling a ritual. 

 

* Find the Right Medium for You - For some people, that’s pen and paper. Many experts claim that’s the best way because of its simplicity. However, you have to do what works for you, and what works for you is what you will do daily. If you make it too hard, you won’t do it.

 

* Turn Journaling Daily into a Habit - To be most effective, journaling has to go on for a long time. It’s a long-term strategy to improve your life and not something that is going to have any effect overnight. For this reason, ritualize your journaling so that it becomes a daily habit.

 

* Set Up a Comfy Journaling Spot - Find a good space you can journal in each day, one which is relaxing and without stress. Some people like to keep their journal by their bedside so that each night when they get into bed, they can quickly write in their journals. 

 

* Choose the Right Style of Journal for Your Needs - The type of journal you want to keep depends on how you plan to use it. You may want to track a project, in which case you’ll need a project journal. If you want to simply document your life, you’d want a classic journal. 

 

* Use Your Journal to Work Through Life and Reach Goals - Don’t just write in the journal; actively seek to improve something in your life - whether it’s the thoughts which drive your feelings or improving your actions so that you experience more success.

 

* Consider Using More Than Writing to Document Your Life - You don’t need to just use text. You can use images, pictures, tickets, and other memories inside your journal too. Sometimes a few pictures and mementos mean more than anything you can write to help you remember.

 

* Read and Reflect Occasionally - Take at least a few minutes to re-read parts of your journal. Once you’ve kept it for a year, it’s fun to go back and read the same day from last year to find out what’s different now and what’s the same and why.

 

* Keep Your Journal Secure - You don’t want to worry about anyone getting into your private business when you’re not around, so keep it hidden. If it’s on your computer, keep it password protected. 

 

If you know why you want to journal, it’ll be easier to figure out which type of journal you need to keep to make your journaling more effective. Sometimes you just want to document your life, while other times you want to work through something difficult. It really depends on your goals and the point of the journal.

Journaling to Help Combat Loneliness

It really doesn’t matter what your issue is; if you want to overcome it, you can find a way to use journaling to help. You can set up a particular type of journal like a gratitude journal to help yourself become more thankful for what you do have, and you can also keep a bullet journal and set goals to overcome the loneliness you’re experiencing if more social connections will do it. The possibilities are truly endless.

 

Let's look in more detail at how journaling can help combat loneliness.

 

Allows You to Explore Your Thoughts and Feelings

 

Journaling can help to simply focus on writing expressively your thoughts and feelings surrounding the loneliness that you are feeling. If you can write about each part of your feelings, and when you first noticed them, you may identify the core cause of the feelings. When you do that, you can develop a plan to solve the problem.

 

Gives You a Way to Express Your Thoughts and Feelings

 

Writing is a time-honored way of expressing thoughts and feelings safely. You never have to let anyone read it. You can write it down in the form of letters to people, or to yourself, or even to someone you don’t know that you keep for yourself when you’re done but completed to get it out in the light to study by you.

 

Provides a Way to Understand Your Thoughts and Feelings

 

Sometimes you may not even know what you are feeling. It can be hard to understand and express what we feel even to ourselves. But when you focus on writing it down, it can help you understand everything in a new way from a new direction that you may not have considered. 

 

Helps Foster Social Connections

 

It might seem like a strange notion to consider, but writing can even help you foster social connections. The main reason is that as you read through what you’ve written, you’re going to discover ways to overcome your situation to find the healthy social connections you need.

 

Helps You See the Big Picture More Easily

 

Looking back at the things you’ve written over time about any topic can provide insight into the situation that you never saw coming. That’s because having the journal to look back on provides a way to see the bigger picture. You may feel super-lonely today, but it’s still less than yesterday, which lets you know it’s going to get even better from here.

 

Provides a Means to Understand and Organize Your Thoughts

 

Writing things down, especially when you choose a particular method like the bullet journal, will help you get your thoughts down in an organized and useful way. When your thoughts are a jumble, you might not see the real point but when they're organized, it makes all the difference. For example, in writing it all down, you may realize that your loneliness is really due to being with the wrong partner who does not value you.

 

You’ll Sharpen Your Observation Skills

 

Once you start writing regularly and it’s become a habit, something amazing will happen. Your observation skills will be sharper, and you’ll have an easier time coming up with descriptive and expressive words to use in your journal. This is going to lead to even more breakthroughs due to having more clarity. 

 

Focuses Your Gratitude Skills

 

Something funny happens when writing in a journal, even if it’s not specifically a gratitude journal per se. What happens is that as you’re writing (even if you’re upset), you’ll become calmer - especially when you read it back. You’ll become grateful for what you do have that is positive in your life, even if it’s simply the ability to breathe in and out today.

 

If you want to combat loneliness, consider writing about and exploring why you feel lonely. You also should remember to read the definition of "loneliness" to ensure that this is what you are really experiencing. No one ever needs to be lonely, even when they are alone, if they know how to work through their thoughts and feelings. Journaling can help with that.