I am a huge fan of brain dumps and journal on and off myself.  Brain dumps allow you to “dump” out all your thoughts and sort them, trashing those without significance and organizing others by importance   Whether you choose to do a brain dump, or journal racing thoughts, they both can help quiet the racing mind. They can put onto paper what you cannot see that swirls in your head. These activities can calm anxiety or help kickstart you into action. Journaling can help increase your awareness and see where you are feeling “stuck”.  

Brain dumping is a journaling technique that can be used over and over or a stand-alone method of effective coping in a chaotic moment.  Brain Dumps are basically whatever you are thinking…get it out.  Then sort what I call the, “dirty Kleenex and gum wrapper thoughts” out into the garbage.  Sort was it left into categories such as must do, can do and want to do.  It’s a way to organize and prioritize thoughts so that a racing mind can slow down and catch a breath.  An anxious mind can see, there…it’s not so bad.  And a “stuck” mind can narrow down the must do’s and formulate a plan to start with the low hanging fruit – something easy, and then tackle other tasks according to priority.  List makers will feel accomplished as they cross off each task large or small.  Instead of chasing squirrels in the mind, a stuck person can find at least one step to take forward to move them from stuck to motion.  As the laws of physics tell us, a body in motion tends to stay in motion.  We just need to take the first step!

Journaling can be done in many ways.  The methods and purposes vary greatly and can be as unique as every person reading this is.  You can keep a log of thought each day, take a personal inventory of how you are feeling, log goals or ask yourself open ended questions to stimulate thought.  There is no editing, wrong answers, or grammatical corrections.  You basically write whatever you are thinking – perhaps with a topic in mind, or just stream of consciousness.  You literally write everything down even if it doesn’t make sense to get it out! 

When you’re alone, this can be a great way to effectively cope and not have to share your deep dark secrets or simply stop herding cats in your mind.  It’s like you clean out your mind, cleansing it of the chatter and clutter and nonsense that can hang in our heads and either stall us or wind us up.

Here are a few samples of questions:

1. What habit do you most need to break?

2. How will breaking yesterday’s habit affect your life today, tomorrow or in the future?

3. Are you ready to break the habit? If not why and if yes, what’s your plan?

A few questions that are a bit less deep, but fun to explore:

1.  What is your favorite vacation spot?

2.  Who am I grateful for?  Who can I thank, appreciate, or send a smile to today?

3.  Describe a great day and put one thing into practice today to make it a better day.

As a subscriber to www.Soulistic Well-Being.com you will receive journal prompts on a monthly basis.  If you want help now, consider signing up for an initial health coaching session, email me at Janelleb.Baldwin@SoulisticWell-Being.com with an questions you might have in starting this journey to your best self.  Together we can co-create an action plan based on your goals, vision and ambitions. We’ll also navigate the barriers and obstacles that keep you form achieving sustainable and lasting healthy habits.

We can explore a brain dump worksheet and set realistic SMART goals so that you can take realistic steps, make progress as you are accountable to me and utilize brain dumps or other journaling methods to become your best self.