Mindful Bullet Journal Activities

I mentioned in my Developing a Routine blog post a few weeks ago that I would share some of the mindful activities I do in my bullet journal each morning to get my mind in a good position for the rest of the day. It's been a really refreshing change of pace for me to take the 5-10 minutes right at the start of my day to do some reflection and focus on the positive. (Lord knows we need some positivity in our world at the moment. -_-)

I'll usually do these things as one of the first things I do in the morning in the office, but sometimes mornings are hectic and I can't get to these activities. Sometimes I'll do them if I have a free minute in the afternoon which also gives me an extra boost to get through the rest of the day. Sometimes I have to skip a day or two when things get really busy. But I always try to make the effort to do these activities as often as possible and they have really helped to clear my mind from negativity, even if it is only for a few moments. I hope you can use one of these activities in your planner, notebook, or bullet journal to help you gain of glimmer of positivity during the day!

Reasons to Smile

A lot of people use "gratitude logs" in their planners or bullet journals and have always talked about how much they enjoyed using them. I was always a little nervous to take this plunge and commit to writing something each day, but it's honestly such a joy to look back and find something positive in each day. Somedays I have a lot of positive things to write about that are really amazing and other days I find positivity in something as small as my morning coffee, but there's always something to write about.

I give myself a small space to write so I don't have a ton of pressure to write big, long paragraphs about why my day was great (because let's be real, sometimes days aren't so great), so the smaller spaces are much more manageable whether or not I had a really wonderful day. I've been loving this space in my bullet journal every month and have been doing it since September when I first started this journal!

Mental Health Tracker

This is something I recently started doing after finding it in a really wonderful BuzzFeed post about using your bullet journal to help your mental health. Instead of a "habit tracker", which I often found became more of a chore than a helpful resource in my bujo, this tracks how you're feeling and the activities that might contribute to the status of your mental and physical health. For those of you who might not know, I deal with migraines and anxiety fairly regularly, so I have found it is really helpful to know what might be contributing to those aspects of my life.

I have a "physical" section, which lets me know how I'm physically feeling and what might be contributing to that, such as my diet, m the amount of sleep I'm getting, and the last time I got a good sweat in.

A "self care" section which includes daily tasks like showering and brushing my teeth, things that I need to push myself to do like socializing outside of work on a regular basis, and things I enjoy doing like journaling or writing for my blog.

And a "mood" section which lets me know what my overall mood is for the day.

I also found that if I need more space to provide more information on a certain aspect of this tracker, I can simply put a triangle on that space and explain on the weekly spread of the day I felt that way or did a certain activity. It's nice to have the option to write a bit more if I feel like I need to!

This tracker has been very helpful for me to reflect on how the previous day went and why it might have gone the way that it did, as well as help me to prioritize my mental health in different ways. I would definitely recommend this daily activity!

Seasonal Favorites

I do "favorites" videos each season, and so I like to set aside a page in my bullet journal to track my favorite things throughout the season! Not all of the items I write down in this section make the cut into my final video, but it is nice to note down things that I really like each season. It's like a little collection of things that make you happy!

Quotes & Notes

The best part of a bullet journal is that there are no rules. You can customize it and set it up any way you would like, and you can write in whatever feels right. I've been finding lately that allowing myself to write down quotes that make me feel motivated and inspired, and giving myself space to take notes on the random things I'm listening to or watching online makes me feel really productive and fulfilled. Here's some of the things I've been jotting down lately:

Notes and doodles while watching a recent Frannerd video

A quote I doodled on a sticky note and stuck into my bujo to stay motivated.

Notes from a recent episode of the "Dear Hank & John" podcast.

How do you utilize your bullet journal or planner for self care? I would love to know! I hope you were able to take some of these ideas and incorporate them into your bullet journal as well. Mindfulness and self care is so important and utilizing your bullet journal is a great venue for practice!