“How did you spend your day today?”
We think about something, have different feelings about it, and sometimes we do not understand exactly what is going on in our minds. If you want emotions that you do not understand to be understood by people around you, it would be the same as giving them problems that they cannot solve.
Many psychologists say that it is important to admit your thoughts and feelings. So, we try to study the mind through the emotion diary.
Emotion diary is about writing down one thing that has happened on a day by dividing it into events, thoughts, and emotions. This method is a CBT(Cognitive Behavioral Therapy), which is actually widely used by psychiatrists in patients.
Moving back to the initial question, when one asks, “How did you spend your day today?”, most people talk about it mainly in terms of events or situations. You would hear answers from them, such as ‘It was a busy day,’ or ‘I was stressed because of work.’
So, if you ask them, ‘What were your thoughts in that situation?’ as their next question, how should they answer to it?
If they answer, ‘I was annoyed and got angry because I was stressed,’ this answer is not a thought, but an emotion. There must have had been a thought before they were angry because they were stressed. We have to be intentionally aware of this thought.
Daily journals allow you to be conscious of your thoughts by recording events, thoughts, and emotions separately.
It is very important to be conscious of thoughts. This is because it is not the event itself but the thought of interpreting the event that creates emotions. Emotion diary allows you to recognize thoughts that connect events and emotions, which is important in that it gives you the room to change the lines of your emotions through intentional learning to change your thoughts.
Then, let us think about the situation again by separating the events, thoughts, and emotions.
Situation: You got angry because your friend was late and not on time.
In fact, the events and emotions are revealed in this situation, but the thoughts are invisible. The thought here is that the friend who was not on time is inconsiderate, and as a result, you felt anger.
What emotion would you have felt if you thought “Maybe something has happened to this friend” or that “One can be late”?
Maybe you wouldn’t have had worried or used up any emotions.
Other people’s mind, world, and the past cannot be controlled by your own power. You would better stop obsessing about these. On the other hand, it is possible to control your own mind by yourself.
Let us temporarily stop our emotions through Daily Journal and analyze and record emotions, causes, and thoughts. This kind of behavior helps you to understand yourself better.
You have to focus on who you are, what you want, and how you want to live. If the center of your life is solid, you can treat the world with a relaxed mind.
Daily Journal is your guide to daily self care. You can use to track your moods and jot down your feelings.
