I would actually love to live without it. At least for certain periods of time.
It's actually less about the internet, and more about technology, and what it has done to society.

At the dinner table - everyone is on their phone.
After dinner - everyone is watching TV or on their phone.
Long drives where you, the driver, would like someone to talk to - others in the car are on their phone.
You try to talk to someone while they are on their phone - good luck! They won't even hear you speaking!

This is something that really makes me want to take more than a few steps back and away from people, and society. Seeing how everyone is so addicted to their phones and social media is just awful for me.

I also have times where I am on my phone, maybe I'll play a game, talk to friends, read articles, but it doesn't consume me. I am not addicted to it. I don't spend hours on it. If someone talks to me, I put it down.

When I am with a partner, and they are on their phone and I mention something about it, only then do they put it down and then say "ok, what do we talk about?".

Verbal communication has been demolished by phones. Couples have difficult time having proper conversations with each other over lunch, or at any time.

I can go on about this, but the answer to the question is yes, gladly.

Yes, meditation can be a helpful tool for managing ADHD symptoms. By practicing mindfulness meditation, individuals with ADHD can learn to develop greater awareness of their thoughts, emotions, and bodily sensations, and cultivate better focus, attention, and self-regulation skills.

Meditation can help to train the brain to become less distracted and more focused. By practicing meditation regularly, individuals with ADHD can improve their ability to concentrate, control impulsivity, and manage their emotions.

Research has shown that regular meditation practice can lead to improvements in working memory, cognitive control, and overall executive function in individuals with ADHD. Meditation can also help to reduce stress and anxiety, which are common co-occurring conditions in people with ADHD.

It's important to note that while meditation can be helpful for managing ADHD symptoms, it is not a substitute for professional treatment. If you are struggling with ADHD, it's important to seek guidance and support from a mental health provider who can provide you with individualized treatment and support.

Mindfulness can be a helpful tool for managing anger. By practicing mindfulness, you can learn to become more aware of your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations in the present moment. This can help you to identify triggers and patterns that may be contributing to your anger, and to develop a greater sense of self-control and emotional regulation.

Mindfulness can also help to reduce stress and promote relaxation, which can help to reduce feelings of anger and irritability. By learning to stay present in the moment and respond to situations rather than react impulsively, you can develop greater control over your emotions and reduce the intensity and frequency of angry outbursts.

While mindfulness is not a cure for anger, it can be a helpful tool for managing and reducing feelings of anger and irritability. If you are struggling with anger management, it's important to seek professional help from a mental health provider who can provide you with additional support and guidance.

Yeah, meditation can be a helpful tool for managing depression. It can help to calm the mind, reduce stress, and improve mood. By practicing meditation regularly, you can develop a greater sense of self-awareness and mindfulness, which can help you better manage negative thoughts and emotions associated with depression.

Meditation can also help you to develop a greater sense of compassion and empathy, both for yourself and others. This can help you to feel more connected to the world around you and develop a more positive outlook on life.

Overall, while meditation is not a cure for depression, it can be a helpful tool for managing symptoms and improving overall mental health. It's important to note, though, that if you are experiencing symptoms of depression, it's important to seek professional help from a mental health provider.

Journaling can be a great way to help manage depression. When you're feeling down, it can be hard to know where to start or how to get things off your chest. By writing down your thoughts and feelings, you can begin to make sense of them and work through your emotions.

One of the main ways that journaling helps with depression is by providing an outlet for negative emotions. By writing down negative thoughts and feelings, you can release them from your mind and process them in a safe and non-judgmental space.

Journaling can also help you identify patterns and triggers that may be contributing to your depression. By tracking your moods and emotions over time, you can begin to see how different situations and experiences impact your mental health. This can help you identify areas where you may need to make changes, such as setting boundaries, seeking support from others, or making adjustments to your lifestyle.

Journaling can help you develop a more positive outlook on life by focusing on gratitude and positive experiences. By writing about things that you're grateful for or moments of joy and happiness, you can shift your focus away from negative thoughts and feelings and begin to build a more optimistic perspective.

Journaling can be a helpful tool for improving mental health in a number of ways. Here are a few ways that journaling can be beneficial:

1. Reducing stress and anxiety: Writing about your feelings and emotions can help you process and release them, which can reduce feelings of stress and anxiety.
2. Improving mood: By focusing on positive experiences and gratitude in your journal, you can shift your perspective and improve your overall mood.
3. Enhancing self-awareness: Writing about your thoughts and feelings can help you develop a deeper understanding of yourself, your emotions, and your reactions to different situations.
4. Identifying patterns and triggers: By tracking your moods and emotions in your journal, you can identify patterns and triggers that may be contributing to mental health issues.
5. Providing a sense of control: Journaling can give you a sense of control over your thoughts and feelings, and provide a space to reflect on and work through difficult emotions.

Yoga is a great form of exercise that can help you build strength, flexibility, and balance, but it may not be the most effective way to build large amounts of muscle mass.

While yoga does use your body weight as resistance and can help build lean muscle over time, it generally doesn't provide the same level of muscle-building stimulus as more traditional strength training exercises, such as weightlifting. However, certain types of yoga, such as power yoga or hot yoga, may provide a more intense workout that can help build muscle more effectively.

That being said, the amount of muscle you can build with yoga will depend on a variety of factors, including your body type, your fitness level, the specific types of yoga you practice, and the frequency and intensity of your practice.

If your goal is to build large amounts of muscle mass, you may want to consider incorporating additional strength training exercises into your routine, such as weightlifting or bodyweight exercises. However, if you're looking for a low-impact, full-body workout that can help you build functional strength and flexibility, yoga can be a great option.

Trying to meditate for 30 minutes each time can be challenging, especially if you're new to the practice. However, it's not necessarily too much if you're committed to building a regular meditation practice and are willing to work up to longer sessions over time.

If you're just starting out, it's generally recommended that you begin with shorter meditation sessions, such as 5-10 minutes, and gradually work up to longer sessions as you become more comfortable with the practice. This will allow you to build your concentration and focus gradually, and avoid feeling overwhelmed or discouraged.

If you're finding it difficult to sit for 30 minutes at a time, you may want to consider breaking your meditation into shorter sessions throughout the day. For example, you could meditate for 10 minutes in the morning, 10 minutes at lunchtime, and 10 minutes in the evening. This can help you build your practice gradually and make it more manageable.

The amount of time between meditation sessions depends on your personal preference and schedule. Some people may meditate once a day, while others may meditate several times a day.

It's generally recommended that beginners start with shorter meditation sessions, such as 5-10 minutes, and gradually work up to longer sessions as they become more comfortable and experienced with the practice. It's also important to listen to your body and mind, and adjust the frequency and duration of your meditation sessions based on your individual needs and goals.

Ultimately, the goal of meditation is to cultivate a sense of mindfulness and presence in your daily life, so you may find it helpful to incorporate short mindfulness practices throughout your day, such as taking a few deep breaths or pausing to appreciate the present moment.

Journaling and bullet journaling are both forms of personal writing, but they differ in terms of their structure, purpose, and content.

Journaling is a form of personal writing that can take many different forms, but generally involves free-form writing about your thoughts, feelings, experiences, or observations. The content and structure of a journal can vary widely, depending on the individual's goals and preferences, and there are no strict rules or guidelines to follow. Journaling can be used as a tool for self-reflection, personal growth, creative expression, or simply as a way to record daily events and memories.

Bullet journaling, on the other hand, is a specific method of personal organization and planning that uses a system of bullet points and symbols to track tasks, events, goals, and other information. The structure of a bullet journal is highly organized and customizable, typically involving a system of index pages, monthly and weekly spreads, and collections of related information. Bullet journaling can be used as a tool for time management, productivity, goal-setting, and personal growth.

Journaling can be a helpful technique for managing anxiety in several ways. Firstly, it provides a safe space for you to express and process your anxious thoughts and emotions without fear of judgment or repercussion. By putting your thoughts on paper, you can gain a sense of control over them, which can help to reduce their intensity and frequency.

Additionally, journaling can help you identify and challenge negative thought patterns and cognitive distortions that contribute to your anxiety. By recording your thoughts and examining them objectively, you can begin to identify patterns in your thinking and challenge any unrealistic or unhelpful beliefs that may be fueling your anxiety.

Finally, journaling can serve as a grounding technique to help bring you back to the present moment when you are feeling overwhelmed or anxious. By focusing on the act of writing, you can anchor yourself in the present and reduce the impact of anxious thoughts and feelings.

Journaling can be an effective tool to help manage stress in several ways. Firstly, it allows you to express and process your emotions and thoughts in a safe and non-judgmental way. Writing down your worries and concerns can help you gain clarity and perspective on the situation, which can in turn reduce the intensity of your stress.

Additionally, journaling can help you identify patterns in your thoughts and behaviors, which can enable you to make positive changes in your life. By tracking your moods, energy levels, and stress triggers, you can gain insight into what factors contribute to your stress and take steps to avoid or manage those triggers in the future.

Finally, the act of journaling itself can be a calming and meditative practice, allowing you to focus on the present moment and reduce your anxiety. Overall, journaling is a simple yet powerful tool that can help you cope with stress and improve your emotional well-being.

I love the fact that people are more in-tune with themselves, more mindful, and that they are on a journey of self discovery, maybe now more than ever before. But, at least from my point of view, it seems like people neglect to take one thing into consideration, and that is actually accepting what they find.

It's one thing to go on a journey of self-discovery, which can be very difficulty in itself, but actually accepting what you find throughout that journey, or at the end of it, can sometimes prove to be the hardest part. This is something that I feel many people don't take into consideration or don't realize, that at some point, they will be faced with some sort of clarity, and that this new piece of information about their identity may just need to be accepted.

I feel like I have been at this point as well, where I got to a place on my journey that I came to some very clear understandings, but, I kept searching for other answers, instead of accepting what was right in front of me.

The reason for this I do not know, maybe it's my sub-conscious not wanting to accept what I found, or maybe it's me being blind to the truth, maybe because it is too hard to consciously deal with.

Has anyone else ever felt this way?

I can say that journaling has really helped me in my life. Not just journaling though, but generally writing things down instead of just thinking about them.

When I am faced with a puzzle, problem, or anything I am having difficulty understanding or solving, I write it down. I start writing things down and exploring what I understand out of the situation, what may have caused it, the consequences, solutions, and anything else I can think of.

This is the same way I journal actually. I write my thoughts down, and continue exploring them, asking myself more and more questions.

I use this for my personal life when I am facing difficult situations, and also for my professional life when I need to solve a difficult work related issue.

So for me, journaling is 100% worth it. It really has helped me make sense out of things in my life, and to improve things that I was stuck with for a long time.

I do find it difficult to keep up with this habit at times, I have an issue of devoting time to the things I know will help me, but, I am certain that if I would actually make a habit out of journaling, and do it more often, my life would be somewhat less difficult.

I personally have some trouble trusting apps with such personal information about myself. It's one thing to put in your email and phone number, or even credit card, but it's entirely different to put in all of your most private thoughts, feelings, and emotions.

You never know what the apps company does with this information. I can understand the positives and benefits of journaling with an app, especially if they can sort of analyze the journal entries and show you information such as things that trigger you or things that cause you stress, or other insightful things, but even with this, I still could not feel comfortable with it.

Journaling for me is probably the most private thing I can do, it's the most private time of my life that I do not share with anyone, nor do I want to. So having all of the things I write, on my phone, in an app, on the internet, is just not something I would even consider. Even if it's not on the internet, the fact that it is on a phone, or digital device that is hackable, is just not something I would be comfortable with.

1. Don't judge yourself, your journal is for you, not for others.
2. Don't try to make it perfect, allow yourself to make mistakes in spelling and grammar.
3. Don't copy other people's writing styles. Write in your own way, however it comes out.
4. Don't force yourself to write, not every day and not a certain amount of words/pages.
5. Don't let journaling take over your life or become an obsession.
6. Find a spot you feel comfortable in, and that you won't be interrupted.
7. Use a pen and notebook that you enjoy using.
8. Don't just write down things that happened, reflect on them, analyze them, try to understand them.
9. Make journaling a habit by doing it at a scheduled day and time, but don't be too strict.
10. Journal with an open mind, allow your thoughts to flow, and explore even the silliest ideas.

The first step is to find a journal that you will enjoy writing in. This can either be with an actual physical journal, or on a device if that is what you prefer, though, I recommend an actual journal of some kind. This is very important, as if you do not like what you are writing in, it is very likely that you will not enjoy writing in it either, and you probably won't.

The next step is to find some time to be alone, and a place you can be alone and uninterrupted in. Since journaling is a very personal practice, one where you are getting out what ever is on your mind and what ever you are feeling, it is recommended to find a very private place where people will not bother you.

Now, it's time to actually write. You can start writing, literally, what ever you want. I like to ask myself why I am even journaling, and to write that answer down. That question usually leads me to further questions. Find what works for you, ask different questions to help get your thoughts going, or, if you are having a bad day, write about that. Try to explore the things you are writing down, what they mean to you, your reaction to them, and anything else that you feel and that is in your mind.

It is important to understand that journaling should not be forced. You may find that sometimes, you will sit down to journal, but won't actually have anything to write down. What many people do in this situation is to force themselves to come up with thoughts to write down. This is not an efficient way to approach journaling, as you can get very tired of this practice very quickly.

You do not have to journal every day, and you do not have to write a whole page each time. Even the habit of sitting down and taking out your journal can help get you in a better mood. If all you have to write is "I had a good day", then that is all you need to write.

Some reasons why you may feel that journaling isn't working for you are: you are expecting the wrong things from the practice, you are not asking yourself the right questions, you are forcing yourself to write more than you actually need to, you are not personalizing it.

There are of course more reasons why journaling may not be working well for you, be those are some very common reasons.

Expectations:
If you expect things that are not realistic, such as journaling being a cure for what ever you are dealing with, then you may end up very disappointed when the practice does not provide those results. Understand that journaling is not a magic trick, it will not suddenly change your life. It is a practice that takes time to get better at, to build up the patience and acceptance of the practice. It takes time to build up the benefits it can provide. Give it the time it needs.

Asking the right questions:
Are you asking yourself the right questions? Searching online, you can find hundreds of journal prompts to give you examples and inspiration for questions to ask yourself while journaling. Don't stick to the same ones if they aren't working. Try out different prompts, explore them and see which work best for you. There are no rules when it comes to which questions to ask yourself, just as long as you feel they are benefiting you and not making things worse. Try asking questions based on the reason you are journaling in the first place, ask yourself how you are feeling, why you are feeling that way, and continue from there.

Forcing yourself to journal:
If you don't want to journal, don't. If you don't have anything to write, don't. If you only have enough for half a page, or a few sentences, then write just half a page or a few sentences. The point is to not force yourself to write when you don't have anything to write. The point of journaling is not to write as much as you can, but, to write what you need.

Personalize journaling:
Journaling is a very personal practice. You decide how to do it and what's best for you. Find your own way to do it. Find a spot that makes you more comfortable, that makes your thoughts flow better. Use a notebook and a pen that you like that you will want to write in. Ask the questions that get your mind flowing. Write in your own style, without fear of judgment from others. Your journaling practice is your own, and no one else's. Make it your own, however you like to do it.

With all of the benefits that journaling can have, there can also be negative impacts if given too much priority in one's life. Like everything, journaling must be done in moderation, and should be used responsibly.

If you spend your time journaling by just going through the bad and the negatives in life, while blaming yourself and others in the process, you could just be reinforcing that negativity. This is especially true if these things are your main focus while journaling.

Remember, journaling is a tool to help you understand yourself better, and the world around you. If you focus only on the negatives in this world, it will be very difficult to find any positives. The more you linger on the negative parts of life, the harder it will be to let go of them and to focus on more positive aspects of life.

I always like to start by asking myself, "Why am I journaling?". If I chose to start journaling and to start writing, there must be a reason for it. If I can understand that reason, even if i just partially understand it, I can use that as a guide to asking myself further questions.

There are many questions you can ask yourself, some people like to stick to the same questions, some like to ask different questions each time, and some like to mix it up. There aren't really rules or "right" ways of journaling, it just depends on why you are journaling and what you hope to get out of it.

Based on the reason you are journaling, you may want to try different journaling types, such as mindfulness journaling, gratitude journaling, or reflection journaling. There are many different types, and each may have different prompts that can help get you started and get your thoughts flowing.

If you are doing morning journaling, or are considering starting to do it, here is an article about how to start a morning journaling habit, which includes 100 prompts.

The type of journaling that is most beneficial to you really depends on you and what you are trying to get out of journaling, and the reason you are journaling.

One popular type of journaling that can have many benefits is gratitude journaling, it's also one of the simplest to do. At the very least, all you need to do is to write down a few things that you are grateful for. This alone can help you better put things into perspective, especially if thinking about things you are grateful for is a difficult task, this can really help improve that.

This, of course, can be built upon. You can start by writing down just a few things that you are grateful for, and then you can also write down the reasons why you are grateful for them. As you progress, you may notice that you are able to find more things that you are grateful for, and that finding these things gets easier and easier. This can have a positive impact on your life, causing you to have a more positive attitude and a better understanding towards life, people, and yourself.

Love vs attachment;

We should only be practicing LOVE.

UNCONDITIONAL LOVE.
Not attachment.

When one comes from of a place of "I love you for YOUR betterment and grace and I love myself the same"
instead of from a spot of "what you can do for MY happiness? MY COMFORT" -

Then you know you are coming from your heart and not the ego

When you do this
You then start to raise the vibration of your heart Chakra for yourself and all those in the world simultaneously. I promise you.

This is also of course practicing good mental health of stopping the co dependency in your life. And inviting pure true love into your life for all you see, you encounter and for yourself.

The same pure one HE loves you with.

OH and if when you asked yourself if you come from a negative attachment in your relationships and you realize you might-
Well please know that ONLY YOUR OWN POWERS can fix that unfulfilled happiness you are looking to others to fill. YOU write, direct, act in your OWN reality.

Change your thoughts, change your reactions, practice gratitude and learn grow to in your OWN soul path. DO THE WORK!!

Knowing the Spirit is true and within you is very important as well.

You have the power - set your intentions, change your steps and thoughts and self talk
And watch your reality and energy change.

Accept this unconditional love in your heart. Give it out.
You will receive 10 fold what you give. You will make this world and your reality a better one.

I am witness

#myfivethirtyAMthoughts

There are a few things that are best to avoid when journaling. It's not that they are necessarily wrong per se, but, they could impact your journaling practice and the effectiveness of it.

One important thing to avoid is to not judge yourself and what you are writing. Journaling is a safe space for you to write down what ever you feel you need to write down. This could be your thoughts, emotions, feelings, things that have happened that day, things you want to have happened, or anything else. It's a place for you to vent, to clarify and understand yourself, and to go on a journey of self discovery.

Another important thing is to keep it simple. Don't try to have perfect grammar, it's not the point of journaling. Don't try to copy someone else's style or write in certain styles other than your own, just be yourself. And don't try to fill out a whole page or multiple ones every time you journal, just write as much as you feel you need to, even if it's just one sentence.

Here is a longer article I wrote on this site's blog that covers more things to avoid and things that can help your journaling practice: The Essential Guide To Journaling: Dos, Don'ts, And Tips For Success