A safe place to talk openly about mental health & illness
This is the last part in a little mini-series about journalling (the previous posts were on the basics and habit & symptom tracking). This post will look at journalling as a tool for reflection. I know some bloggers use their blog much like a journal. That was never really the direction I wanted to go… Continue reading Bullet Journalling Part III: Reflection
Living with a chronic health condition, it can be hard to see patterns in all the different things that are going on. That's especially true if brain fog gets in the way of being able to remember things. That's where tracking in a bullet journal (or in an app, or elsewhere) can come in handy.… Continue reading Bullet Journalling Part II: Tracking
I've talked about bullet journalling before, but it's been a while, so I thought I'd talk about it again in a little miniseries over the next couple of weeks. My Journalling History I've journalled off and on for most of my life. When I was going to university, I mostly did themed pages devoted to… Continue reading Bullet Journalling Part I: The Basics
Values matter across the board, but acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT) is a therapeutic approach that places particular emphasis on them. I've written before about the ACT life compass, which is a tool to help you explore whether you're following your values in key areas of your life. Values as directions ACT views goals as… Continue reading The Role of Values in Acceptance and Commitment Therapy
My friends at WeDIDitPTSD recently brought up Jack Kornfield's approach to RAIN, a mindfulness meditation for dealing with overwhelm, and I thought I'd explore that further in a post. RAIN, which is based on Buddhist teachings, was first described by Insight Meditation Society teacher Michele McDonald. Rain acronym R: Recognition The R is about exploring… Continue reading It’s RAIN-ing Mindfulness
I don't currently do therapy and haven't had a lot of success with it in the past, but I'm very pro-therapy in general. I've picked up a collection of therapy tools from CBT, DBT, and various others that are handy to pull out of the toolbox as needed. This post is a sample of a… Continue reading Therapy Tools for Mental Health
Your Wellness Toolbox by Ali Swift is a follow-up to her first book, My Wellness Toolbox, which I previously reviewed. Both books are based on her own experience of what has helped with depression and anxiety. This book contains 14 new tools, including descriptions of the circumstances struggling with her mental health in which the… Continue reading Book Review: Your Wellness Toolbox
In this series, I dig a little deeper into the meaning of psychology-related terms. This week's term is the stress bucket model. I first heard of the term stress bucket several months ago in a post by Caz at Mental Health 360º, but it's been around for a while. It looks like it's best known in… Continue reading What Is… the Stress Bucket Model
In my depression-free days, my brain felt like a finely tuned machine. I could handle multiple tasks efficiently and effectively. I've always been organized, but when I was well it was helpful rather than necessary. I performed better when I was organized, but it wasn't a crutch. If non-depressed brain was skiing black diamond runs, depression… Continue reading Compensating for Depression Brain
Fellow blogger Skinny Hobbit recently mentioned a technique I hadn't heard of before, the worry tree, so I wanted to look into it a little more. Worry is related to but not the same as anxiety. Worry is a thinking process that is focused around problems that may arise in the future, which can then… Continue reading The Worry Tree Decision Tool