Bullet journal -mindfulness

[ScottishBeth]

I am interested in starting a bullet journal. Just to have one notebook where everything is written down. When I'm reading about it everything says it's a productivity and mindfulness tool in one. But everything I've seen is just the productivity side.

So do you use your bullet journal to record reflections on things, gratitude, or any other self care/mindfulness type things? How do you organise that?

I have a page each month in my bullet journal where I write a short weekly reflection and a longer monthly one. I also track a few habits I’m trying to build (daily exercise, drinking enough water etc)
I find the actual process of keeping the journal is mindful - taking the time to set it up etc and finding what works for you rather than tracking a bunch of stuff for the sake of it. For eg I don’t go in for fancy designs or doodles but I find the 45 mins or so a week setting up for the following week/month makes me think concretely about what is coming up in work and life is really worthwhile.

Also sometimes things don’t work in my journal - a spread is unfinished or unused or I have to change the format or something and I find that quite mindful - like a gentle but concrete reminder that things don’t always work the way we planned and that’s ok.

@PerpetualStudent thanks - that's really helpful.

I have a happy thoughts page for each month and I write one happy thought for the day just before I go to bed. It can be anything, even something tiny. Last night, after a bad day at work, it was a cup of tea in my favourite mug. It means I go to bed with the happy thing fresh in my mind.

I also track my moods. I do a simple design and colour one section each day before bed. It helps me track any trends in my anxiety/depression and head off big dips.

Like PP, I find just sitting down and setting it up each month an act of mindfulness, and when I sit down on a Sunday and lay out my week ahead, it sort of fixes what's coming up in my mind.

You can develop your own journalling process. Experiment with what is useful for you. I do a tiny evening journal - just one page - and record daily practices, good things & gratitudes, reasons why tomorrow will be a good day, etc

Ok, these are good ideas.

@CherrySocks this might be weird, but do you just have these pages interspersed with everything else. So for example your index might say:
Page 46 - Meal plan
Page 47 - November 17th evening journal
Page 48 - Christmas card list.

(Just picking totally random things.)

I guess that's the thing that's confusing me. It's so different to what I've done before. I suppose that's the point!

@ScottishBeth The way I do it is with a separate little night-time journal. It's quite minimalist. I do more or less the same format every night. I call it my QELjo (Quiet Evening Log).