Jamie Fellrath | Practical Mindfulness

Three weeks ago, I posted about the Five Minute Journal and how I was trying to use it to adopt some good journaling habits.  I mentioned how I'd tried tons of online or electronic versions and was ready to do something in a different paradigm, in this case the totally revolutionary and creative idea of actually writing stuff out with a pen, on actual paper. Guess what?  It's worked. Here's what I've discovered about going through the actual process of manually writing this stuff out into a physical journal. 1.  I have only missed two days of writing, and I've gone right back into after those days. I keep my journal right next to my clock radio next to my bed.  There's something about having a physical object sitting there looking at you when you get up in the morning. And, I've created a little ritual around my journaling:  when I go to bed (right after I write in the journal), I put my Kindle Fire HD with a pen/stylus attached to the case rig...

Journaling was long a habit that I wanted to pick up but just never did.  And it was never because I didn't believe in its worth, it was that I just never built the habit or found the proper method that worked best for me.  I'd start it for a while, be enthusiastic about it, and then lose the habit when something else came up and interrupted me.   That's all changed for me now, as I look forward each morning and night to journaling in my newest tool I've found.  But that search has clued me in to a ton of great journaling tools that might help you as you're looking for that great push to get you into the journaling habit!   The Five-Minute-Journal:    This is obviously   the one I've adopted .  It's simple, it's quick, and it does the trick.  I won't expand into stuff I've already talked about with this in the two posts I've done on this fantastic tool.  But let's talk about some of the other aspects of the Five-Minute Jo...

Point #1 today:  I listen to a lot of podcasts.  Probably more than I should.  I have a backlog of about 30 episodes I'm trying to catch up on (call it a project).  Those podcasts include two that are complementary but different:  Abel James's Fat-Burning Man and Dave Asprey's Bulletproof Radio .  I love them both - they both discuss lots of whole-life "hacks" and changes one can make to improve health; mentally, physically, and emotionally. And if both of them have a guest, and they both rave about that guest's product, I'm very likely to give it a look.  Case in point:   UJ Ramdas and his Five Minute Journal .  We'll get back to that product in a moment. Point #2 today: I have, in the past, been a horrible journaler.  I totally recognize the value of it, don't get me wrong.  And I would love to be one of those people who just do it regularly by habit.  But, for whatever reason, it's a habit that I just have had a hard...

Last night, I forgot to bring my Kindle Fire HD home with me from the office.  I generally let it charge while I'm at work all day and of course I use it during lunch, commutes, etc. when I'm reading.  It's a wi-fi only model, which means that I can only do offline activities with it during my commutes and whenever I'm out of wi-fi range. And guess what?  The sky didn't fall.  And I got a whole lot more stuff done this morning before heading to work. The Kindle Fire is a great little tablet, don't get me wrong.  I use it for lots of stuff, including books, magazines, social media, my Evernote usage, and more.  It's really convenient to have all that in one package wherever I go - as long as I remember to take it with me. :) But there's almost nothing I need on it that I don't also have available via a PC or my iPhone.  So it's more used out of convenience, and for when I want to read and not blind myself with the tiny text on my phone.  A c...