Breathe, a new self-love journal, challenges you to create the life you want and desperately crave.  When was the last time you looked at yourself without any judgment, comparison, or criticism?  More importantly, how often do you stand in complete awe and amazement at the woman you are?

If you hesitated to answer these questions, then maybe it’s time to restart your self-love journey.

Best Guided Self-Love Journal

Breathe: A Mindfulness Journal for Creating the Life You Want is one of the best self-love journals on the market. As mentioned in a previous post, I have been journaling since my freshman year in college.  I filled numerous journals in some years, while others have just a few. 

So, here’s the interesting part.  When I journaled sporadically, I wasn’t as effective in many areas of my life. Indeed, on some days, I felt like I was holding my breath and couldn’t breathe.

Breathe is one of my latest guided journals. It targets three groups of women. First, it is ideal for those who are new to the self-love journey and journaling. Second, it revives those who started strong but stumbled along the way. And third, it affirms and runs along with those dancing and humming to the beat of their freedom song.

All women are shown how to pause, reflect, and celebrate each step of their self-love journey.

Why Focus on Self-Love?

So, why a journal on self-love?

Well, society at large makes it increasingly harder for women to find comfort and self-love in who they are. Indeed, every few minutes, a social media post or advertisement for a new product promises to make us feel and look better and younger.  Furthermore, life’s daily hustle and grind leave little time for self-care and self-love.

There are many definitions of self-love. I define self-love as the practice of being kind and gentle towards yourself.  Indeed, you recognize your worth and value.   Furthermore, you treat yourself with respect and take care of your physical, mental, and emotional needs to have a healthy relationship with yourself. Self-love is a foundation for a healthy, balanced, and happy life.

Your soul is living and breathing and needs to be nourished

At its core, self-love means having a high regard for your health and well-being. It’s not a selfish “me first all day and every day.” Instead, it is more of a “healthy, whole me is my best gift to myself, family, and the world.”

I think we can agree that self-love does not come easy for everyone.  Yes, we say that we “love ourselves.” However, the almost daily self-sabotage and drive for perfection tell a different story.  Indeed, loving ourselves unconditionally is hard.  And self-love gets even more difficult in a society where it seems that we often care for others at the expense of our mental and physical selves. 

Read: Great and Inexpensive Ideas for Your Self-Soothe Box

Benefits of Keeping a Self-Love Journal

There are many benefits to keeping a self-love journal. When you journal regularly, it helps to:

• Track your feelings and emotions
• Build your self-confidence and self-esteem
• Chart your goals and progress
• Keep you motivated
• Increase your self-compassion
• Decrease your feelings of loneliness and isolation
• Increase your self-acceptance
• Decrease your self-judgment
• Lessen your negative self-talk
• Release your negative emotions in a productive way
• Remind you to express gratitude
• Celebrate your big and small wins

How to Use This Guided Self-Love Journal

Do you start your day feeling tired or overwhelmed? Or, maybe your day starts well, but you feel stressed by the evening.  You may not think about it often, but your soul is living and breathing, and it needs to be nourished daily. When we ignore our spiritual health, we feel stressed, burnt out, and underappreciated.

Breathe: A Mindfulness Journal for Creating the Life You Want is an amazing guided journal. Unlike a regular blank journal, a guided journal is a creative tool that uses journal prompts, activities, and blank pages to help you reflect and go deeper.

I fell in love with using guided journals a few years ago.  Indeed, I loved them so much that I created several of my own. If you’re new to journaling, you may stare at a blank journal or diary and not know where to start.  On the other hand, if you’ve been journaling for a while, you may want some focus and direction. Fortunately, this is where Breathe comes into play.  Indeed, it helps you to dig deeper to find your areas of resistance, find deeper purpose and meaning, and celebrate the awesome woman that you are.  

Wherever you are on the journey, self-love journal prompts, affirmations, quotes, and other activities in Breathe help you prioritize your health, happiness, and well-being.

So, take a few minutes each day to reflect, reconnect, and refresh your soul as you create the life authentic life you deserve.

Journaling Techniques

There is no right or wrong way to use this journal. Indeed, feel free to use this journal as you see fit. However, to get the most benefit, I recommend that you use it every day. I tend to write for longer periods on the weekend when I have more time.

1. Set aside 15-20 minutes each day.
2. Respond to the self-love prompts.
3. Repeat the affirmations.
4. Write what you’re grateful for.
5. Color the mandalas and other drawings.
6. Draw or doodle on a blank page to express your feelings.
7. Write a short poem or haiku.
8. Find an inspirational quote, affirmation, or Bible text to express your feelings.
9. Invite a friend to go through the guided journal with you. 

Just breathe and get started!  

Read: How Asking These 7 Powerful Evening Reflection Questions Increases Productivity

Self-Love Journal Prompts

These self-love journaling prompts are a powerful way to help you become more self-aware and learn how to yourself more. Most of these self-love prompts are included in Breathe, but I’ve added several more here.

1. How can you be gentle with yourself today?
2. List 5 things that you like about yourself.
3. When was the last time you said something mean or unkind to yourself? What triggered it? Go to a mirror and apologize to yourself. Now, give yourself a big hug.
4. What aspects of yourself would you like to improve? Why? Has anyone in your past ever made comments suggesting that you should? If so, how did this make you feel?
5. What are 3 things that you’re waiting for to happen in your life?
6. Look at yourself in the mirror and smile.  Say “I love me” 5 times.
7. Write 3 things you could start doing now to improve your overall happiness.
8. What does being “free” mean to you? How does being “free” feel? When was the last time you felt truly free?
9. Do you find it hard to forgive yourself? How often do you forgive yourself? What kind of things do you feel you need to be forgiven for? Why is this?
10. What negative emotions/feelings do you struggle with? Why do you think this is? What tends to trigger this?
11. When do you feel most confident?
12. When do you feel most comfortable being yourself?
13. Describe a time you did something out of your comfort zone and felt great.
14. How would you rate your self-care routine on a scale of 1-10? Why did you give it that rating? What do you need to do to move it closer to a 10?
15. What areas of your self-care need improvement? Which areas do you consistently neglect? Why is that? What is your plan for improvement?
16. What self-care activities do you enjoy the most? Make some time to do more of these things this week.
17. Describe your perfect self-care day.

Read: 75+ Shadow Work Prompts for Beginners: Learn, Heal, and Grow

Self-Love Affirmations

Affirmations are positive statements that you repeat to yourself throughout the day.  Indeed, affirmations promote self-love by challenging negative self-talk, ending self-sabotage, and promoting happiness, well-being, and success. Most of these self-love affirmations are included in Breathe, but I’ve added several more here.

1. I deserve to be healthy and happy.
2. I am destined for greatness.
3. The memories of my ancestors cheer me on.
4. I am proud of my heritage.
5. My circumstances do not define me.
6. My skin is the perfect color for me.
7. I am not afraid to be different.
8. I value my heritage.
9. I walk with purpose.
10. I am the hero of my story.
11. Excellence is in my DNA.
12. I am the legacy.
13. I nurture my soul daily.
14. I have a voice, and my voice matters.
15. I make a difference
16. My future is bright.
17. I walk with pride.

Now, It’s Your Turn

There are many great guided journals out there to help you in different areas of your life.  I hope that you will use Breathe: A Mindfulness Journal for Creating the Life You Want in your self-love journey.

As mentioned previously, there is no right or wrong time of the day to use this journal. Some people do it in the morning to get focused for the day. On the other hand, some prefer to do it in the evening to reflect on the day and clear their thoughts. One of my friends does it during her lunch break. Furthermore, you do not have to start at the beginning. Indeed, feel free to start in the middle or the end.

So, set aside 15 to 20 minutes daily to use this guided journal.   Or, you can break the time up between the morning and evening.  Just get started!

I think you will also enjoy the posts on using journal prompts for deeper insights and 10 simple ways to practice self-love. We look forward to hearing about your experience with using a guided journal.  And you can join the conversation on the Keep It Tight Sisters Facebook Page.

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Keep It Tight, Sisters.

Eat. Move. Breathe.

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