I have a question for you. And it's a question I will often ask in  sessions. "How are you feeling right now?"
 
I'm curious about what comes to your mind.

Some people, quite a few people actually just have no idea. It's like, I'm feeling good, I'm fine.  
 
If you're one of the many people who have difficulties with this, you're not alone.  

​There are many reasons why you may not be able to easily identify what you are feeling - including the fact that many people actually don't really care!  But this article is about YOU knowing how you are really feeling.  This is a part of living a more mindful life and  taking responsibility for your overall self-care .  Below are five things that might be getting in the way for you, and then what you can do about it.  I do not discuss trauma in this article, or anxiety and other mental health conditions that can cause difficulties in accessing emotions.  The five I have chosen are behaviours and habits that everyone can fall into with realising it.  
 
The first is DISTRACTION. There are so many things that distract us and take us out of ourselves on a day-to-day basis, not the least being, the 24 hour digital world we live in.  Whether it be social media, watching YouTube videos, Netflix or Foxtel, there's so much you can tune into any second of the day and never have to be alone with yourself, your thoughts and your feelings.  Distraction is a huge blockage that can get in the way of knowing how you really feel.
 
If you experience the distraction of this 24 hour digital world and would like some help in switching it off, I have created a 7 Step Digital Detox Program to help you create some time and space for yourself where you can get rid of one of those distractions.  Did you know that the statistics around how often people pick up their phone is amazing.  It’s about once every five or 10 minutes. And the number of people who, the first thing they do in the morning is not check in with themselves, but check in with what random people are doing on Facebook or Instagram.  Hands up if you can relate to either of these things.  I know I definitely get hooked into this from time to time.

Ok, the next three obstacles I’m grouping together and calling them REASONS.  This covers justification, explanation and blame.  In these situations you can identify what you are feeling but you fare stepping into your logical mind instead of allowing yourself the experience.  

For example.  “Oh, I'm feeling pretty tired, but I didn't sleep real well. And you know, maybe if I've gone to bed early or I wouldn't feel quite so tired” or “I'm feeling okay today, but you know, I had time to myself and I was able to go for a walk and unlike other days where I don't get that sort of time”. 
 
Blame is when you are attributing your feelings to what someone else did.  For example, “I'm feeling really angry and it's your fault because you cut me off” or “it's your fault because you didn't do the dishes”. “I'm feeling really frustrated because they didn't ring me when they were supposed to”. So your emotion is all about what someone else did to you. 
 
I'm not saying some of these things didn't happen and some of them might not have contributed to your frustration or your anger or your happiness or whatever you're feeling. However, allowing yourself to go down this train of thought is taking you away from what you are feeling right now and interfering with your ability to experience that emotion fully. 
 
So why does that matter? Why is it important to experience that emotion fully?  We'll come back to that because we've got one more thing of the five things that get in the way of you answering that question. How you feeling right now? The fifth one is SHAME.

Journaling can help you find and connect with your authentic self.

Have you ever felt lost?
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Like me, have you felt that somewhere along the way you took a wrong turn, veered of the path, or just became bamboozled with what life threw at you?

It can feel like a battle to create your own space in a world that is often driven by consumerism, material success and 'progress'.

However, there is a growing movement of people who know that tapping into personal and universal energy can create a sense of oneness and wholeness that transcends the artificial.

Welcome to my corner of the world, where you can find practical ways to claim your own space.

And you don’t have to claim this space in a huge way with lots of trumpets blaring.

Confidence can be found in the quiet determination and focus actively connect with and pursue what is important to you, erect your boundaries and live your calm.

When you actively move to discover what is most important to you and live a life of integrity and authenticity, you become part of the movement that is aiming to heal the world.

Now, that’s exciting.

There are many ways to actively connect and pursue what is important to you. Counselling, coaching, manifesting, prayer, meditation, visualisation, goal setting, intention setting, to name a few.

One way of reconnecting with your authentic self is through writing, or journaling. If you have never tried tapping into the thoughts and emotions inside you in this way, I encourage you to give it a go.

However, many people find there is a slight problem with this.  

Maybe you have experienced putting aside the time, sitting down to write....and then

....your mind goes blank.

You know that your mind isn't actually blank.  In fact you have 10's of 1,000s of thoughts each day.  

What is probably stopping you is not getting it right.  

Maybe you're worried about your spelling, or handwriting.  Maybe you think that what you have to say is not important.  Maybe when you were at school you were criticised for your writing.  

I encourage you to write whatever comes into your mind.  Even if it is 'I can't think of anything to write', or your shopping list, what you dreamt last night, your school memories, what you would do if you won tattslotto,  Set yourself a timer of 5 minutes and keep writing until it comes off.  

The most important thing when you first start is to create the habit of writing.
 
To help you get started, I have created a 14 day Self-Connection journal, specifically to kickstart your journaling process.
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Your 14 day Self-Connection journal contains a carefully selected quote and complementary prompt for each day.
You can find out more about it here https://positiveyoungminds.vipmembervault.com/.../view/9.