An interesting thing about the human mind is that it tends to work largely on autopilot. Whether it is showering, driving to work, or making breakfast, there are large parts of our daily routines that occur without needing much conscious thought.
This is a normal, healthy behavior. If we had to stop and consider or manually cause every single action in our lives, we’d be slow moving creatures indeed. That said, there are times that this tendency can give us trouble. It isn’t so much a direct problem as an indirect one of allowing stresses to build up without really analyzing them. We go through our lives every day with tiny stresses coming up again and again, and we don’t always take the time to consider how we can deal with them or even where they come from, because of our automatic acceptance of the routine.
Today, let’s focus on redirecting that routine. Just as the mind can adopt behaviors as automatic, it can be made to think about them and break them down into meaningful pieces of information. To that end, we’re going to look at a life-building habit called a Stress Log.
What is a Stress Log?
In short, a stress log is a record of our day and the activities in it. The record begins when we wake up, and takes account of everything we encounter and do throughout the day so that later we can look at the information and make healthy decisions about it. The first step in any process of building a habit is knowledge, after all.
The exact form the stress log takes isn’t important. It can be a program in our Smartphone, a document on the computer, or a physical book. What is most important is that it is something we are comfortable using on a regular basis and can easily access.
Stress Log Step 1 – Diary Daily
The first step in building up a good Stress Logging habit is to make sure to do it every day. When we have more information to work with, we have a better grasp on what needs to be done. The most consistent routine in our lives is usually the daily one, and the one we can most immediately affect. That
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