Mastering Overthinking With Targeted Journal Prompts

50 Journal Prompts For Overthinking

Ever find yourself spiraling in a loop of endless "what ifs" and imagined scenarios? This episode is your guide to breaking free. We dissect a compelling blog post from Lestallion, offering 50 targeted journal prompts across five crucial areas: identifying triggers, managing anxiety, positive reframing, future planning, and self-compassion. By understanding your triggers, you can interrupt those incessant negative thought patterns. Learn to manage anxiety through effective self-care routines, harness the power of positive reframing to challenge automatic negative thoughts, and turn overthinking into a productive activity through future planning—all while building resilience with self-compassion.

Starting a journaling practice can be daunting, but we're here to simplify it. We provide practical advice on selecting prompts that resonate with your emotional state, whether you're grappling with future anxieties or trying to reframe negative thoughts. Embrace journaling with curiosity rather than criticism, seeing it as a powerful tool for self-discovery and personal growth. Picture this: if your mind is a dense jungle, then a journal and pen are your trusty machete and compass. Join us on this journey and start journaling with an open heart and a focused mind.

LeStallion offers premium PU leather journal notebooks for writing, dedicated to all those who are pursuing their dreams and goals, or nurturing their personal development and mental health.

For More Info on LeStallion, check out:
https://lestallion.com/

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
ever catch yourself like endlessly replaying that
awkward conversation from lastweek or or mentally prepping for
every possible like outcome ofthat upcoming presentation.
Oh, oh, tell me about it yeah,the struggle, it's real, believe
me who is?
Today we're diving into the theoften frustrating world of
overthinking and, uh, exploringhow, how a targeted journaling

(00:23):
practice might be the key to,you know, finding a little more
peace of mind.

Speaker 2 (00:27):
Yeah, it's not about silencing those thoughts
entirely, which, let's be honest, is like about as realistic as
silencing a room full oftoddlers, right.
It's more about learning tomanage them, to understand why
they pop up and maybe even, youknow, find some humor in their
persistence.

Speaker 1 (00:41):
Exactly, and luckily you don't need to invent some
elaborate meditation routine toget started.
We're taking a look at a blogpost we found, kind of a funny
one, actually from LestallionSeems they're trying to sell
journals by giving away these 50journal prompts designed to
unravel those mental knots weall get.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
Interesting.
What's interesting here is thatListallion structures these
prompts into five distinctcategories, which really
highlights the key takeaway.
Yeah, effective journaling.
It isn't just mindless rambling, it's about focused reflection.

Speaker 1 (01:13):
Oh, I love that that focused reflection is so much
better than stressing in spiralformat.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Right.

Speaker 1 (01:18):
So their categories are identifying triggers,
managing anxiety, positivereframing, future planning and
then self-compassion andacceptance.
Let's dive into that first one,identifying triggers, because
you know it's easy to say, oh,this always makes me overthink.
But do we really dig into WHY?

Speaker 2 (01:36):
Right, it's like that , saying awareness is the first
step towards change.
Yeah, one of the prompts thatstood out to me.
It asks you to dissect a recentoverthinking episode, almost
like a detective would.
What were the specific thoughts?
What triggered them?
Where did your mind go next?
Oh, interesting, it's aboutunderstanding, like the
mechanics of your own mind.
Right, yeah, because once yousee the pattern, you can start

(01:57):
to interrupt it, instead ofgetting swept away by that
current of what ifs, you canpause and say like okay, we've
been here before, what can I dodifferently this time?

Speaker 1 (02:07):
Totally.
It's like you're creating amental playbook for dealing with
those overthinking gremlins.
I like that, and speaking ofplaybooks, another prompt in
this identifying triggerscategory really, really
resonated with me.
It asks how do certain peopleor environments impact your
tendency to overthink?

Speaker 2 (02:28):
Oh, that's.
That's fascinating because itit highlights how our
surroundings can either, youknow, exacerbate or or soothe
our, our overthinking, and oftenwe're not even consciously
aware of these, these externalinfluences, until we we stop and
really pay attention.

Speaker 1 (02:43):
It's like that aha moment when you realize, oh,
every time I talk to that personI end up like spiraling for an
hour about things that thatdon't even matter.
Suddenly you have, you havevaluable information, you can.
You can choose to setboundaries, change the subject
or even, you know, limit yourexposure to those, those
triggers, if possible yeah, it'sabout taking back, taking back
control of your, your mentalspace.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
And that segues perfectly into the next category
of prompts managing anxiety.
Because, let's face, of findingwhat works for you, not it's,
it's about figuring out whathelps you quiet the, the mental
noise and and find a sense of,of calm, and I love how some of

(03:51):
these prompts encourage you tothink about this.

Speaker 1 (03:54):
this almost like a, like a muscle you're, you're
training.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Oh, interesting.

Speaker 1 (03:57):
Because the the more you you practice these, these
techniques, the stronger those,those mental muscles become.
One even asks how can you builda self-care routine that that
supports a calmer mind?

Speaker 2 (04:09):
Because self-care isn't selfish, it's essential.

Speaker 1 (04:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Especially, especially, when you're prone to
overthinking it's.
It's about building, buildingresilience, so you can.
You can weather those thosemental storms more, more
effectively.

Speaker 1 (04:21):
So we've talked about , about identifying triggers and
managing anxiety, but whatabout?
What about those, those peskynegative thought patterns that
tend to like fuel the fire?
Right, that's where thepositive reframing category
comes in, and this one, this onefeels kind of, kind of powerful
.

Speaker 2 (04:38):
It is.
It's about challenging those,those automatic negative
thoughts, those those A&Ts asthey're sometimes called, and
finding more empoweringperspectives.

Speaker 1 (04:49):
There's one prompt that I actually laughed out loud
when I read it, because it's sorelatable.
It says think about a time youexpected the worst.
How did the reality differ fromyour fears and what did you
learn?
I feel like we could all writea novel in response to that one.

Speaker 2 (05:05):
Right, our minds are incredibly good at conjuring up
worst case scenarios, but thereality is often far less
dramatic and sometimes evenquite humorous in retrospect.

Speaker 1 (05:16):
It reminds me of that quote.
I've had a lot of worries in mylife, most of which never
happened.

Speaker 2 (05:20):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (05:20):
And I think that's what this prompt helps us do is
to start recognizing that ourthoughts are not always, you
know, facts.
Just because we think itdoesn't mean it's true.

Speaker 2 (05:30):
And that distinction is so important.
This category also encouragesvisualizing visualizing positive
outcomes, challenging limitingbeliefs and even practicing
gratitude.
It's about actively, activelyshifting our focus from what's
wrong to what's right, from whatwe lack to what we have.

Speaker 1 (05:52):
Which is a great segue to our next category,
future planning.
Now, you'd think that someonewho's prone to overthinking
would be terrified of planningfor the future, right?

Speaker 2 (06:03):
It seems counterintuitive, doesn't it
Right?
But the prompts in this sectionreally, really emphasize using
planning as a tool to channelthose overthinking tendencies in
a more productive way.

Speaker 1 (06:18):
Exactly.
Instead of letting our mindsrun wild with what ifs about the
future, these prompts guide usto break down our goals into
smaller, more manageable steps.
One prompt even asks how doesoverthinking impact your
progress towards your goals?
It's about recognizing thatsometimes our overthinking can
actually sabotage our success.

Speaker 2 (06:39):
Like that old saying, paralysis by analysis.
We can get so caught up inthinking about all the things
that could go wrong that wenever actually take action
towards what we want.

Speaker 1 (06:51):
And these prompts encourage us to find that sweet
spot between thoughtful planningand taking those imperfect but
necessary action steps.

Speaker 2 (07:03):
Now ready for our final category.
It's the one that might just bethe most important of all.

Speaker 1 (07:08):
The grand finale Self-compassion and acceptance.
It's like hitting the pausebutton on autopilot and actually
choosing how we want to respondrather than just reacting on
instinct.

Speaker 2 (07:22):
Yeah, yeah, it's like we've even handed this
incredible user manual for ourown brains, but most of us just
leave it on the shelf, right.
So how do we actually put thisinto practice?
No one's got time to journalfor hours every day.
Well, remember what we saidearlier about focused reflection
.
You don't need a whole spa daydedicated to self-reflection.

(07:44):
Even just five or 10 minutes aday focused on one of these
prompts that can make adifference.

Speaker 1 (07:50):
It's about like quality over quantity, right.

Speaker 2 (07:53):
Right.

Speaker 1 (07:53):
Not just filling pages, but really engaging with
the process.
Speaking of which, I did wantto circle back to the science-y
stuff because, as fun as it isto talk about like mental
gremlins, there's actualresearch to back up why this
journaling thing works.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Absolutely.
It's not just some feel goodtrend.
There's a growing body ofevidence showing that expressive
writing, which is essentiallywhat this style of journaling is
, can have a significantpositive impact on mental
well-being.

Speaker 1 (08:25):
So it's not just me.
Getting those thoughts out tomy head and onto paper really
does help.

Speaker 2 (08:31):
It really does.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Tell me more, give me this.

Speaker 2 (08:33):
Okay, okay.
For example, a 2018 studypublished in the journal
Psycho-Narrow Endocrinology, itfound that journaling about
stressful experiences for just15 minutes a day, three days a
week, actually reducedparticipants' anxiety and
depression symptoms.
They even saw improvements intheir immune system function.

Speaker 1 (08:55):
Wow, so less overthinking, better health.
Sign me up.
But how does that actually work?
Is it just the act of writingit down, or is there something
more going on?

Speaker 2 (09:04):
Well, researchers.
They believe that journalinghelps us, helps us, process
emotions more more effectively.
When we, when we bottle up our,our thoughts and feelings, they
can, you know, they can festerand intensify, but by putting
them into words, we're givingour, we're giving our brains a
chance to, to organize and makesense of them, which can, which
can reduce their, their powerover us.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
So it's like we're taming those mental gremlins by
giving them a name, a backstoryand maybe even a cup of tea to
calm down.

Speaker 2 (09:33):
Exactly.
It's about approaching thosethoughts and feelings with
curiosity and compassion ratherthan judgment and resistance,
and as we do that, they oftenlose their grip on us.

Speaker 1 (09:45):
Okay, I'm convinced I am ready to give this whole
journaling thing a try.
But with 50 prompts to choosefrom, where do I even begin?

Speaker 2 (09:55):
That's the beauty of it you get to choose the prompt
that resonates with you most atthat moment.
Maybe start with a categorythat feels particularly relevant
to your life right now.

Speaker 1 (10:08):
Like if I'm feeling super anxious about the future,
I might dive into the futureplanning prompts, or if I'm
stuck in a negative thought loop, I could try one of the
positive reframing exercises.

Speaker 2 (10:20):
Exactly.
Let your intuition guide you.
The most important thing is toapproach the process with an
open mind and a willingness tobe curious about your own inner
world.

Speaker 1 (10:33):
I love that Curiosity , not criticism, Because at the
end of the day we're all tryingto figure this whole being human
thing out, right?

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Are we all, and journaling can be an incredibly
powerful tool on that journey ofself-discovery and growth.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
So, to wrap things up , if there's one key takeaway
you could leave our listenerswith today, what would it be?

Speaker 2 (10:54):
If your mind is a jungle, then a journal and a pen
are your machete and compass.

Speaker 1 (10:59):
Okay, that is officially going on a t-shirt.
So to all you overthinkers outthere, you are not alone.
Grab a notebook, pick a promptand start exploring.
You might be surprised by whatyou discover.
Thanks for diving deep with us.