Tips from Marriage Counseling Raleigh NC: Journal Exercise

How Marriage Counseling Raleigh NC And Couples Therapy Raleigh Can Strengthen Your Relationships and Improve Your Sex Life!

As a marriage counselor in Raleigh, North Carolina, I work with couples and individuals to help them feel more connected, secure, and loved.

Marriage counseling Raleigh NC provides a secure environment for couples who don't know how to express love anymore without fighting to work on exploring their emotions and rekindling their connection.

Couples therapy Raleigh can help you get to a place in your relationship where you love and feel loved again.

I’ve made a series of videos with helpful suggestions and strategies I use when facing challenges. I am offering this message with the hope that it will resonate with some of you and be helpful in your personal journey of self-healing.

Last time, we talked about my wisdom teacher, Dr. Shefali. She teaches us the valuable skill of detaching from external influences and focusing on our internal world. This allows us to take care of ourselves, nurture self-love, and fulfill our needs in the way we need.

Dr. Shefali asserts that all the necessary resources for personal growth and healing are within us. In other words, you don’t need your parents to apologize for not meeting our needs the way we needed. We have everything we need inside us, and we can apply it to parenting, relationships, and every other aspect of our lives.

If you are exhausted of feeling alone and disconnected and hate the idea of feeling like this for another minute much less another few months, my specialized marriage retreats in North Carolina can provide the relief right here right now!

Other blog posts you might find helpful:

Why Marriage Counseling Doesn’t Work

Marriage Counseling Raleigh NC: Scheduling Sex

What is a Marriage Retreat in North Carolina?

Why EFT Focused Marriage Retreat in North Carolina?

Marriage Counseling Raleigh NC Tip: Journaling Exercise

Journaling involves regularly writing down our thoughts, feelings, reflections, and experiences. Journaling or expressive writing aims to foster self-reflection, self-expression, and self-discovery, as it allows you to explore your emotions, organize your thoughts, identify your triggers, and deep dive into introspection. In addition, regular journaling exercises can help you set and track goals, gain insights into your thought and behavior patterns, reduce stress and anxiety, and promote personal growth and overall well-being.

A Journaling Exercise Example from Marriage Counseling Raleigh NC

 Journaling exercises can take various forms. You can opt for personal or diary journaling, reflective journaling, gratitude journaling, freedom writing, structured prompts, bullet journaling, etc.

Today I will share my personal journal.

So, what you do is take a piece of paper and divide it into two parts with a vertical line. On the left side of the paper, you write positive, empowering statements that you want to use to replace your negative thoughts and distortions.

For example, I was struggling with self-critical thoughts of not being enough, repeating to myself, “I am not enough; I haven’t done enough; I have to do more! I can’t breathe!” and things like that.

I wanted to replace this kind of self-talk with statements such as, “I am enough. I have enough. Life is beautiful.”

So, in my journal, I write on the left, “I am enough.” Then, I give myself a chance to reach to my inner child, my little girl, who is saying, “No, no, not enough!” and who is struggling, to give her a voice and allow her to be heard.

On the right side of the paper, I am writing for about 30 seconds to two minutes, depending on the intensity of the negative thoughts I am currently struggling with, and letting it all out.

For example, I wrote: “You can do a lot more! You can push a lot harder! You can work on the weekends! Stop pretending that you’re successful!”

Then, on the left, I wrote again, “I am enough,” followed by the comments in the right column, such as, “You can definitely do more! You need more money. You are not doing much during the day.”

In the left column, I then wrote, “I am enough. I do enough. I just need to be a mom right now.”

So, basically, it is about giving space to the self-critical part of yourself to let it out. By expressing all your negative thoughts, you are taking your head trash out. And once your negative thoughts are not trapped inside your head anymore, you will start feeling lighter and relieved.

Summary

Journaling is a wonderful way to organize your thoughts, empty your head of trash, and gain a better perspective. It helps quiet your inner critic, boost confidence, and reduce stress.

I hope this is helpful and that you apply it not only to your relationship with your spouse but also to your relationships with your children, friends, and other significant people in your life. If you have any questions or would like to schedule your free 15-minute phone consultation with me, click here or check out FAQs to learn more.

This is not your typical weekly kind of therapy. I am here to help couples and individuals in relationships do what is proven to work to help them heal their relationships. Through marriage counseling Raleigh NC, marriage retreat in North Carolina, online therapy North Carolina, and individual counseling, there is something for every couple who wants to heal their relationship.

Quality marriage counseling in Raleigh NC, and online couples counseling in North Carolina and Virginia

Stop wasting years of your precious life to feel happy. Schedule your free 15-minute consultation with me today by clicking here. During the call you will discover how having a place to heal your relationship with a guide can take you from the hurt to a healthier relationship than the one you grew up with.

Hi, I'm Irina Baechle, LCSW, in Raleigh, NC. I believe in the power of healthy relationships and write on that topic. Whether you and a partner are co-creating a healthy marriage or you are single and navigating how to have healthy relationships, my content is for you. Let's make healthy, trustworthy marriages the norm instead of the exception! Topics I write about include marriage, infidelity, roommate marriages, healthy second marriages, and healing after toxic or unfaithful marriages.