It cannot be emphasized enough how important having a good set of tools in your toolbox is, and in this case, we are talking about emotional tools … tools for emotional wellbeing. What emotional tool might you need to grab in a pinch? What if you took an emotional “hit” and needed to pivot quickly from a negative emotional space to a positive one? How would you know what you needed in order to do that? How would you know where to find it? Let’s take a look at the power of lists.
List-Making
In order to be prepared, it’s a good idea to organize your tools. List-making, or list-keeping, is a skill to have at the ready to support your success. List-making might seem trivial, or unimportant, but there is evidence that those who write down their goals are considerably more likely to achieve them, and those who journal seem to have more inner peace, which appears to be due in part to getting thoughts out of one’s head and allowing them to be held onto by the paper instead. So while we won’t go further on the topic of journaling, we are going to focus on the intention of using lists as a tool for emotional wellbeing.
Most importantly, we need lists we can quickly access. We need to know right where to go when we need to be inspired or to feel better. A handy list can cut the suffering time short and swiftly return us to a good-feeling place, a stable place, a grateful place, a wise place. Therefore, what better way to make these swift transitions than to reach for a list you’ve already thoughtfully put together, that you know with certainty will serve to uplift and shift you?
How to Create Your List Tool
Here is a list of ideas that will help you create your list tool …
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- Emotional tools, with full explanations of how to use them
- People who are there for you when you need some kind of support
- Ways to soothe yourself
- Things to do when you want to pamper yourself
- Things you want to remember (ie, be kind to yourself, exercise)
- Also, things you need to remember (ie, other people’s birthdays, words that you seem to forget)
- List things you are grateful for
- Motivational quotes
- Inspirational quotes
- Funny quotes
- Movies to watch if you need a good laugh
- Movies to watch if you need a good cry
- Favorite recipes (comfort foods, exotic dishes that make you feel lavish, cocktails you want to try, decadent desserts)
- Good books to read, or re-read
- Places you want to visit
- Things you want to see
- Things you want to do
- People you admire (alive or dead, or even fictional)
- People you want to meet
- Good dreams you’ve had
- Powerful questions to ask yourself
- Things that make you feel good
- Things that make you happy
- A list of Natural Highs
An Example
For example, in my phone right now, in an app called AwesomeNote, I have a folder called Quotes, and inside of that, I have files (or Notes) where each file is titled with the name of the person whose quotes are gathered there, or the name of a topic (like “quotes on joy”, peace, humanity), or the title of a book or movie that the quotes are from so that there is a modicum of organization to help me re-locate favorites or priceless bits of wisdom.
One amazing list that never fails to uplift is the List of Natural Highs. A natural high is something you don’t have to buy to feel good; rather, it is a natural life experience. This list has been around the Internet for years and has stood the test of time. Here is an example of a list of NATURAL HIGHS.
In conclusion, keep all your lists handy … in your computer, on your phone, or print out your most needed list in a beautiful font and frame it to hang on your wall. The lists are meant to be USED, not made, and then forgotten, so get started on creating your lists and use this tool for all its worth!
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