💛 Taking Community Offline

Happy Sunday! I hope you’ve woken up in good spirits. I forgot to share this lovely video recording, a conversation I had with my buddy and co-host of The Bibliotherapists Podcast

Toni Jones

, a person I could chat to for hours.

We have been hanging out together quite a lot this month - online to record Series 2 of the podcast which will be broadcast in July and August, and offline where we met at The Big Retreat Festival which was absolutely fabulous, and it’s definitely an event I’ll be returning to next year!

If you’re curious about it all, I wrote about my Festival Van Life adventures in my most recent newsletter, in case you missed it you can read it here.

In this video Toni kindly invited me to chat about how I take my community offline as part of her mental health series to highlight Mental Health Awareness Week earlier this month. The mission this year, was to help create communities that care for people living with mental illness. This is something very close to my heart, and the main driving force for why I now take my journalling workshops out into the community. Most recently, hosting Drive Through Journalling sessions by the sea here in Wales. The benefits of being sat outdoors, sun on your face, with the only distraction being the panoramic sea view while journalling, is a blissful experience.

If you’re keen to learn more about how to adopt a more consistent journalling practice please don’t hesitate to reach out. I’m on a mission to help as many people as possible to channel their emotions into something more positive and creative, through the practice of journalling. My mantra is One Word, One Day at a Time. So if all you do is write one word a day, every day for as long as you can, I guarantee you’ll find that your curiosity will lead to writing more than a word a day.

As I mention in the video above, a micro-movement journalling technique, which I teach to my students when they struggle to journal consistently. I promise it will help you springboard your daily practice.

If you’re in the journalling mood and have a few minutes to spare, grab your journal and pen, get comfy and try this…

Write down three words that come to mind, don’t over think it, if you struggle to come up with three, just look around where you’re sat, what do you see? Now select one word and for the next two minutes, describe where this word shows up in your life. Write about how this word makes you feel, is it a word that you’re curious about? When you write about your selected word, try not to take the pen off the paper, keep the pen moving. If you get stuck and feel blocked, write your word over and over on repeat until more thoughts come to mind.

This is a great journalling activity to do each day to help you open up about things you wouldn’t normally write about. It’s amazing where this exercise will take you. Every time I use a micro-movement, I’m fascinated by what I write. Good luck and enjoy.

Until the next time

Take care and stay safe xx

About me… I’m Tanya Lynch, a mother, a ridgeback owner and the founder of Ease Retreats. I love what I do, collaborating with authors and creatives, hosting retreats in beautiful venues across the UK. I’m also a therapeutic journaling coach and through my program Rage on a Page, I help midlife women channel their emotions into something more positive and creative in less than 60 days. Each Thursday I host an online journaling club called Journal with Ease and it’s free for paid subscribers to attend. If you have any questions about the benefits of therapeutic journaling, please reach out and connect. I’m usually on a beach walking the dogs, hosting retreats or hanging out here on Substack.