By now, we're all aware of the fact that we're supposed to "think positively" all the time, that "our inner worlds create our outer worlds," and that we'll be happier if we just think happy thoughts all the time. That's super great if you're a naturally happy person or if your life is perfect, but it doesn't leave a heck of a lot of space for you to actually feel some negative feelings.
Negative feelings, remember those? The ones that are supposed to be toxic to your soul, because "what you focus on grows and expands and becomes your reality"? The feelings you've been trying to squelch down since the rise of the positive psychology movement? Here's a thought-what if you just aired those feelings out? What if, instead of trying to just "think a happy thought," you really just sat down and got all of those angry and negative thoughts out of your system? All we're saying is, if you sit on those negative feelings and try to ignore them, they are just going to fester. If you use this journal to take them as far as they want to go, you'll get them Here are some examples of the categories of rants and horrible thoughts some of our readers have written about, as well as the general topics they fall under.
Please feel free to refer back to them as writing prompts if you feel stuck.
PEOPLE: People on social media, in general, especially idiotic people with loudmouth opinions. As a side note, why do these people always have the absolute worst grammar? Could also include strangers that talk on their cellphones on speakerphone in public. Just....why?
FAMILY: Family members who you have to be nice to, even though they push you to your limit. Another title for this entry might be "There better be enough booze in the house to get me through the holidays."
CAREER: Co-workers or competitors who are inexplicably more successful than you, despite the fact that you KNOW you are smarter/ more talented/ harder working than they are. Are they using witchcraft? What do they have that you don't have?
LIFE: Why does it seem to be so difficult for a regular, hard-working person to get a decent house and raise a family? Isn't this the "American dream"? How is this possible anymore, when you are killing yourself at work and still living in an overpriced apartment/ rental house?
HEALTH: Some of the nicest people you know end up getting terrible diseases and dying, while inconsiderate a-holes are in perfect health. Discuss.
