My close friend not long ago received an assignment from her therapist and asked me a question: “I still don’t understand the point of keeping this diary. I write because I have to. Is it possible for them to work on anything at all?” Of course, it’s impossible to work through it, but it’s possible to see (highlight) what the process of self-knowledge and counseling/therapy will depend on! Moreover, a friend approached this issue thoroughly, ordered a cool printed version, where everything is written out, lined, sit and fill it out. For what? To expand knowledge about emotions and feelings in general, and in particular to learn about those that are inherent to you to a greater extent at this time stage of life. (When I wrote this sentence, I remembered the wonderful cartoon “Puzzle” about the five basic emotions, an incredibly educational cartoon for both children and adults!)) They can be both pleasant for you and not pleasant, “right” or “wrong” , but believe me - all your emotions and feelings are important and necessary, they carefully show you your needs. Of course, the Diary cannot become a substitute for consulting a psychologist or psychotherapy, but it is an excellent tool for self-knowledge, which can become the first steps in getting to know yourself, until you haven’t found your psychologist. We think about a lot, and as a result we act “automatically,” out of habit, not consciously. We think “automatically” about ourselves, about others, about the world. And these thoughts determine our further actions and reactions (towards ourselves and others). A diary can help you learn to track automatic thoughts, bring them into a conscious field, feelings, sensations and reactions at every moment. Learning to separate them from each other, which at first glance can be quite a difficult task. But this is a skill that can be successfully trained!) This skill will allow you to see and highlight recurring patterns of behavior and reactions that are characteristic of you now. Most likely, you will regard them as unwanted, but by understanding what provokes them, you can consciously change that same habitual behavior. In conclusion, how to design a Diary of Feelings. Buy a ready-made one :)) or 2. In a regular notebook (I once kept a mini-notebook, it was convenient to take with me everywhere) or in notes on the phone, write down in the columns: “Date and time”; “Situation”; “Feelings/emotions in connection with what happened” (Rate how strong was the feeling on a scale from 0 to 10); “Thoughts” (How did I interpret the situation/event? What did I think about to react?); “My behavior/reaction” “How I would like /should I react differently? What would help me with this?” Table of feelings Thank you for reading! ☘