Bullet Journal Mood Tracker – Everything You Need To Know

You might have already heard by now that journaling is great for your mental health. Studies also proved that bullet journaling or the positive affect journaling specifically helps in managing mental distress, boosting overall well-being, and improving your ability to do physical tasks. A bullet journal mainly gives you the confidence to do any task. After all, is there a better boost to working than the confidence to do it?   Especially in these fiery times of our Lord COVID-19, where we find incredibly invalidating to our own nonpositive emotions, mood journaling might be the perfect solution. You can mood journal all your emotions just by logging how or what you felt. Or if you want to go further deep, you can also start naming your emotion, identifying what caused it, what resulted from it and whether the emotion was contextually appropriate.   The goals for mood journaling are very personal. Some might want to discover what is causing the emotion while some might try to understand the response to certain emotions. However, for me, it is learning what my emotions are.   Want to learn more about Bullet Journal Mood Tracker? Just scroll down. This article is everything you want to learn about Mood Tracking.

What Is A Mood Tracker? Types Of Mood Trackers

A mood tracker is a tool that helps in keeping a record of an individual’s mood at regular intervals. The main purpose of this tool is to look for patterns in how moods vary due to different situations and circumstances over time.   A mood tracker can range from a simple handwritten journal to a complex online application that collects a range of information. The following are the five most used types of Mood Trackers that are great for tacking moods.

• A Daily Journal

Tracking your moods can be as simple as writing in your daily planner or bullet journal. You can try with as simple as a notebook, a calendar style daily planner, or a bullet journal itself.  

• A Mood Chart

A mood chart is a daily chart that involves checking your mood in regular intervals. Noting any external factor that may be related to your mood can also be a convenient and quick way to look for the patterns.  

• A Visual Tracker

A visual tracker is a graphic and illustrated option to keep track of your mood. For example, a Mood Mandala will allow you to color in areas of the image with different colors corresponding to your mood. Over time, these colors will allow you to form a picture of your general mood and mood patterns.    

• Mobile Apps

There are several Mood Tracking applications available for a variety of mobile devices. These apps vary considerably in terms of price (while some options are free, some others require a subscription) and complexity.

• Online Programs

Many websites conduct online programs that help people track their emotions and moods.   In few cases, a mood tracker can also help people with mental health conditions like anxiety, depression, etc. Want to learn more about how a mood tracker can help with mental conditions? Just read on!

Why Should We Care About Tracking And Noticing Our Mood Patterns?

A mood tracker is a great tool for those of us with mental illness as it helps in keeping track of our symptoms. When you log your symptoms daily, you will be able to learn about your true self and your condition. You can take better care of yourself. The following are the two top benefits of a mood tracker.

1. Mood Tracker Recognize Your Triggers

A mood tracker will make you learn what triggers you. People suffering from PTSD can especially benefit from learning their triggers as they can avoid the situations that may lead to a serious episode.    Those with anxiety can also benefit from learning what triggers them as they can avoid the situations that can accuse a serious anxiety or panic attack. 

1. A Mood Tracker Will Make you Recognize The Outside Factors Contributing To Your Symptoms

Individuals with mental conditions like anxiety, depression, bipolar, ADHD, and other conditions might always know what factors or situations cause them anxiousness or sadness. Keeping track of your moods daily will allow you to compare the moods with the places you go, people you see and activities you participate in. If any of these align with a negative mood, then that thing might be the cause of your disorder. You can then stop doing any of those that trigger your illness.    

How To Get Started With Bullet Journal Mood tracker?

Below is the four-step simple guide to get you started with Bullet Journal Mood Tracker.

1. Identify Your Emotions

For those who are like, “Mood tracking is easy, I will just write down how I feel each day!” Well, I love your connection with your emotions! It is great!   But if you are anything like me, then you might find it difficult to identify your true emotions. Geoffrey Robert’s Feelings Wheel has helped me a lot in identifying, labelling, and articulating my emotions. I am sure it can help you too. Give it a try.

1. Choose A Tracking Method

You can choose any one tracking method I have mentioned at the staring of the article. However, for me, A tracking chart that fits on one page of my bullet journal works because nothing is more satisfying than colouring the pages of the journal. It is also easy to look back at it at the end of the month. Here are a few bullet journal mood tracker spreads to inspire you. Pick one and customize it as per your requirements.  

1. Log Everyday

Log your moods every day or at the least leave notes to yourself and then fill in the gaps at the end of the week. It won’t take more than a minute. For me, not filling out a day is a sign of onset depression.

1. Review Your Tracker At The End Of The Month And Make Goals For The Coming Month

Review your log every month and note how many days you were happy, depressed, anxious, or stressed. Think about the situations, things or the people who created the emotions. Be close to the factors that make you happy and avoid those which make you sad.    Also, don’t get caught up thinking that all the nonpositive emotions are bad. Instead, make “being happy” your goal. Always keep note of your triggers and if you notice more columns of nonpositive emotions, make more plans to practice self-care. This is what we call – emotion regulation, baby!  

Tips For Tracking Your Moods

 Along with choosing a mood tracker that is right for your needs, there are also a few things you can do to make mood tracking more effective. Be Honest – It might be tempting to only record positive feelings and gloss over the negative ones. But, it is very important to be as candid as possible to overcome your mental concerns. Be true to yourself, nobody is gonna look into your journal except you. Track Your Happy Moods, Too – Most of the people I know only record the moods when they are feeling low and ignore the times when they are happy and feeling better. But, that not good. It is very essential to get an overall look at your mood patterns (both good and bad) to understand your triggers. So, I recommend you make a conscious effort to track moods at different times to fully capture the entire range of moods. Check At Regular Intervals – Making a note of your moods at regular intervals will ensure you’re capturing the mood patterns right. Recording the moods three times a day (morning, mid-day, and evening), will make you learn how the feeling fluctuate over time. If multiple updates a day are too much, you can also stick to logging once before going to bed daily.   Written by Sowmya Cherukuri  [email protected]