Notes from Dr. Border

Journal Prompt: Make a list of negative beliefs you have about yourself. From the list in #1, are any of them true? Do you have proof to support them true or a lie? Take each belief about yourself from your list, and rewrite it as a positive belief. (Example: “I’m too stupid to make decisions for myself” becomes “I sometimes make mistakes, but I have made smart decisions for myself,” Include and example of this to support your new belief.) Here are some actions you can do to

Journal Prompt: Write about a stressful or traumatic situation that is on your mind. My example- My mother used to verbally abuse me. Her tirade would last from 15 to 30 minutes. I was always lying in my bed when she did this. She would be standing in the doorway of my room, with the hall light behind her, making her physical appearance a silhouette. I can’t describe specifically what she would say because I would block out her painful words, but words she used repeatedly we

Journal Prompt: What happened to your roots? What do you acknowledge from your past that had a negative impact on your mental health through childhood? (Abuse, neglect, abandonment…) How did the things in #1 affect your trunk and branches? What do you accept as negative thoughts you have about yourself from your childhood? (Low self-esteem, depression, dysfunctional behaviors…) Based on the answers in #2, what coping behaviors do you accept on your apples? (Self-critism, bod

Journal Prompt: Write about the loss you have experienced that you are struggling to move past. It doesn’t have to be details about the situation, but write more about your thoughts and feelings about what happened. From the writing in #1, make a list of feelings you have experienced? Do they align with the stages of grief? Give yourself permission to feel all the feelings, accept that they are normal, but now decide that you are going to work towards moving forward with crea

Self-esteem, self-worth, and self-identity are key parts in creating the life you want, but many of us were not able to develop any of these during our childhood. Now in adulthood we are still struggling to develop them. The following prompts can help you strengthen them and proceed on a healing journey! To work on your self-esteem: Do you like who you are? If you said yes to #1, what do you like about yourself? If you said no to #1, what don't you like about yourself? If you