Exercise Your Demons: A Mindful Journal

Identify your inner demons—and journal them away! 

by Lucy Irving

What’s your “demon”—overthinking? Embarrassment? Jealousy? Self-pity? Anger, impatience, or insomnia? Exercise them to exorcise them! With this adorably illustrated journal, counselor and psychotherapist Lucy Irving shows you how to use mindfulness to understand the emotional states that trick us into believing in their power. She explains how each demon works to cause us to react rather than respond and provides simple, logical steps to tame it.

Draw pictures of how your unique demons would look, take notes on what triggers them, create lists to bolster confidence and stay organized, and try simple activities (like deep breathing and gentle stretching) for cutting your demon down to size. Above, all, Irving invites you to take ownership of this journal and make it truly yours—by adding to the pages, pasting in images of your own choice, or even ripping something out.