What is journaling?

A journal is a written record of your thoughts, feelings, experiences, and observations. You can write in your journal daily, or only when you feel the urge. Journaling is then the act of keeping, writing, reflecting and making personal change through the art of keeping a journal.

In terms of self-help, there are few things quite so effective at changing your life as journaling. Writing is incredibly healing. The very act of writing releases tension and allows your subconscious thoughts to flow. Then upon reflection, you begin to see sense, patterns, ways through your problems and onto to solutions, ideas and inspiration.

Combining journaling and reflective writing will change your perspective and your life. You will start to get incredible insights, and if you choose, you can make some significant changes based on what you learn.

In fact, journaling, fo me is an important habit that enables me to build a whole host of other positive habits around it almost entirely by themselves.

Think of how a decluttering habit leads to a cleaner and tidier surroundings at home, eventually affecting your workspace. The decluttering habit may then move into non-tangible areas of your life, such as your relationships.

That's because a core habit is found at the centre of other patterns. In the decluttering example, the core concept is to remove things from your life; you no longer need or no longer give you joy. This will force you to examine the objects you have in your life.

As you get used to this mindset, you start noticing other areas of life where you're holding onto things you no longer need, and that doesn't give you joy. This very naturally leads to things like the 'decluttering' of relationships, or the sudden desire for a shift in career.

Now think of journaling as a core habit. What is at the heart of journaling which makes it so significant? The heart of journaling is not only the ability to express yourself but the need and desire to.

Journaling forces you to examine and understand the world around you. At the same time, it places you within the world, inviting you to see and understand your role in things.

This constant examination and re-examination of yourself is a powerful thing with far-reaching consequences.

A journal is a written record of your thoughts, feelings, experiences, and observations. You can write in your journal daily, or only when you feel the urge. Journaling is then the act of keeping, writing, reflecting and making personal change through the art of keeping a journal.

Writing in a journal is such a fantastic and cathartic way of getting lots of stuff out in private. We are sometimes plagued with thoughts and emotions we don't understand, nor do we want to tell anyone about, so getting it out on paper is perfect.

Why journal?

The main reason you are keeping a journal is that you want to be able to express freely and be able to say precisely what you want and through reflection seek to make meaning, change aspects of your life, and live in better harmony with yourself.

Why write reflectively?

Reflective writing then is using a journal to write from the heart about what is affecting us. To observe our thoughts and feelings and then using reflective practices and tools to bring about change.

Why does writing from the heart make a difference?

In this lecture we examine why we should write from the heart.

It is vital that we journal and write in the right place, in the right frame of mind, that we let go of our self-consciousness, become one with ourselves and write without judgment.  If you write from your head, your left logical brain is engaged, in writing from your heart you will open up the space for you to love and to be loved.  When we take responsibility for loving ourselves then our lives can change.

Hearts get broken and unbalanced by our relationships with others and ourselves.  By writing from your heart you can let go and start walking towards the person you know that you are. 

Healing Is Not Fixing

Healing is not about fixing something broken—it is about nurturing yourself, learning, and allowing the natural process of growth and renewal to unfold. It is a journey, not a destination. It is a work in progress.

Think about when you get a small cut. Your body instinctively knows how to heal itself, given the right conditions—rest, nourishment, and care. The same applies to emotional, mental, and spiritual healing. You are already capable of healing, and this course will help you explore how to support yourself on this journey.

Before you can set healing intentions, take a moment to define what healing means to you.

Healing can be messy, beautiful, and nonlinear. Some days, you may feel lighter and more peaceful; other days, old wounds may resurface. This is all part of the unfolding process.

Workbook: Please see the attached workbook that supports this with extra questions for reflection.

Intentions are powerful statements of purpose that guide our thoughts, emotions, and actions. Unlike goals, which focus on achieving a specific outcome, intentions focus on the way you want to feel and the energy you want to cultivate in your healing journey.

Healing intentions serve as a compass, keeping you aligned with your deeper needs and desires. They remind you to approach your healing with patience, self-compassion, and presence.

The Power of Healing Intentions

• They bring clarity to your healing process.

• They help shift your mindset from fixing to nurturing.

• They create a positive, supportive inner dialogue.

• They help you stay grounded and focused, especially on difficult days.

Your safe space

This is a wonderful exercise to ensure that if something becomes too much for you - you can go to your safe space.

Describe what a safe space looks and feels like. Go there in your imagination. If you are not visual - see, sense, know or feel it into place.

It's better if it is a neutral space and not someone's home where you may have memories - no matter how wonderful they are.

Workbook: Please see the attached workbook that supports this with extra questions for reflection.

The Awareness cycle

There is no right or wrong way to look at any of this. You may find yourself moving from awareness to awake to acceptance and then back to awareness several times, or you may go from awareness and go straight to action. Everything depends on where you find yourself and how the moment takes you. Even not doing is a state of moving because your body is still moving, you are still breathing and all around the world continues to move. What we want is

Aware

Using the power of stillness, journaling, writing, breathwork and meditation to connect to your unconscious mind and divine inner wisdom you will learn about what your inner wisdom wants you to know and be able to hear what your body wants you to tell you. This is partly looking at the past as an encyclopedia, and then moving into and staying in the now.

Awake

This is about waking up to the journey so far, to be able to peel back the layers to reach the heart of who you are and be connected to the whispers of your soul and asking how did I get here?

Acceptance

Acceptance is an active process that demonstrates courage and inner strength. Acceptance is accepting the fact that something happened that you cannot change. You cannot reverse time, you cannot change things that have occurred in the past, all you can do is accept that it did happen and see what you could learn from it. Forgiveness is not acceptance, it is, however, part of the process to wholeness. Letting go is where you should end up at the end of the forgiveness process.

Adapt

Adapt means willing to change. It's being ready to uncover what stands in your way, believing in the magic of creating personal change and getting out of your way to get what you want.

Alignment

Being in alignment means, living by your values, embodying self-love, discovering your happy to be me factor and living with inner peace and contentment.

Attention

Where you put your focus and attention that is where your energy flows. Where you focus your awareness, plays a key role in what you're creating and manifesting in your life.

Abundance

Abundance comes when you have balanced everything in your life, as best as you can. When you know what you want and why.

Action

Taking action is an essential life skill. Every day we decide to be, do or have and to get where we are going, we need to take just one step. When you are in alignment with who you want to be and what you want, it is easier to take the next aligned step.

Simply notice where you are and know that this is a process - trust the process.

Your 28-day kick-start workbook

Download and print your workbook before you begin. It holds the prompts for all 28 days, with room to write. Keep it where you sleep, or wherever your sacred space is, so the page is the first or last thing your hand reaches for.

Day 1 - Why do you want to journal?

Journaling is a guide for the book of your life. Every page you write is a page in the chapter of you, which provides you with a map for the past, present and future. It is the compass for your heart and soul.

The truth is, we hold the secret to who we are, the healing medicine book andthe  cure for what ails us.

The journey to journaling starts here, and it starts every time you muse and write. That writing unlocks the key to the inner journey that is always within us.

Your journal, if you let it, contains:

• Truth and insight

• Vulnerability and fear

• Resistance and what holds you back

• Magical moments

• When you write, you must give yourself permission to release the words that tell you what you need to know who you are and what you want.

• You'll find universal connection, wisdom and peace if you set yourself free to write from your heart.

• You may even find that your writing reveals your legacy and perhaps even a book... We'll see.

Your journal is where you mine the gold of your heart and soul, and it starts here.

Journal it: Right now, put pen to paper and explore why you want to journal. It could just be one word, one page or a flow of unconsciousness that travels until its journey's end.

When you have written, reflect on how you feel about what you have written.

Day 2 - The benefits of journaling

There are many benefits to journaling. It's important for you to tap into the benefits you believe you will get. Read through these and see and feel which ones resonate with you.

Remember unless you have a big enough WHY you won't do it. Or you will start, and then the practice will fade. Benefits - which resonates with you?

• Healing - mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually

• Improves your mental health

• Express your feelings and thoughts in an uninhibited way

• Become emotionally aware and intelligent

• Safe space to vent

• A place for positive self-talk

• A space for self-expression, understanding and compassion

• Clarify goals before acting

• Creating habits for change

• Release unhelpful thoughts and learn to let go

• Gain a sense of perspective and control

• Store and analyse your dreams

• A catalyst for change and creativity

• Problem-solving and ideas

• Spiritual growth

• A source for your stories, which you may want to turn into a memoir

You will start to:-

• Understand who you are, what you want and how to get it

• How to heal your way

• Find inner peace

• Connect with your intuition and inner wisdom

• Find what matters to you and what depletes you

• See patterns and pictures of unhelpful ways of behaving

• Get insights and aha's

• Find new ways to tackle old behaviours, issues or problems

• Unwind and relax

• Communicate with others better.

• Create positive intentions and affirmations

• Discover a pathway to self-awareness which provides insights upon which you can act and create change

• Find creative solutions to problems and challenges

• Discover memories

Journal it: Which benefits call to you? Choose 2 or 3 to focus on and write about how they will support this inner journey and keep you motivated in your practice.

Day 3 - Your connection with feelings of peace

So far you have looked at why and the benefits and hopefully explored how these things make you feel.

Practising journaling will bring you more benefits so that you will want to write, rather than feel that you have to. What we want to do is to create an anchor and we'll do that with the tree.

Journaling brings peacefulness

Is your body, mind and soul been craving inner peace? Perhaps you don't feel peaceful for a lot of the time and you want to change this.

What I wonder would inner peace give you?

Do you wonder how other people seem to exude this sense of patience and peace, while you're feeling all tangled up inside?

Does peace only come in tiny moments? Does it only come for short periods? Perhaps when it does it is joyful and fleeting.

If you are anything like me you will want to preserve that feeling, hold onto it and welcome more peace to your whole being for much longer periods?

Peace comes from within.

We need to open ourselves up and set an intention/affirmation that we want inner peace. How about 'I am open and ready to welcome inner peace into my life today'?

Let's begin by exploring how you are feeling in the current moment.

Stop what you're doing. Stand up slowly from your chair. Take a few breaths and your breath flowing through you. This is your life force!

How does this simple act of putting your body upright on two legs make you feel? Take a few moments to scan your body. Do this without judgement. What sensations are you experiencing as life flows through you?

Are you currently relaxed and present? Or are you tense, eager or even anxious to move on to the next thing?

Feeling peaceful is as much a physical sensation as it is an emotional state. Sensations and emotions share a causal relationship.

Notice your breathing. Do your breaths come slowly, from your centre? Or do you take short, rapid breaths? We shallow-breathe when we're stressed or tense - which is certainly the opposite of feeling peaceful!

Pay attention to the sensations of your fingers and toes. What do you notice? Any tingling, hot or cold?

What about your head? Wiggle your eyebrows up and down. Tilt your head from side to side, not too fast. How does that feel?

Are you peaceful, or is there still a restlessness inside of you?

Stretch, yawn, wiggle that body. The simple act of stretching our bodies releases inner tension from our muscles. Tension makes us feel stressed, tight. Tense feelings affect our thoughts and reactions.

Ask yourself a simple question when you feel tense, and the answer will be very different as compared to when you feel relaxed and at-ease.

Are you that tense person? Be honest. Where do you notice the tension in your body? For me it is often in my jaw and shoulders - which is why I have a weekly massage, meditate and walk the dogs 4 times a day...

Let's work on changing this, so you can find more peace, and that peace may find you.

Exercise: Become the tree

While standing, assume an upright posture. Straighten up. This simple act, often tells us that we have not been holding our bodies well. Keep your head held high and plant your feet firmly to the Earth. Your feet should be about hip-width apart. Let your breath flow through you.

I invite you to imagine that you have roots growing from your feet into Mother Earth. See them flow all the way into the centre of the Earth where there is a pot of grounding and healing energy. Drink this energy in through your roots and into your body. You are now securely anchored into the ground. Feel yourself becoming grounded.

You are a tree!

Visualise yourself as that mighty tree, connected deep into Mother Earth. Solid, unshakable (well maybe like shake of your branches in the wind), connected to Earth yet rising upward with head held high to the heavens.

Gently roll your shoulders back. Then, softly press your shoulders down toward your hips. Pull your chin in slightly so that your throat aligns with your spine.

Point your tailbone downward with stomach gently pulled in. Inhale, slowly and deeply. Fill your lungs. Exhale mindfully and slowly.

Exhale past the point of thinking you were finished with the exhale.

Now breathe in again, slowly and mindfully. Continue focusing on holding that strong posture, but keep your body fluid as you breathe.

Focus on feeling grounded and connected to Mother Earth. How does that feel? What are your roots drinking in?

Stay connected and breathing for at least a minute. While you do this focus on what peace means to you.

Journal it: The first was to quietly observe our own body sensations and being grounded. Take a moment to write down what you learned.

· How did you feel before you became the tree?

· Were you fretting about something? Worrying that all of your day to day plans must be executed perfectly?

· Did you feel peaceful, or were you more keyed up, thinking about all you still have yet to do?

· Describe the sensations you picked up while being mindful of your breathing and feeling grounded.

· Were your thoughts calmer?

· How was your breathing?

· What sensations do you get from the roots you have sent deep into Mother Earth?

When you leave the house today, you can approach the busyness of your daily life with dread and anxious feelings. Or, you can take a mindful and meaningful approach to creating a most beautiful day for you and everyone you meet.

Sharing daily peace begins with a peaceful feeling from the inside. Breath and ground your way to being at peace! Share that lightness of being with others you meet. Remember to smile...

For the Future:

Going forward, increase peaceful thoughts and feelings from within. Make it a ritual to practice slow, mindful breathing and grounding.

See what a difference a minute calm makes for your feelings of inner peace and wellbeing.

Observe how these simple self-care rituals help you show patience and compassion for others, in the name of being peaceful.

Day 4 - Your deeper why

Yesterday you connected with a tree and inner peace. Today, imagine (see, feel, sense or know) you are the tree. See or feel it into place. See or feel how strong your trunk is, how deep your roots are, how your branches reach to the skies and the wild array of colours of our leaves.

The tree is your anchor to the why and the benefits of journaling.

· As you breathe into this, ask how journaling makes you feel - name that feeling.

· Touch the place on your body where you feel the power of journaling.

· Affirm that you are a powerful journaler.

Journal it: Write about your experience of being the tree. What was your word, and where did you touch? Set a timer for 10 minutes and just write.

Day 5 - Choosing the right journal

Now that you have been journaling for a few days, it's time to ask how you feel about the journal you are using. It doesn't matter if you are new or a seasoned journaler this is a great time to check in with yourself.

Get yourself a brand new journal. Pick one that you would love to write in. I don't believe in using cheap notebooks, because you want your journaling practice to reflect the value that you place on yourself.

Digital, paper or both?

Digital has many benefits. It's faster to type, edit, delete, easier to hide, and if it is on your phone, you can take it anywhere. You can also add photos and videos. It's also searchable, and if you are so minded, you can index it better.

The downsides are that if you choose an App, it may not be around for the long term. A program like WORD might be preferable, in that case.

Paper, on the other hand, brings your heart and soul to the paper. It's slower, let's you pause for breath and find the right words. There is the pleasure in seeing and feeling the flow of words, the re-reading and even the opening and closing of it.

One thing is for certain, the more you love your journal, the more you will write in it. However, if it is too beautiful, it may never get used.

Science says that writing by hand is similar to meditation and you will certainly find it brings you into a mindful space - unless of course, you are having a rant on the paper.

Handwriting activates parts of the brain for language, healing and thinking.

And of course, as we have already said it slows you down.

With both, you have the benefits of both systems, using them in different ways to suit where you are or your mood.

What can you use a journal for?

You can use it for anything - gratitude - affirmations - dreams - goals. The question is 'should' you have one journal for everything or one for different things?

The answer is experiment. I have one for everything other than affirmations, and if I am healing something specific, I'll have one just for that.

Give yourself permission to change your journal if you don't like it. If it doesn't feel good change it. The most important thing is that you keep yourself motivated.

Journal it: Explore how you feel about the journal that you are writing in. Why do you love it, or why might you change it.

Day 6 – The right environment

A sacred space is a place that you come to relax and write. For me, it is my bedroom, and on a particular sofa in what I call my cwtchy room and my terrace which looks over the hills. These spaces work because of the feeling I get when I am in them. Mostly though I write in bed. If I did not live alone, I would find another space to make just mine as I think it is essential to have an area that is only yours, feels comfortable and the energy is protected.

Consider what items you would like in your space. I have a few crystals by my bed and lots of hearts. I have a small altar with a picture of my dad to bring in the divine masculine, some fairies for earth energy, a water nymph, crystals, candles and cards. These are objects that hold a special meaning.

The colour of my space is also important. My bedroom is soft, the cwtchy room is quite vibrant yet feels soft, and the terrace brings the gentleness of Mother Nature in.

When you have your space, set an intention for it and smudge it and you with white sage and clear the energy. Once you have done this, allow your space to evolve over time. The most important thing is to create the right vibration and energy to manifest magic from.

Journal it: Describe your sacred space and the feelings you want to evoke. What special items would you have in there?

The space within

It is a good idea before you start to write that you take a personal inventory. That means focusing on you, your body and your inner space. Do not change anything; just notice what you notice.

Breathing and meditation

We will take a closer look at breathing and meditation later. To create the right energy connecting to our breath is vital. Meditation is something you may or may not already do. It is also very powerful and will enable you to find your way to your heart and hear the whispers of your soul. Take a few deep breaths now and ahhhhh let go. Feels good, right?

Body awareness

Your body is also a sacred space. It is afterall where you live. It pays to become body aware so that you never again miss the nuances of communication and connection. Body awareness is where you sit quietly for a few moments and become aware of your body. Try it now. Take your attention to your toes, now let your awareness move up your body through every single part. Feel which parts feel uncomfortable and which parts feel comfortable. Breathe into each uncomfortable part and let it go. You could imagine that the awkward bits are a piece of newspaper, which is old news. Scrunch it up and throw it away.

What about the mental pictures that you have? What do you have now? Where are they? How far away are they from you? Are they in colour or in black-and-white? What do these pictures mean to you? How might you interpret them? These will come to you at all times of the day, simply make a note.

As you sit quietly, what sounds do you notice? Are there sounds in the room? Can you hear noises in the distance? Are you talking to yourself? What sort of things are you saying? What are you filtering in or out?

What about how balanced you feel? You need to stand up for this one. Place your feet hip-distance apart, let your hands hang by your sides, close your eyes and feel a sense of where you are in the room. Are you leaning to one side? Are you falling forwards or backwards? How can you rebalance you? Get a sense of balance and then open your eyes.

This is a great exercise to do when you're feeling a little bit disoriented or maybe when you're about to start reflecting; it is a great starting point.

· Sitting down, close your eyes

· Ask yourself what your current state of mind is

· Ask yourself what your most dominant emotion is

· Where do you feel it in your body?

· Put your hand on the place that you feel it

· What does this tell you?

· Come back to the present and write

Journal it: Describe your inner sacred space and the feelings you want to evoke.

Day 7 - Tips for your journal

How did you feel about your journal? Are you keeping it or changing for something else?

While there is no wrong way to journal so long as you write consistently, there are things you can do to create the maximum amount of impact upon your life.

Write by hand

Time and again, studies have shown writing out your journal longhand is more beneficial.

Why? When you write things out by hand, you have better long-term memory recall, meaning you process what you're writing more effectively. This is important when journaling, as the whole point of putting things down is to guide you through processing data, whether you're writing details about your day or recalling something that happened years ago.

Another study showed how people who journaled longhand processed the traumatic events they'd experienced much more quickly and were able to move on faster than those who wrote similar entries on a computer.

While there was still measurable benefit for people who wrote on the computer, there was such a significant rate of increase in writing by hand the recommendation was clear: Journaling by hand wins …er… hands down.

Choose your journal to fit your needs

When journaling, don't just pick out the first pretty book you see. Consider how you want to use your journal. If you're using a bullet journal and carrying it everywhere, you might want to choose a smaller size, one convenient to stow in your purse.

Lined or unlined pages? Choose what gives you the most freedom, allowing you to be as creative as you like on the page. As a side note, a cheaper book is more apt to be written in, as the tendency is to 'save' a more beautiful journal (like the fancy leather-bound ones) for only special posts worthy of the book.

Start simply

There's no need to go for long, elaborate posts from the get-go. Write what's comfortable in the format you're most comfortable with. Don't be afraid to switch things up and try new things until you find the model that works best for you.

It's too easy to overwhelm yourself if you get wrapped up in complexities, like having the perfect bullet journal or requiring you to start with an inspirational quote at the top of your entry every day. You can always add in the finer points later as you get more used to the idea of writing every day and feel surer of yourself.

Ignore the word count

There is no perfect length for a journal entry. Write what's on your heart. This might mean three pages of dense text one day, or a bullet point list another. That's fine. This is your journal. You do what you need to do with it.

Embrace inspiration

If you find yourself with an idea or something you want to write about during the day, make a quick note of it. Don't lose out on something worth exploring just because it's not your 'regular journaling time.' This spontaneous list will become an essential part of your journal, as it will give you a wealth of ideas to write about when the time comes.

Choose a time of day that suits your needs

Some people swear by journaling in the morning, as a way to set up your day on a positive note, geared for success. Others like to journal before bed as a way to process the day. Whichever works for you, go with it. While both times of day are loaded with benefits, one is no more 'correct' than the other.

Go into detail

When writing about an incident, be sure to layer in the details, thereby making the story so much more profound and interesting. These are the words that will bring the memory into sharp focus years later when you re-read the entry.

Focus on the emotion and feelings

When detailing something from your day, try to put an emotion on the incident. How did you feel at the time? How do you feel now in recalling it? A careful examination of your feelings helps you to process the incident, allowing you to move past it.

Don't beat yourself up

Life happens. While you do get the most benefit from writing regularly, it might be your schedule doesn't allow for daily journaling. If you write every day and miss a few entries due to being sick or some other life event getting in the way, it's ok.

You're never 'behind' nor do you need to 'make up' for lost entries by writing extras. Simply pick up where you left off next time and go from there.

Make journaling part of your routine

If you strive to make journaling part of your routine – you will be less likely to forget or skip it. When you figure out what time works best for you, try to stay consistent with that.

Even better, connect your journaling routine with an existing pattern in your life. If you have a morning or bedtime routine, try to fit journaling in there. When you do this, journaling can become as second nature as brushing your teeth.

Forget perfectionism

Mistakes happen. You spell something wrong when using ink or create a mess. You cross things out as you reconsider what you've said. You get distracted and doodle all over the page. Who cares?

It's all part of the process. A journal is a reflection of you at the moment. Embrace who you are, random artwork and all. Write from the heart—content matters, just not how it's presented on the page.

Get artistic

If you want to play with design and graphics, create a bullet journal. Or if you're into art, consider a self-portrait journal where you try to express who you are in by drawing yourself each day.

Add artwork, cartoons, or creativity to every corner of the page. Decorate with flowers or skulls. Draw whatever suits your mood! Journaling doesn't have to be about just the words on the page.

Try a brain dump

Feeling muddled, with too much going on at once? Throw it all on the page in a glorious stream of writing to clear it out of your head. Sometimes you need to let go of everything you've been holding in. I do this every Sunday evening so that I have a fresh start for Monday morning.

Let therapy happen

You might not have realised just how deep you might go while journaling. One minute you're writing about your dog, the next you're lost in some childhood incident you'd all but forgotten.

When this happens, write what comes to you. Allow yourself to work through the memory and explore why it's coming up now. At the same time, remind yourself this incident happened in the past. Try to let it go when you're done writing.

Your journal

· Experiment and be curious with your journal set-up

· Leave the first few pages blank for your intention, an index and keywords

· Use the back for other notes, celebrations and successes

· Date every page - full date

· Start each new day on a new page

· Number the pages

· Use coloured pens or coloured highlighters to highlight insights, ideas and important things

Your journaling practice

· Show up fully to the page

· Be emotionally present, alive and ready to share your truth

· Let go of judgement and censorship

· Do not edit, but feel free to reframe as you write

· Pause to find a better word or phrase

· Pause to check in with your language - what are you saying

· Write as little or as much as you want to - your rules, your way

· Let your ideas flow

· It's ok to vent - this is your energy flowing into the page, and you can always tear it out and burn later...

· Be curious, experiment and use your intuition

More ways to consider

· If you find it difficult to start, simply write one word each day, which is how you want to experience your day

· Write about everything that catches your eye during the day

· Follow Julia Cameron's morning pages idea. Let your writing flow without censorship or a period of time or a number of pages

· Use prompts, song lyrics, oracle cards or lines from books

· Have a daily conversation with you or your guides

· 3 things list

· Daily gratitude, affirmations and mantras

· Doodles or colouring in mandalas

· What if questions

· Create your own daily prompts

The biggest tip is DO IT YOUR WAY as your journaling will evolve and change.

Journal it: Read through the list and write about anything that catches your eye. Design your journal and your journaling practice. What benefits will you get doing it 'your' way?

Day 8 - Setting an intention

What better way to start your journaling practise than to greet your journal. We do these prompts to bring super positive energy to your journal. I believe that journals are living things and need to be set up to receive whatever is coming over its life. This is foundational journaling magic. As you start to do more writing and reflecting in your journal, you need to consider how to bring magic to your daily practice.

Bring energy and intentions to your journal

All of my journals are living breathing beings that hold my vibration and essence. Before I use a journal, I want to bless it and create intentions for it. The simplest way to do this is to hold it in your hands and breathe love into it. Go to the first page of your journal and write your intentions. I also colour in a hand mandala and write my intentions and affirmations around it.

Your intentions

Dear Universe,

My intention for this short journey is...[add in your intentions]

I am open to discovering all that I am on the way to getting what I want

I am fully open to receiving all of the abundance that the Universe has to offer me

I am an open channel for spirit to work with me for the highest good of all

All my love [your name]

Sign and date the page. Say your intention(s) out loud.

If you have white sage, you could also cleanse your journal.

Go to the first page of your journal, draw around your hand and set your intentions inside your hand.

Journal it: Do the drawing, bringing your energy to the page and set your intentions and then reflect on what comes up for you.

Day 9 - Daily prompts

Let's get deeper with why, benefits and how.

If you find it hard to get going with your writing, then prompts could be the way to go. By prompts, I mean ones you design yourself and for you to answer these for a number of days.

What matters is that you have the motivation to keep going and allowing your feelings to flow.

Feel into your why, what inspires you so far and brings you pleasure?

You could tie your daily prompts in with another practice, for example, after meditation, a walk, when you have a tea break and your going to bed ritual.

Daily prompts

· Your one-word anchor for the day

· Daily goal or intention

· What do I want to learn today?

· What did I learn today?

· How will I stretch myself today?

· How did I stretch myself today?

· What do I want to experience today?

· End of day reflections

Journal it: Look at the prompts and design your daily questions. Try them out for at least 7 days.

Day 10 - Being heard

One of the reasons you are journaling is that you need to find your voice and speak your truth. You can do this with the written word, but you may want to be heard. This could mean reading aloud, recording your writing or sharing with a trusted friend.

The more comfortable that you get with reading aloud, the more comfortable you will feel about what happens if someone reads it, as well as all of the healing benefits.

It's important that you are willing to write like no ones looking. Write in the moment where you find yourself, how you feel and what your truth is.

Writing gets to the truth of who you are and what your heart and soul wants to share with you.

Journal it: Pause and connect with your body, breathe and then write about the truth about where you are and how you feel right now. Read this aloud and reflect on how this makes you feel

Day 11- Safety and vulnerability

Privacy

Although I adore the feel of the pen on paper, and the way that unconscious thoughts simply flow, my prime instinct is to have my raw thoughts and feelings locked away where only I can read them. You could:-

· Use a computer package with encrypted software

· Find a good hiding place

· Write something on the front or inside cover

· Decide 'who cares?' If someone snoops and finds something they don't like, then tough, they shouldn't have looked

· Ask others to respect your privacy

· Lock it in a safe place

This is where you may want to consider your attitude towards risk and reward. Really anchor into the Why of your journaling practice. Are the benefits worth the risk – YES and YES again… This means being open, curious and opening your self up to your vulnerable side.

Journal it: Describe what it means to you to keep your thoughts and writing safe. Explore what your approach will be. Ask yourself what your attitude towards risk is.

Vulnerability

The dictionary defines it as the quality or state of being exposed to the possibility of being attacked or harmed, either physically or emotionally, which sounds quite scary. There is no doubt it can be hard to be vulnerable, especially if you didn't have positive experiences with it as a child. However, while it can feel scary to open up and be vulnerable, it is something to embrace.

Vulnerability is a part of life for all of us. Feeling vulnerable is normal. It is not a sign of weakness; instead, it is a sign of courage. It requires work, self-examination and lots of self-love. It is what makes you beautiful and human.

Being vulnerable starts with being honest with yourself. How can you be your best self if you don't share what makes you feel exposed? When you write, you will have moments of feeling unguarded, which will arouse all kinds of thoughts and feelings. Give it a chance, and you will see that it is excellent for your heart, health and wellbeing.

It, of course, feels risky, but when you dip your toe into the pool of vulnerability, you will have more meaningful interactions with yourself and others and increase your resilience.

Writing gets you to the truth of who you are, where you are and how you feel right now. There is no escaping vulnerability if you want to get to your truth because journaling is a catalyst for change.

BE BRAVE.

Any resistance that comes up shows us what we are moving away from. What comes up fear, shame, guilt, lies – what? You will soon see that being shows you your strengths.

Journal it: Explore what it means to expose yourself on the paper. Ask are you willing to be vulnerable and what this means to you in terms of your personal growth.

If you were brave and vulnerable in this moment what would you write about yourself?

Day 12 – What will you do with your journal?

We've explored keeping your journal safe, and what it means to be vulnerable and brave, what came up for you? What did you notice? Are there any patterns to your thinking?

Today we want to consider the life of your journal – aka what will you do with your journals?

Every time I moved home, I burned or shredded mine. I have also done regular burning ceremonies, typically on a full moon when I want to let it all go.

I know people who have over 30 years worth of journals, and I have been asked the question what would you do with them?

There are a few answers:

· Leave them as a legacy

· Scan in what you want to leave and burn/shred/soak the rest

· Burn them as you go along and release the energy

What is curious is that you will have spent time writing in them, being vulnerable and keeping them safe – but what happens when you die? Will you leave them or ask for them to be disposed of? I think that it is important to tell others what you want to do with them. You can do this with a conversation and adding a note to the front of every journal. Make sure you are very clear and give the job of what to do to someone that you can trust.

These thoughts will take you back to how you journal and why you journal. Once you are gone, you will not be able to explain or add in anything extra. Though I quite like the idea of a legacy journal that you create as you go along.

Journal it: Will you keep or destroy your journals. Will you burn, shred, or soak them? Who is your trusted person – set up a conversation now and write the note for your journal. Explore what you want to do with your journals on your death. How does this influence how you will write?

Day 13 – Your legacy

Next, consider this… Are you writing for you or for a reader? If its for you then most likely you are writing your truth and writing to heal if its for a reader then perhaps you want to write a book. Maybe it's both. Writing for a reader even if you never turn it into a published book is a form of memoir writing.

What is a memoir or life writing?

Memoir/life writing is simply, writing about you in whatever form you want. It is a means of expressing yourself through words (or in combination with pictures, photos, audio, video).

With memoirs you can write as many as you want, unlike an autobiography, which is typically a chronological story of your life, you know the sort of thing the 'stars' often write.

You can write a memoir in the first person because it is about you and your point of view.

Memoirs usually have a theme or voice; these might be a journey through depression, living with abuse, being kidnapped, taking yourself off to live in another culture, managing an illness, what your faith means, etc. Etc. You are showing us how you were affected by your experience.

Your memoirs will contain what you want to share and not a step by step blow of every event; you will weave your experiences together.

When we write about our lives, we uncover things about ourselves which, when revealed, enable us to make changes, take back control, build confidence and a myriad of other great things.

For others, the recording of our lives leaves behind a legacy of times gone past, experiences never to be re-created, but never the less enjoyed.

Quick things to remember about memoirs:-

· A memoir is a story about something that happened to the writer.

· The author is in the story somehow (either physically or is telling it from their point of view).

· Many memoirs are stories about the author's family or friends.

· The story will make you feel something, an emotion: happy, sad, mad, etc.

· Memoirs are stories about events that are important to the writer.

· Often, the book will end (or begin) with the writer explaining why that event is important to them now or how it changed their life.

· The author doesn't tell you how he or she felt about the event but shows you through the actions and conversations of the characters in the book.

· A memoir is not an autobiography. It is typically a story about one important event in the author's life.

What is memoir?

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary defines a memoir as "a narrative composed from personal experience". It is often confused with an autobiography which is described beautifully by Gore Vidal. "A memoir is how one remembers one's life, while an autobiography is history, requiring research, dates, facts double-checked."

For me, the memoir is a slice of life, my life, a part of my personal story and my healing journey. Told just as I want to. The first memoir I wrote felt immensely self-indulgent. However, it was incredibly healing. It's what I call a healing book. Later I wrote another healing book called Rude Awakenings, and in this book, I discovered the power of self-love. Writing that book changed my life so that when my spine fractured, I was in a loving space and was able to do whatever I needed to heal.

Journal it: Explore what it means to turn your journal into a memoir. How has this shifted your perspective of journaling?

Day 14 - Giving thanks for your learning

Journaling is a powerful way to learn more about who you are, where you are, what you want, what you want and need to heal and discovering your hearts desires. Today is very simple, my invitation is for you to go back through your journal and look at what you have written and to ask – what have I learned? And to then say thank you for your learning.

You have learned:

· Your why

· The benefits for you

· How you want to journal

· Using prompts

· Keeping your writing safe and being vulnerable

· Considering any challenges

· What you want to have happen to your journal when you are gone

· Your legacy

Place your hands on your journal and say thank you.

Journal it: Go through your journal and read what you have written, what comes up for you, think of lessons, challenges, gifts and learning. Explore what this transformation FEELS like

Days 15-21

Review the prompts from your workbook. Keep these by the side of your bed or in your journaling space. At the end of the week, reflect on what has come up for you.

Days 22-28

Review the prompts from your workbook. Keep these by the side of your bed or in your journaling space. At the end of the week, reflect on what has come up for you.

Word of the day

How do you want to feel today? This is a simple way to start your day and is great for those people who think that they don’t have time to journal. Write a word and then repeat it to yourself as the day progresses.

At the end of the day, reflect in your journal about how it went. Did you feel resistance? Did it work well for you? Was it easy to change state from feeling anxious to how this word might make you feel? What did you learn?

Use the attached journal to build up your morning and evening practice.

• Word of the day

• Affirmation

• Affirmation turned into a question

• Gratitude

• Reflections

Workbook: Please see the attached workbook that supports this with extra questions for reflection.

Affirmations

Affirmations are things that you affirm to be true, in other words, positive statements. These statements describe something positive that you want to achieve. They are usually short sentences and are something that you can easily repeat during the day. What they do is to tell your unconscious mind that something is real. Your unconscious mind will see these positive statements, and it will be triggered into action. Try this – I have a beautiful smile. With any luck, you immediately smiled and forgot that perhaps you didn’t like your teeth, for example. It’s that simple and so infectious.

When you repeat affirmations, your mind finds these motivating and inspiring and trots off to obey you. Like the excellent computer that it is, it will embed these programs into its every day ‘you’ code, and it becomes true.

Affirmations are lovely for designing and building new habits, changing thoughts and beliefs and for healing the body. Two of my big affirmations or mantras as they are also called when I was healing my spine was, I have strong, healthy bones, and my bones are healed. I would write these on my fridge with magnetic letters.

Surprisingly people use affirmations every day without realising it. Usually, these are the not so useful ones. You may have heard others talk about limiting beliefs? That’s what these are. You tell yourself that you are can’t do or be something often enough your mind says oke doke, I’ll add that to the program, and it will be true, and before you know it you can’t do those things, or you procrastinate. Call something to mind right now that you know you always say you can’t do, what if you said I can? Feels weird, right? It does take practice. One of my favourite journaling exercises is to turn I can't into I can. It is very revealing.

What we know about negative thinking is that it reinforces an internal belief that we can’t change. This means that we are almost destined to continue to repeat what might be potentially self-destructive behaviours. This leads to a vicious circle of more yukky unhelpful thinking. Take a moment to imagine (see, sense, feel or know) how your life might be if you turned these around and used affirmations to reinforce the more positive aspects of who you are.

It’s all about choice. You can choose to change your thinking or not. Ok, I know that years of negative programming can mean that you have a bit more work to do. But here’s the secret sauce, while you may struggle to start off with, guess what, it won’t take long before you are smiling to yourself as you catch those words daring to come out. Soon you will find yourself looking in the mirror and saying yes, I know I did it again, here’s what I meant to say. At least this is what I do. I find staring at myself in the eyes and confessing rather amusing, and it really gives me the kick that I need.

When I worked in an office and found myself in a situation that meant I was repeating negative stuff, I’d head off the bathroom and look myself in the eye and say something positive. I’d also pull faces, as long as no one else was around. The face pulling was to make me laugh and then I could say an affirmation, anchor it in and go back to face the day.

Journal it: Ask yourself right now what would it be like if I told myself positive affirmations more often? How would it be if I did this daily? What is the first affirmation that I would choose? Write it out and say it. How does that feel?

Use the attached journal to build up your morning and evening practice.

• Word of the day

• Affirmation

• Affirmation turned into a question

• Gratitude

• Reflections

Gratitude

As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words but to live by them. John F. Kennedy

After affirmations, I like to add in the practice of gratitude. Combined these help to get you connected to your heart, help you to change perspective and allow you to powerfully reframe your life.

What do you think of when you hear the word gratitude? That you need to be grateful for what you have? Perhaps you see it as a fashionable practice? A way to remember to say thank you for what you have? Something else?

Gratitude is our way of saying thank for something we value, for blessings, miracles and unexpected gifts. It’s a feeling that emanates from the heart and therefore from a place of love. It helps you to connect with spirit, divine inner wisdom and consciousness. It also keeps you grounded in the real world.

Every culture in the world has a word for thank you. It is often a word that we take for granted. Consider when you go for a meal, and the waiter or waitress places your food in front of you, I assume you would automatically say thank you. Just as you would if someone held a door open. What about when you receive a gift?

Gratitude is saying thank you and appreciating your gifts, no matter where these come from. They could be innate gifts that you take for granted, e.g. the way that your body knows how to heal, the gifts from Mother Nature, gifts of kindness from friends and strangers, the gift of love from your dogs, a present for your birthday, and any gift that arrives unexpectedly.

Gratitude is a feeling that comes from the heart and reaches all parts of your body. Of course, it is also a choice, you can choose to be grateful for what you have, or you can take it for granted and assume you will always have it – but you wouldn’t do that, would you?

Gratitude is an attitude – a way of being where you do not take things for granted, and it shows up in the way that you are. Gratitude creates connections – within and with everything around you. It strengthens the bond you have with your mind, body, spirit and soul and with others that you meet. It creates a powerful energetic resonance.

What do you notice about the way your life changes when you express gratitude for what you have? What do you notice about others? Can you even tell if someone practices gratitude? People who practice gratitude are often generous and the kind of people who do things like random acts of kindness without any expectation of getting something back. I think what I notice about others is that they seem to be humble, kind, generous, content and have an air of inner peace.

Your gratitude journal

As you go about your day, engage your five senses as often as possible so that you become aware of the things you can feel grateful for and appreciate. Then take a moment to be present to each element as you notice it and become aware of your feelings. Also go deeper and fully understand what has been made available to you. Remember your affirmation and reflect on this. When it comes to gratitude, write anything from the mundane, material to the magnificent, while focusing on the heart chakra area – also remember to connect to your roots.

Challenges and lessons

What challenges and lessons came up from the things you felt gratitude for. In writing this, it will open your awareness to the deeper meaning of gratitude.

Gifts

What gifts did the things you are grateful for, plus the challenges and lesson? Why do you consider them to be gifts?

Appreciation

Remember to consider the source of your gratitude and appreciate the abundance that is coming into your life. Regular gratitude and appreciation will rev up your energy and help you to create a more loving and fulfilling life.

Journal it: When you begin your gratitude practice recall what you have noticed during the day or week. When you are ready, write at least three things that you are grateful for stated in the present tense. State I am grateful for… For example:

• I am grateful that it is safe to love me

• I am grateful that I am surrounded by beautiful and loving friends and family

• I am grateful for my healthy boundaries and kind heart

When you have finished writing what you are grateful for breath in love from your root chakra, up your body and into your heart and connect to your appreciation.

The roots of your gratitude

When you start your gratitude practice, consider the roots of your gratitude. Take a few moments to connect to what you are grateful for and follow the pathway or story. You will be fascinated by what comes up. It’s important as you follow the roots to stay out of the story and to become a witness to what you observe. You may see, feel or sense memories, images, feelings, sounds, smells or tastes. Make a note and use them to learn from. As you consider what you are grateful for you can also focus on what you need day to day in order to survive and thrive. When you feel grounded and safe, you will feel confident that the Universe is fully supporting your needs.

The heart of your gratitude

Next, bring your heart into your gratitude practice. It’s important as you connect with your heart, as this will enable your heart to open and to fully feel appreciation. You can do this with the three hearts meditation. Take as long as you like, and when you feel connected, you can start to write what you are grateful for today. When you have finished writing what you are grateful for, breathe out love from your heart.

As you become comfortable with connecting with the roots and heart of your gratitude, start exploring your gratitude in a more curious way. By that I mean, perhaps take a bit more time to notice, or have a few more conversations with your heart, play with the energy and have fun.

Remember to combine your gratitude practice with any of the other practices described.

Use the attached journal to build up your morning and evening practice.

• Word of the day

• Affirmation

• Affirmation turned into a question

• Gratitude

• Reflections

Wouldn't it be nice affirmations

All you have to do is ask - Wouldn’t it Be Nice…?” and see what ideas excite you!

Where am I?

Put a stake in the ground and look around. This may seem very simple, but it is, in fact, very powerful and may bring up all kinds of feelings. You must look around you and take it all in. Simply acknowledge that this is where you find yourself. Describe where you find yourself. Consider how this feels. What do you see and what do you know about this place? I do this when I am feeling a bit lost, as well.

Take a look at these life focus areas and mark yourself 0 (it's a bit rubbish) to 10 (yahoo all is well in my world). If you have created your own list, write these out and do a check against them.

• Health and wellbeing

• Learning

• Financial

• Heart and spirit

• Experiences

• Mental/emotional

• Love/Partner

• Family

• Friends

• Mission/Vision

When you consider each of the areas, ask how much energy, time, or the effort you are putting in. What works for me is energy, what might work for you is time and effort. For example, a high number in the finances does not necessarily mean that I'm well off but instead means that I take good care of this area, spend responsibly, etc. The key is to make these your own so that when you undertake a review, you can say mmm last month I was doing great on managing my finances, why aren't I now? You may see that another area has also been neglected, e.g. your health, and this is what has impacted your finances. You will then see that in this case, you must address your health to bring the finances back into balance, and this is your priority

Journal it: Describe where you are. Consider how this feels. What do you see and what do you know about this place? Mark your life focus areas out of ten.

Where am I?

Put a stake in the ground and look around. This may seem very simple, but it is, in fact, very powerful and may bring up all kinds of feelings. It is essential that you look around you and take it all in. Simply acknowledge that this is where you find yourself.

• Describe where you find yourself.

• Consider how this feels.

• What do you see and what do you know about this place?

Action: Download the wheel and do your first wheel of fortune. It's a great idea to do one each month.

Greet the month

Each month start off by considering your big life goal and envisioning what you want. The start of the month is the perfect time to assess where you are and what you want. It’s a moment to step back and consider if the things you are doing and the things in your life are serving you.

While you pause to greet the month, focus on how things are going or have gone. Do you need to reset, or do you need just a few tweaks? Do this monthly check-in, and you will be back on track. It’s often through the practice of journaling and reflecting that you discover what you have been afraid to admit.

Life has a habit of changing quickly, so having a small block of time to review is a great way to make sure things are going in the right direction and what actions you need to take to get back on track.

My big life goal/dream

It’s a great idea to start each month, reminding yourself of your BIG goal/dream. Writing this down will keep you focused and ensure that what you do each month feeds back into this. When you set smaller monthly goals, remember to stay focused on this.

Action: Write about your big life goal and dream in your journal

What do you want to create?

Creation is about envisioning. Often if you can’t see it, you can’t create it. You may have already created some of what you want to create, but you might not have realised it. You will unearth some of that as you journal.

What do you want to create requires you to think of an endpoint, but not the final destination? Covey, in his famous book, talks about starting with the end in mind. What is this end? You may want to create something in a certain way right now and then tweak it once you have some feedback. The key is to make a start and then amend as you learn more about what you want and need.

At the end of every week/month, reflect and see how far you have grown.

• What went well? Why?

• What did you learn?

• What are the takeaways from this experience/lesson?

• Is there anything you would do differently next time?

• What are your greatest insights?

• What did you enjoy?

• What needs letting go of or stopping? Why?

• What needs starting? Why?

• What will you start doing differently, ready for next week/month?

Start a declutter project this week

• Removing toxins from your body

• Eliminating toxic people from your life

• Getting rid of other rubbish and decluttering

Decluttering makes space for getting and manifesting what you want.

Workbook: Please see the attached workbook that supports this with extra questions for reflection.

Changing habits

Do I love myself enough? This is really a roots question. What is at the root of your habit, in other words, why? The thing about this is you may not know or where your habit started. So, for now, just ask the question and notice any resistance.

The when moment. Notice when you do the thing. My mum is great at catastrophising. Her anxiety is triggered easily and will not settle until she has taken action. Her when moment is the point when she feels that she has no control. A when moment is usually something emotional, time, environment or person related. So, for example, when John tells me I am [insert your word], I feel useless, and that’s when I need hot chocolate and the whole cake. I get it, it’s very comforting. I broke that habit and now when something triggers me, I go for a walk with my furry ones and clear my head.

I’m trying to stop. The try word is pretty awful. Yeah, I’ll try. There’s no real commitment, is there. Just remember this - “Do. Or do not. There is no try.” Yoda, The Empire Strikes Back. What I’m asking here is for you to identify the old habit. That’s all, identify it, but do not use the I am trying to stop x. State the facts.

I’d love to. What would you love instead? I’d love to eat just one slice of healthy cake instead. You would? Really? Dig deep and notice what comes up.

Swap in, swap out: Choose one small thing to change. Make it easy for yourself. If it’s cake, I’d swap my shop cake which is full of sugar and make a cake. But before you say it’s too hard. Here’s what I do. I have a basic banana bread recipe and a basic coconut biscuit recipe. All the wet goes in the blender and then all the dry. It then goes in the oven. It’s so easy and mmmmm hot cake with tea is delish.

Small daily actions. Everything in life is better when be done in smaller chunks or slices. I just find that if I do one thing and another one thing, I am soon on track with my new habit.

Get back on the unicorn. Unicorns are magical creatures and unlike horses can fly. They can take you high above the thing you are struggling with so that you can see it from another perspective. So get back on, reflect and review – what do you learn? Carry on with your new learning.

Make it part of your routine until it becomes a habit. It takes some time before a new behaviour becomes a true habit. Until then, a routine will work to your best advantage. Even before the new behaviour becomes automatic, a routine will help you get it done without having to spend a lot of willpower or relying on daily reminders.

Make that daily walk part of your after dinner routine, or change from grabbing a snack at the vending machine at work at 10:00 in the morning to packing a healthy snack (make cake).

Reflect often. It’s in the reflection that we learn about ourselves. I’ve learned that I am resilient, bloody-minded, a researcher and I like to see patterns, I like to trace the roots of things, understand my why and then apply my learning to me. I’m an experimenter. What happens if I do this. And I am also a just do it, person. Let’s get this done is something I say to myself often and I do just that.

Celebrate everything. Success or what you perceive as failure. Celebrate it. It’s all in the learning. Write these things in the back of your journal and when you feel yuk, read about your triumphs.

Congratulations! Follow the points. Decide to create the new habit, practise the routine until it’s second nature and you’ll be well on your way to forming a new good habit.

Spending a little bit of time creating routines and habits will make your day run a lot smoother. You might just find yourself less stressed or anxious. Which leaves you more time to have some fun.

What gets in the way of your journaling and writing?

This lecture isn’t about writer's block, it is about things that get in the way of getting your writing started and completed.

The question does actual writer's block exist leaves people in one of two camps.

If you don’t believe that it exists then you will be in the camp that says, when you feel resistance, just knuckle down and get on with it.

Others who say that it does exist, and say that trying to keep at something when it is not working simply makes matters worse.

Whichever camp you are in, you are right.

I know as a journaler/writer there is nothing worse than looking at a blank piece of paper and not knowing what to write. Like me, you will just have to face it that at some point you will not want to write or things will get in the way. 

This lecture looks at some of the things that might get in the way and an action plan for overcoming procrastination.

I find my inspiration often comes at the oddest moments and not when I am poised fingers ready at my computer.

However, whatever your perception, there are in my view things that get in the way.  Some of what gets in the way is as a result of the choices you make and some as a result of things out of your control.

You have to identify what is getting in the way and then take action to end your inaction. 

Workbook: Please see the attached workbook that supports this with extra questions for reflection.

Truth

Having a journal is an opportunity to be honest with yourself and this can sometimes be difficult to let go and say it as it is. We can learn a lot from our honesty and when we write from a place which is full of emotion it is far better than any skilled writer could ever achieve. 

In this lecture we look at how to be truthful in our journaling and writing.

Forgive and let go

Forgive means to let go. It doesn’t mean to forget or to condone your actions or the actions of others. It is a powerful opportunity to declutter your stuff and let go of the past. It means that you can open a space to the beautiful soul that resides within you. In the shadow of not forgiving lies fear, guilt and shame. In the light is inner peace and contentment.

We all have blocks (things that get in the way or you resist), things and people to let go of. No matter how much life decluttering that you have done, something will pop up. This is a great opportunity to make a list of all of the things that get in the way of getting what you want. And to do this on a regular basis. You could list these things in the categories of your life areas. This will prove interesting as it could point a particular period that you may have found challenging. Steps in decluttering are:

• Make a list of the things you perceive need letting go of, no matter how big or small

• Affirm that you are ready to let go of what does not serve you

• Notice what memories come up and what they teach you - what are the messages - the key is not to dwell, more to acknowledge and get ready to forgive and let go

Then forgive them with Ho’oponopono – to make right. Which is made up of four seemingly simple statements:

• I’m sorry

• Please forgive me

• Thank you

• I love you

The combination of remorse, forgiveness, gratitude and love is powerful. The power is in the feeling, the energy you release to the Universe, remembering that like energy attracts like energy. You can say these in any order - so don’t worry that you have to memorise them. You do not have to complete the whole list in one go. Choose what feels right and do these. Notice what comes up for you, write and release in your journal.

Journal it: Make a list of what needs letting go. Then practise Ho’oponopono. You can, of course, tackle your list a bit at a time, coming back to the stuck bits when you are ready. Write a letter to forgiveness.

Clear your mind of negative energy

Understanding your current beliefs can help you identify those that could limit your success and keep you from manifesting the healing and what you most desire—work toward reconciling negative self-talk and learn to treat yourself with more kindness and fairness.

You may find yourself going about your day in a bit of a funny mood and not noticing all of the great things around you – it happens. This is a wonderful time to stop and take a deep breath and turn around anything that is making you blue.

Getting a handle on your current mindset, emotions, outlook, and values is an essential start to the healing process.

Think about what you want to manifest in your life. Think about what you have to clear to make sure that you get it.

Journal it: Go through the worksheet, dive into your journal and explore

Journaling, perspective and letting it go with a scream

Try this, it works.

Write in your journal and get out whatever needs to be released.

Choose a word to describe the situation or person.

Turn it into a 5-word mind map.

Go high in nature and scream the word at the top of your lungs.

Later that night write the five words and journal around them.

Try it, it works and the energy around your emotions will shift.

How did we get here?

In this lecture we look at how to place ourselves in the now and to know what bought us to this point.

Timelines provide a visual roadmap, which give you the big picture in the form of a map.  Clarity will come because the human mind sees things in patterns.  When you see patterns you make connections.  When you connect the map of your life to your values, purpose, passion and vision, a clearing to the pathway for your stories and possible book will emerge.

Everyone's perception of time is different. We use the where is my now exercise to put your writing into a timeframe and into context, so that when you reflect you are able to consider more clearly how events that surround your life are affecting you and how things fit together. 

This timelines exercise explains how to create one and how it use it to find themes and connections.

NOTE: This was recorded in 2014 and has been included to show you how to do it. Naturally, this exercise has evolved - but it's great to see it in action

Reflective practice and reflection

The power of reflection will change your life.

Reflection is your response to experiences, situations, events or new information and a phase where processing and learning can take place. When you reflect your unconscious mind searches for evidence and analyses it. After which it tries to make meaning and draw conclusions based on the evidence presented. Once you have been able to evaluate what you are reflecting on, you can then decide what's next. Reflection is a powerful learning experience, which is not about sitting in the lotus position omming, though of course, you could. Reflection has a few basic elements: -

• Retelling- state the basic facts (write a journal entry) and consider how you felt about it at the time and how you feel about it now

• Examine – examine and relate the feelings or events to other times when you have felt the same way

• Reflecting – How do you change your behaviours? What possible alternatives, perspectives, meanings, or links can you see?

Reflection, then allows you to further process what you have written so that you can make meaning of your words, make changes, and start the healing process. Reflection is simply a process which enables you to make meaning from your writing, challenge your thinking, learn who you are and gives you the opportunity to make choices about changing the way you behave.

To make sense of your writing, you simply have to leave it. Reflective thinking is about going back and looking at your journal, analysing what you have written, with the goal of making decisions about what to do or what not to do. It is when you do this that you will discover inspiration and clarity.

You can reflect on what you have written at any time. When you come to reflect on your journaling after you have completed all of these prompts, consider how what you have written about has impacted your life, ask these questions.

• What have you learned about you?

• What are your most significant insights?

• What is one thing that you will do differently because of what you have learned?

Focus your reflections on creating inner peace, contentment and feeling happy to be you. Before you start to reflect and write, read through your journal so far, and simply become aware of anything that stands out for you.

Thought Report

Try the thought report when you want some clarity and perspective about something that is coming up or something that has happened. For example, you may have shared your vision with a partner, who perhaps you felt rubbished it, which triggered a reaction in you. Your vision statement is something you are going to share with others, and now you don't want for fear that they may too ridicule you. Take this trigger which has pushed your buttons and create a thought report. You may notice that this makes you feel stressed or reminds you of ongoing anxiety around low self-worth or something else.

You have a choice in how to react to situations. If you know your buttons are being pushed, check your reaction immediately, examine your thoughts, consider your body talk, focus on your breathing, and make a choice to do something differently. You will be learning lots of tools to help you with this.

Flipping the switch from self-defeating thought patterns and feelings to those that serve you better can take time, practice, and patience.

Triggers are products of some past event. Remember that the situation is not happening now. It also happened for you and not to you. It's something to learn from. Try to trace back to the first time that this trigger occurred, how many similar events can you remember? You can do this by closing your eyes and letting your mind wander or scribbling a timeline in your journal. The key is to just notice and not to get into the memory. We call these up simply as a guide and to gain awareness of our patterns.

Thoughts And The Thought Report

Other reflectiion practices

• Complete a thought report for something that happened today

• Notice your can’ts, mind reads and cause and effects

• What were YOUR choices and why?

• What will you choose differently in the future? Why?

• What will that give you?

• What do you learn?

Reflecting and your senses

How do you recognise what your preferred or dominant style of sensing is? I always start with knowing what my preferred style of ordinary communication is – visual, auditory, or kinaesthetic. When I know this, I will practice flexing my style, so that I create more self-awareness around each.

We can increase how we communicate and interact with us by learning about the senses.

These are our senses

• Visual-seeing

• Auditory-hearing

• Kinaesthetic-feeling

• Olfactory-smelling

• Gustatory-tasting

• Spiritual-intuition

One will be typically dominant - which is yours?

• Read through the handout and practice flexing your style

• What do you notice?

• How do others react to you?

• What do you learn?

Reflecting

In these lectures we look at how to reflect and provide a number of reflection exercises to try.

Reflection is our response to experiences, situations, events or new information and a phase where processing and learning can take place. 

When you reflect your unconscious mind searches for evidence and analyses it.  After which it tries to make meaning and draw conclusions based on the evidence presented.

Once we have been able to evaluate what we are reflecting on, we then decide what’s next. 

Reflections

In this lecture we consider how to stay out of the picture when reflecting on unpleasant experiences and in the picture when reflecting on successes and times when things went well.

Reflection exercises

In addition to the other journaling and writing exercises, provided throughout this course.  These additional reflection exercises are designed to do just that, to get you thinking about your thinking.

Writing exercises

'And by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt.' Charlotte Bronte

We often get stuck when we put pen to paper, so these exercises and prompts are designed to help inspire you.

In writing them and reflecting, you will discover more of you and the you that you may have lost.

How can I remind myself who I am?

In this lecture are some exercises which are designed to connect you with you and for you to ask the question, who am I and what are my healing intentions?

Life makes memories and memories create stories (and books) and stories change lives.  We remind ourselves of who we are by exploring us through journaling and writing.  

Firsts

In this lecture we examine how your firsts and these days contribute to who you are and your story.

Your life will have lots of firsts.  Your first memory, kiss, fight, book, car, bike, test.

AND

There are always days that…. The day that you left your job and became self employed.  The day someone close died.  A day your world changed forever.  

Days

These are days that really stick in your mind; ask yourself why, what did you learn, what are you grateful for, how do you get more of these days?

Days writing exercises

• Days when 'that' happens I…

• My first 10 days of…

• The best day of my life was…

• If you were to bury a time capsule of today what would go in it?

Journal it: Write about those days… What do you learn about you, and what do these things teach you about who you are now?

The bank of great thoughts and feelings

This is a lovely exercise; you create for yourself a bank of thoughts and feelings stuff that makes you feel really good to be alive. Then in your odd moments when you're feeling a little down, you can go back to your bank and feelings and use them to lift your spirits by writing something inspired by them. You could write them on post-it notes and keep them in a jar.

What's in your bank?

• Start by writing a series of single words, for example: – Sunrise / Smile / Chocolate / Walk / Wine / Breeze / Kiss. You get the idea.

• Take one of your words, what is the best experience you can recall about that particular word?

• Take a moment and close your eyes what can you see, feel, hear, what colours do you see, what smells are there, who was with you, what did they all you say, what or who else was there?

• What is the story around that word?

Journal it: Create your bank of great thoughts and feelings. What do you learn?

Letters

Do you keep old letters? These are a brilliant way to piece together parts of your life. For each letter put them in chronological order, re-read them, making notes of what comes to mind.

Find significant letters and add photos or objects that you still have. Use these to form a letter journal. Perhaps you could write a letter back to each of those people, knowing what you know now.

30 days, 30 letters

30 days of letters to your most important people. If you haven't kept letters, simply start your own collection and write to the people in your life or who have touched your life.

Journal it: Write letters to your important people over the next 30 days. Decide which ones you will send and which ones you will keep or burn.

Enchanted relationships

Choose two or three of your closest relationships, it may be a friend, a lover/partner or parent.

• Who are they?

• Why are they your closest relationships?

• What do you love about them the most?

Journal it: Write about your most enchanted relationships. What do you learn about you and the people you attract in your life?

Your fan club

Who's a part of your fan club? Journal about the people who support you unconditionally. How have they helped you? How do you value them? Keep a record as they do something wonderful.

• Whose fan club are you a part of? As someone says thank you or asks you for your advice, keep a record. You are in their fan club.

• This is your chance to give back for all the fabulous support you've been given.

• Being part of a community helps us accomplish so much more than we could alone. It's important to nurture these communities and keep them strong.

• Don't forget to say thank you to your fan club!

Journal it: Who is in your fan club? Why are they? What gifts do you get from them? Remember to say thank you to your fan club

A single word

Ask a selection of people to choose a single word that describes you.

• Write a character sketch of yourself using these words

• Wander around your house, looking at your clothes, shoes, handbags, open the fridge and look at the things you like to eat, what's on the wine rack, describe your lounge or bedroom

Journal it: Take your one word and what you discover about you from a wander around your house. Write a sketch of the person you have just discovered. What does this tell you?

The clothes hanger

We express ourselves by what we wear or how we wear something. There will be times when you can't be bothered to dress in a way that makes you feel good about yourself. You may hide behind dull colours or baggy items. Other days you will go all out.

What is certain is that what you wear, the colours and fabrics are an expression of how you identify with yourself, your worth and how you show who you are to the world.

There is a lot of psychology behind clothes, and I would invite you to keep a note of what you wear, the colours and how your clothes make you feel, ask yourself why you choose to wear what to do and why. What thoughts do clothes evoke in you? How does what you are wearing tie in to how you feel about your life or at a more detail level each day.

Journal it: Your clothes story. Write a short story about a piece of clothing and how it feels, what it sees, hears, etc., as if it had human tendencies and were you.  Keep a record of what you wear and how it makes you feel

Postcard to self

Places like Vista print (www.vistaprint.co.uk) Moonpig (www.moonpig.com) and other online printing outlets often make offers of free postcards. Get yourself 100 free postcards printed with something funky on the front and every once in a while send yourself a postcard.

You can write anything on your postcard and when it turns up a few days later do whatever the postcard is asked you to do. E.g. make something you have never eaten before, like raw chocolates. Go for a walk. Sing a song to the world…

When you get your postcard – do it – reflect on how it makes you feel

Mandalas

Mandalas are a wonderful way to both uncover things and to reflect.

The word mandala comes from the ancient Sanskrit language, and it means “circle” or “centre”. They have been used for centuries in rituals and for meditation. While they look like interesting shapes, there is much more to a mandala than that. If you look around at nature, you will see that there are all kinds of unusual shapes. Bring a snowflake to mind or a spider’s web. These are both intricate and beautiful, and when you look at them, you may find yourself transported into a world of wonder.

Colouring Mandalas has been proven to produce a calming effect on the person colouring them in. Journaling and reflective writing have also been shown to have a profound effect on the writer.

Writing is incredibly healing. The very act of writing releases tension and allows your subconscious thoughts to flow. Then upon reflection, you begin to see sense, patterns, ways through your problems and onto to solutions, ideas and inspiration.

Combining colouring mandalas with journaling and reflective writing will change your perspective and your life. You will start to get incredible insights, and if you choose, you can make some significant changes based on what you learn.

Why colour mandalas?

What I love about mandalas is the sense of wellbeing that I get when I focus on them and colour them in. I will typically tune into something that is on my mind, connect to my muse and then allow whatever needs to flow, arise.

Mandalas offer you the opportunity to focus in on something and then work your way out from the centre to the outer edges where your consciousness is expanded. Imagine that the centre is the issue and as you work out, you are discovering solutions.

When you concentrate on an aspect of your life, you are energetically connecting to your inner state, intuition, wisdom and creativity, which is then reflected back in not only the process that you use to colour in your mandala but the colours that you use.

When you start to colour in your mandala, you will notice yourself relaxing and yourself opening up to your inner wisdom and creativity where you will find the solutions you need.

The benefits of mandalas

• There is no right or wrong way to colour a mandala so that you can colour them in any way you desire

• You can colour just about anywhere

• Colouring lifts your spirits and brings out the child in you

• You can colour at your own pace

• You are creating a unique work of art

• It connects you to your wisdom and creativity

• It’s relaxing and will help you to de-stress

Action: Download the mandala workbook and have a go

An additional workbook with mandalas focusing on self-love.

Reflecting through creative life writing

This lecture answers - How can I turn journals into stories?

The final piece of writing to heal is to construct short stories from your journal entries.  I have found that writing creative life stories, where I use events and people as inspiration extremely cathartic.  These stories put me in control and anything can happen. 

This works because when you take something that you consider to be real (your current perception) and change the way in which you view it, it releases your attachments to the situation. With creative life writing you find ways to let go of your stuff, whilst also having fun.

Creative life writing is a pathway to self-discovery and transformation. Writing the stories of our past can help us consider how to have a healthy future. As we pour ourselves into words, we learn who we are, what has to change, where the opportunities to heal are, grow and be able to tell a whole new story.

Metaphor

In this lecture we ask - How can metaphors help me to heal?

All of us speak and write and think in metaphors every day. They can't be avoided; metaphors are built into our language. 

The mind makes connections, sees things as patterns, this includes our language.  There is a link between the mind and the dis ease that our bodies express.

In healing the link that we can use to examine the body through the mind is metaphor. This works because we are story-telling creatures and everything in our lives is part of our story.

These exercises help you to understand what your mind is telling you about where you healing needs to be focused.

Visualisation

"Imagination is more important than knowledge." Albert Einstein

In this lecture we look at visualising a great future.

The real key to turning imagination into reality is acting as if the imagined scene were real and already accomplished. Instead of pretending it is a scene from the future, imagine it as though you are truly experiencing it in the present.

Thinking is doing and our minds believe what we are thinking is really an action.  Our thoughts become our reality.