Journal Therapy!! It's FREE!!
Miranda Smith is this week’s cheerleader and this is her hot tip for journaling:
“I keep a thoughts and feelings journal. And whenever I’m upset or sad, I write down everything that I’m feeling to get it out of my system with as much emotion as possible (typing works too). Then I ask myself why this thing made me upset and I really reflect. I am always able to learn something about myself and about a limiting belief running around in my head based on what the answer to that question is. Then I am able to correct that thought/belief and disprove it!”
I love this so much! Putting our thoughts and feelings on paper really gives us the opportunity to observe them in a more scientific, less emotional way, and then we can evaluate them using reason and logic. This is a great combination of all the parts of ourselves, helping us see ourselves, our lives and our struggles more clearly.
In all my studying recently I learned that a massive percentage of anxiety comes from within the mind. It’s not “all” in our heads, but much of the pain and suffering is taking place right there! So, let’s get it out of our mind, put it on paper and have a look! Even the simple act of taking a step back and realizing that WE HAVE A MIND, BUT WE ARE NOT OUR MINDS, can have profoundly healing effects. I am a person experiencing experiences, but I am not my mind. Try seeing this new perspective of your mind and just observe it for a while. Take a clinical type approach to what is happening in your heart and mind and work it out from that angle.
When evaluating your brain on paper I would ask you to ask yourself this question, “Does this really mean what I think it means?” We all have situations that arise in our lives and we assign these experiences meaning. But sometimes we get it WAY WRONG! For example: Let’s say your dad lost his job when you were young. Maybe it was a hard, scary time in your life and you decided that his job loss meant “The world is a scary place. It’s a dog eat dog world out there. No one can ever be depended on.” These beliefs and stories you created around that situation will wreak havoc in your mind and have negative outcomes in your own personal life. Maybe it’s time to go back to some big turning points and events in our lives and ask ourselves, “Does this really mean what I thought it meant (about me, about my family or about the world in general)?" Children are excellent observers but terrible interpreters. Think of how often children interpret their parents’ marital struggles as evidence that they themselves are a bad person or are to blame. How many decisions do they make from that incorrect viewpoint that cause emotional damage to themselves and harm relationships in the future? Are you seeing something through a dark lens that could be cleared up with fresh evaluation? What are those turning points in your life that changed everything? What lies have you believed about them? Maybe it’s time to discover the truth? Let’s get started this week and ask your Truthteller to guide you to truth, clarity and peace. Most things that happen in our lives are neutral. It's the meaning that we assign them that cause us to see them as negative or positive.
This also reminds me of a concept that Miranda’s mom, Camille, and I taught in our classes, that it’s great to do a “brain dump” at the end of a long, emotional day. Just get all of the emotions and feelings out on paper as big and loudly (and angrily) as you need too... THEN BURN IT or TEAR IT UP! Do whatever feels most therapeutic. Your feelings want to be felt and noticed but we don’t have to hang onto them or give them too much space for too long. Hanging onto them can be toxic, so we give them their “15 seconds of fame” and send them out of our bodies and souls and on their way. Try this too! Sometimes we get hung up with trying too much fixing and evaluating and we just need to say, “Well, that’s done” and let it all go. Use your intuition to see which approach might be best on a particular day or event.
I love you so much! You can do this!! Let's HEAL!!
