The Art of Daily Journaling

Words are powerful tools to create.
Your words have the most power to heal and create your life your way.
Journaling is one way of using words to uplift and expand your life.
Today we look at how I use my journal for change.

Welcome to Authentic Living with Linda
I’m Linda Codlin

Welcome, My Friends.

Have you tried something new, or different this week?
I do have to say, I am loving living in a tidy and clutter free home. Having it ready to be viewed at any time is helping me be diligent with tidying up after myself.
Every day I do a few small basic tasks and the house seems to stay organized.
The seasons are changing, I’m noticing myself wandering around the clothes shops, wanting to purchase new winter clothes.
We deliberately packed our clothes, leaving out 3 or 4 sets to rotate on a weekly basis.
Our home has been on the market less than a month and I’m finding I’m getting bored with my clothes. This is so interesting to me. It’s a new feeling that I’m processing. Deliberately deciding that I don’t actually ‘need’ or truly ‘want’ new clothes has brought up a few new underlying thought processes.

Life is for living, and substituting stuff for the true emotions of living isn’t cutting it for me any more. I’m being way more mindful about what I want to have enter my beautiful and tidy space and why I think I need it to be here.

Today I want to share with you 5 Journaling practices I use to work my way through these interesting impulses and emotions.
I have one journal with 5 dividers, Each with it’s own title. Then I have a separate book I use to capture ALL the thoughts.

1. The free writing journal: This journal is a separate spiral bound book, I chose this type so the pages can easily be ripped out and burned.
   In this journal I capture all the hot and bubbly unfiltered thoughts and emotions, this is where I do a brain dump, I get all the things that are churning around inside me out. I set the timer for 15 mins and write until I have nothing left to vent or the timer goes off.
   I reread what I have written, taking note of the areas and situations that I’ve written about and how often they are showing up.
   This is a clue to the next area I’m about to grow into. It’s like a forewarning of what is on my emotional radar.
   Boundaries that are constantly being stepped over, my reactions to situations and how I feel about that.
   Everything, gets written here. It’s a bit like collecting the rubbish to throw out, for my brain.

In my five sectioned journal I have five different titles.

2. Gratitude Journal: I write out 5 things I’m thankful for.
   I write using emotional language to help me to actually feel what I’m grateful for. I have fallen into the trap of just writing I am grateful for… and not feeling anything. For me the gratitude journal is an emotional experience. I allow myself to feel awe for the sunrise, to feel the deep sense of love I have for my daughter, to really breathe in the pleasure of a tidy and beautiful home.
   In the middle of the five gratitude’s I slip in something I want that I don’t yet have. (Everything we have now, was once something we didn’t have.)
   I use the words, Now, that I have …. I feel … This gets me into the feeling state of what I want. (Everything we want and do, is for the feeling we believe we will gain from having it.)I build this feeling deliberately. It’s also a good time to branch off into visualising or meditating. But that’s a whole other practice.
3. Thought Journal: This section is about capturing ideas and thoughts. Everyday I write out ten thoughts or ideas that are interesting me.
   I don’t sensor any ideas, they all get written down.
   These can be as mundane as a type of ‘to do’ list. Capturing the thoughts that interrupt my day, like, I must drink more water.
   Or they can be as exciting as a new blog idea, or business plan, or a strategy for a client.
   The thoughts and ideas on this list are as wide and varied as my brain will allow, if I find that I am getting stuck in a particular rut of thinking I choose to listen to a podcast or audio book or read something that gives my brain a new direction to think about.
   What we think is important for our growth, these thoughts inspire new ways of living, new ideas for business, for family, for solving life’s problems.
4. Secret Garden Journal: This section is where I capture my dreams, wants, and desires. It can also be where I pour out my true heart around things happening in my life that I’m not ready to voice yet.
   My secret garden is a place I imagine I can go to. It is completely safe for me to off-load all my burdens.
   My secret garden is a sacred place where I go to talk to my mentors, to the divine. It’s a place of cleansing, of healing.
   It’s a place of joy and peace. As I write I visually see all the aspects of my garden.
   For example my garden has a swing attached to a huge oak tree, it has a stone altar, it has a fire pit, and a tinkling brook. The path entering is lined with flowers. I have a round table where my advisors sit to help me sort my life dilemmas.
   What would you have in your secret garden? What makes you feel safe? Who, if anyone is allowed into your sacred space?
   My secret garden is where I write about the things I want to see happen. This can take a paragraph or a page. I do set a timer so I don’t stay too long and put time pressure on the rest of my day.
5. My future Self Journal: This is the section where I seek advice from myself, the self I see from my desired future.
   My future self has all the things I want, she is living the dream I am working toward making my reality.
   She has pearls of wisdom to help me do today what I can do to become her tomorrow. She encourages me to step into the scary next step, that I want to run away from. She inspires me to keep on keeping on, no matter how hard life may seem.
   This section is also where I capture letters to Linda from Omni. Omni is my higher self guide. On occasion she has words of wisdom and advice for me.
   This section is about encouraging, inspiring and motivating myself to continue to be my best.
6. My Word of the Year Journal: This section is about the word I have chosen to live by for the year. This year my word Is respect.
   I write two sentences around respect, I generally begin with. “I respect myself by …. ” Then I fill in how I am respecting myself, others or situations I am facing.
   The second sentence is an expansion on how I can do this a little better today.
7. Affirmation Entry: This isn’t so much a journal entry as it is a reminder of what I am aiming for.
   I write my affirmation paragraph out every day, using my non-dominant hand. I find this helps me to focus on what I’m writing.
   This paragraph begins with, “Now that I … “, then I state what I want to have in my life.
   Below is the paragraph I write out everyday, as an example of what I mean. “Now that I am settled and at peace with myself, I release all fear and doubt around my abilities, dreams and desires. I trust my perfect, divine, infinite source of inspiration and supply to attract and manifest everything I require for my next activity, progressing me along my life’s journey. “
   Then I write out my top three goals, also using my non-dominant hand. These are written in the present tense as if I already have obtained them.
   These are personal to me and my focused attention.
   They can cover any area of your life. Health and Wellbeing, Relationships, Responsibilities, Career, Finances, Spiritual, Intelligence, Pleasure, Character, anything you want to focus on to improve your day to day living.
   Life is for living, thoughts create your life.
   And finally, the last thing I write is “I love and respect myself.” Still with my non-dominant hand. I copy this statement 8-10 times ensuring I’m leaning into the feeling of what I writing. Then I stand up, move to the mirror, look myself in the eye and say with feeling, I love myself over and over for about a minute.
   This may feel weird the first time you do it, but it does create a shift in your being, try it and let me know what you found out about yourself.

Journaling is one way of discovering what you are really thinking.
It is my belief that thoughts belong on paper where I see them objectively and decide if they are worthy of being a part of the woman I am becoming or not.

Please don’t feel overwhelmed by all this writing, I didn’t start where I am today. I began with the gratitude journal, added the free writing as I needed it, and that is how it is even now, the free journal writing isn’t an every day thing, but the others are.
I set my timer for 15 mins, then write in my five category book. I reset the timer for 15 mins and write my affirmations and goals.
Then I’m done, what I’ve done is I’ve set myself up for the day, I have quality thoughts and encouragement to think about during the day.

Also I haven’t mentioned writing out your daily doing list, or your daily intention agenda. These I will cover under Organizing your life, in another blog.

Until next time, give journaling a go, pick up a pen and notebook and begin to write all the things that are bottled up inside you, spew all your spiteful words out onto the paper, then burn it safely. Do this every day for a week and let me know if it makes a difference. Also remember what you focus on grows, so add a couple of sentences about the good things that are happening in your life.

oxoxo Linda

As a certified Life Coach, I help you to help yourself, so you can create a well lived life your way. 

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