JOURNALING
I cannot express the value that this practice has added to my healing journey. The evolution of it has been vast! My practice started out very clunky and disjointed and grew to become an integral part of my daily (sometimes multiple times a day) routine….even a source of comfort!
In 2023 I filled 14 journals in a 12 month period! I often had 2 or 3 going at any given time based on different categories in my life.
There are 6 types of Journaling I’m going to outline here - each with its own value and importance. I’ll also be providing prompts and examples to help get your creative juices flowing if you’re feeling stuck. However, please branch out and do what works best for you - and by all means please feel free to share your successful journaling practices!
Journaling will indeed allow you to get deep into your own psyche - and you will get to know yourself in profoundly new ways. It’s like an onion - the more you peel back the deeper and more intricate the layers become. It’s the thin slimy ones that seem to be elusive, but they are in fact reachable!
Intentionsare a mental state that represents a commitment to carrying out an action, or actions, in the future. Acting with intention means consciously aligning our thoughts, words, and behaviors with our goals.
Synonym - aim, purpose, intent
Intention Examples:
I aim to take care of my body the way it deserves
I intend to LIVE alcohol-free
I intend to enjoy my life to the fullest
I aim to always have my own back and listen to my intuition
I aim to be more present and in-the-moment
I aim to practice love and kindness to myself
Whereas, an Affirmationis a declaration that something is true, something you say to yourself to reprogram the mind.
Affirmations are focused on the present moment and can be used to harness positive thinking.
Synonyms: declaration, proclamation, pledge
These are I AM statements!
Affirmation Examples:
I am experiencing a thriving life as an alcohol- free woman
I am proud that I have removed the limiting effects of alcohol from my life
I am worthy of a blissful and prosperous life
I am an empowered and confident woman
I deserve to live an unconditioned and unlimited life-of-my-dreams
Setting Goalscan be so fun!
For the purposes related to your Journey Out of the Bottle, I invite you to be bold, brave and Outlandish! Create stretch life goals. Pretend that there are no limitations or obstacles (because there likely really are not).
***Important Notes:
Do not allow the HOW questions to block you! Asking How will consistently be a deterrent, so be aware of it, and bypass it!
Set your temperature very High - meaning play big…let your goals be bigger than you can possibly imagine!
Make your Goals as present statements - as if the goal is already met!
Outlandish Goal Examples:
I am taking my kids on a 3 week trip to Africa where we will do a Glamping Safari and Congo River cruise.
I am spending 2 months in Bali as a home base exploring all of Indonesia. Deep jungle, temple, healing and growing business.
Gratitudeis a beautiful practice especially when it is paid for even the smallest of notices in life. For your JOOTB time, I invite you to practice gratitude for all the non-material things that happen for you. I’ve been paying gratitude when I find something I’ve been searching for. And I’ve noticed that I seem to find things more swiftly now…so I’ve also paid gratitude for that aspect as well.
Gratitude Examples:
Thanks for letting me find the exact pair of shorts I’m looking for in the huge pile of unfolded laundry.
And a double thanks for finding them almost immediately!
Thank you for that meeting, that I wasn’t so excited about, getting canceled and freeing up an hour of time for me.
Thank you self for letting us use my new found time to practice self love in journaling about my intentions and affirmations and taking a walk outside to connect quietly with nature!
Thank you for the opportunity to confidently and proudly state that I’m now alcohol free at a dinner with friends.
And I’m grateful that I didn’t even feel the like I needed to make any excuses or add ‘reasons’!
CLIFF NOTES JOURNALING
I use this method to capture important notes, epiphanies or highlights that are big but I don’t have time or the bandwidth to get deep into them at that moment. Yet, I do not want to lose these valuable nuggets. So, like tying a string around ones finger to remember, I use key words/phrases to ‘put a pin in the thought’ so I can recall the whole topic later.
Another fun evolutionary aspect of this is that I draw, doodle or animate these cliff note-style journal entries (remember trapper keepers or folders you would carry around in school??).
This particular practice comes in handy during coaching, therapy, psychedelic journeys and dreaming - where a lot has happened and I’m able to quickly capture the highlights that I want to recall later!
Tip: Remember that these notes do not need to make sense to anyone else but you - and even just a word or short phrase that you know will be the ‘clue’ you need!
Here is an example:
VENTING & NEGATIVITY
And finally a separate Journal all to itself for Venting. Allow your Anger and your Victim-y Pity Party frustrations to have a space to be expressed.
***Important Notes:
I strongly suggest to get and keep this journal as its own notebook. Why? Because we want to keep low-vibe energy separate from the above magic. I encourage you to rage here, and keep that energy unto itself. (Perhaps we will have a burning ritual at the end to “Let that Shit Go!”!!)
Keep it simple and to the point. Do not go down a rabbit hole and add a lot of ‘story’ to it.
Examples:
I feel like a failure! I’m disappointed in myself for not meeting my personal deadline for the launch of my website. I have not used my time wisely, I wasted hours, days, weeks - doing other things and allowing myself to be distracted.
I’m feeling melancholy and nostalgic for past experiences with my kids. Not having both of them during the summer and not making more significant plans for vacation and summer travel. I have regret that I am allowing precious time to pass without prioritizing making memories with them.
Emotional Release with words of rage, blame, hate, anger, disgust, shame, guilt. Have a written emotional release. It’s easy to spiral on this one…to get wrapped up in our story and want to add lot of ‘flare’ to provide evidence. Try to keep it to one-word/one sentence so as not to get sucked down the rabbit hole of negativity.
I fucking HATE….
It’s not Fair that…
They said…XXX
That made me feel… Use one emotional word
UTILIZING TECHNOLOGY
I prefer and encourage you to write as much as you can. There is something special about having a pen/pencil/marker in hand. Making a comfy space and time to dedicate and harnessing the power to dig deep with contemplation thoughtful intention.
However recording one’s thoughts adds some exponential benefits over writing. So perhaps you even practice dictating the above written word to add an extra punch?!
I started out a long time ago dictating into the Notes app on my phone,where I could go back and read and reference them… that evolved into using the VoiceRecorder app which is great, because I can hear my voice, but I cannot read what I wrote.
OtterAI now allows for both! You can record your thoughts and the App will capture the audio, transcribe into a written document and even summarize it.
Our downloads have everything you need to supplement this course.
