Suggestions for How to Get the Most Out of Journaling

[Mandy]

You are free to create any kind of journal you are inspired to create here as long as it is in abidance with the forum guidelines. These suggestions are intended to help you to get the most in the way of relief (working up the emotional scale), letting go of beliefs and thoughts, and in doing so making space for clarity and understanding to fill in. These suggestions are not intended to limit your natural expression in any way nor suggest that there is one “higher” or “better” way to write. You just being you IS being, and is perfection beyond the judgment of it. 

 

Why journal publicly?

Journaling publicly can be empowering because it is true expression… we are putting ourselves out there, and knowing that others can hear or read our words can break the belief that we are alone and unheard. However it is good to remember that you are journaling for you. If you are cutting yourself off from expressing because you are judging yourself because something doesn’t sound spiritual, or it isn’t written good enough, what will people think, etc, these are just thoughts to let go of, not to believe. Write them down if you like and move on. Journaling publicly can be a good opportunity to become aware of how often we say things for others (and are unauthentic), and/or try to control how people see us. With that said, please be aware that what you share is publicly available online. Use this to your benefit, for the purpose of expressing, letting go, and journal privately if you need to talk about specifics that aren’t wise to share online. All tools are best used with the knowledge of the abundance of all the other tools available. Again, this is here for you. 

 

Why “Expression” Journals?

Expression in writing can come in many forms, from poetry and storytelling, to stream of consciousness writing, to letting go of thoughts and beliefs that perpetuate negative emotion. There are no rules, but it is known by how it feels. Journaling can be an incredibly clarifying and releasing experience if you are clear on what your intentions are for writing. Ask yourself, would I rather feel better and open myself to new insights and clarity, or am I telling a story to solidify an idea of myself that I don’t even like or want to hold on to? Am I trying to uphold or build up a perception or image of myself or would I rather reveal something I’ve never seen before? You will know by how it feels. An insight is a thought you’ve never thought before. A belief is a thought you keep thinking. When we are running on beliefs we spin our tires in the mud of our same old, well worn repeated thoughts. Expression and writing is a wonderful opportunity to shake this stuff loose, and note when we are doing it. Writing these thoughts down, seeing them in front of our faces, seemingly outside us, can really shed light on these patterns. The magic is in this clear seeing, and “poof,” the resistant belief is gone and never was.  

 

What is a flow “state”? 

Again, this does not mean that you resist expressing what you want to express or put a lot of burden on yourself to “write the right way.” (It’s funny how the words write and right both sound the same.) Instead, really look at the words that you express and pay attention to how it feels to entertain them. Once we have believed and expressed (typed) a thought, it is there on the screen and we can then be curious to see what thoughts patterns and beliefs are at play. No longer are we acting from the limiting perspective of the belief, but we are aware of it, looking at it without judgment, with our true intentions at heart. Writing is putting your thoughts in order; it is naturally aligning. If you are doing flow of consciousness journaling, thoughts must jump in line to be expressed. You can only type one word at a time, you can only think one thought at a time, so just the act of writing naturally aligns our thinking. Even if what comes out on the page might not seem linear or “on topic,” if it does not resemble what we are conditioned to think should be the quality of our writing, the truth is that we have already jumped into that stream of flow, that of expression. This is what is generally called a flow “state,” but the truth is, we're always in a flow itself; we just aren’t always aware of the flow because we think thoughts that resist it. Just simply writing these thoughts down can show us how hilarious this illusion or resistance and stuckness really is. The potential of healing, letting go and new ways of seeing things just from writing them out is enormous. 

 

Do we think thoughts or receive thoughts?

You will notice that when you get in a flow state, you will start to receive thoughts. Many of us may hold the belief that these seemingly random thoughts we receive are distractions because they are off topic from what we are currently focused on. However if you are open to allowing this, sometimes if you will write them as they come to you, you see how it may very well be the answer to a question you are asking. The Universe loves symbolism, and it loves surprise. There is a way to speak to the Universe that collapses into the oneness of also hearing it speak to us. 

 

How to get inspired to write?

If you ever are feeling “blah” or uninspired to write, consider listening to music. Or make this your practice to write while listening to music anyway. You’ll often notice synchronicities with the music and your writing. You can also try flow of consciousness writing as mentioned above, or writing down words that you love, or you can write down things that grabbed your attention during the day, week, month. Often connections and synchronicities ensue even if they aren’t immediately apparent. You may even write about why you are feeling uninspired to write. 

 

How do you want things to be?

Journaling can also be used for times when you find that you cannot easily meditate. If you are feeling awful, you can often write yourself up the emotional scale with the intention of writing to express, let go, and feel. Be aware that you are the Author, and are always writing how you want things to be. Even when we are writing the way we don’t want things to be, we want our reality to be fixed and firm, and we want to assert that this is our reality. Check in with what you truly want. If you are continually writing things as you don’t want them to be, check in with the emotional scale, and allow yourself to express the currently experienced emotion without judgment. 

 

Who is the Author?

You are not simply a character in a story that things are happening to. Things are happening for you both as character and Author. When we bring this understanding into our journaling and at the same time don’t try to avoid expression (by ignoring or excluding the character in judgment/ identification of it), we find that what we want and our present acceptance of what is, are not at odds. This can be incredibly relieving and clarifying. The Author knows every single detail of the past, future, and all characters, and also Knows that the only true reality of it is the love of creation. In that love separation between author, character, writer and reader… dissolves. 

[Phil]

Beautiful!

😊

[Nowt]

I second that. Wonderful 😍

[Blessed2]

A question. I wonder if I write simply how I feel and what's in my mind, even if it's negative, doesn't that kind of then align with what is not wanted?

 

Is writing and language not creative? If I write about how bad I've been feeling lately, and what I'm worried or scared of, am I not then in the process of manifesting those things?

[Mandy]

@Phil @Nowt 😊

@Blessed2 There is no fixed rule for this, so go by how it feels. It's better to write thoughts and have them out there rather than to continue repeatedly thinking them and be stuck in a vague fog of negative emotion, that's what expressing is for. There's also an effortless natural intention and awareness that comes just by writing, and putting the words in order and "out there". 

 

One of my most memorable journal entries during which my mood shifted a lot and really fast was when I wrote out the total garbage I was thinking and then in parentheses wrote out the spiritual correction of why I shouldn't think that way. I realized how much I was using spirituality to beat myself up and repress as if two voices were fighting each other and the tears just flowed. I was the Author of it, not identified with either voice or point of view. That was pretty powerful.

 

I do not worry about manifesting negatively, to me that worry is indication enough that I need not worry and that ironically in the concern of worry I'm manifesting negatively. It's direct, and the joke is always on me.

 

For example, here's a negative intention I just wrote. 

 

"When I go to bed tonight, I intend to sit on my computer way too long reading something disturbing, at least 40 minutes past by kid's normal bedtime, and then I will proceed to yell at my kids to get their pajamas on without looking at them. I envision my kids saying that they can't find any clean pajamas, in which case I will groan and yell at them again. I then intend to go up the stairs slowly with horrible posture, and be annoyed for the 3674th time by how the hand rail is pulling away from the wall a bit, feel bad because I still haven't called the carpenter who put it up to fix that other thing. Then I intend to stare at my husband's socks on the floor and think about how much I loathe him for it. "

 

I laughed a LOT while writing that, and also became very clear about some stupid patterns I have when I'm tired and how I might intend differently. I'm not concerned that by writing this I'm going to manifest negatively, and if I DO, it will be extra hilarious and insightful. 

 

 

[Phil]

[Mandy]

❤️ Yeah, the subject (thoughts about) worry don't matter, it doesn't matter if I write "I'm worried about the bully in my kid's class" or "I worry that if I express my worry about this, I'll get something negative." The expression of worry or any negative emotion, letting go of those thoughts and moving up the scale/feeling better is the only intention there. 

 

Creativity isn't a liability. It's just a magic in and of itself. 

[WhiteOwl]

@MandyVery nice thank you. I had kind of the same question as @Blessed2 which got answered. I too worry if i am doing it right or might be "hardening" myself even more (manifesting negative features).

 

Another thing; You recommend looking at the text afterwards to inspect for beliefs, i can see the how that works. I just sometimes don't like looking at what i wrote afterwards when i feel different. Is "realizing" a belief usually enough for you to not have it come up again? Maybe i "should" look at what i write more to see what is going on.

Edited May 18, 2022 by WhiteOwl

[Mandy]

5 hours ago, WhiteOwl said:

@MandyVery nice thank you. I had kind of the same question as @Blessed2 which got answered. I too worry if i am doing it right or might be "hardening" myself even more (manifesting negative features).

☺️

My dad asked me this question yesterday about something specific. He says whenever he gets a new chain for his chainsaw he hits a rock soon after, and then he has to file down/sharpen the chain either so that it's uneven or dull. He says this always happens, he was taught that it happens, other people say it happens, etc. Then he asked if he is manifesting that. I said check if the thought is upstream or downstream. If the thought "I am manifesting this" feels like ONE MORE THING you have failed at, forget it.  That's upstream and it's about a separate self who is lacking in some way. If the thought "I am manifesting this" feels like freedom, understanding and relief, it's downstream. Understanding of law of attraction is always meant to clarify, let go, go downstream. The Universe does not hear what you say, it hears what you mean, and you know what you mean by how you feel. There isn't an "I" responsible for manifesting. Fear directly felt is the indicator that you are miss manifesting, so you cannot possibly be afraid that you will miss manifest, as that itself is miss manifesting. 😂 Yet, when we notice how thoughts directly feel we do discover a sort of responsibility or as Phil says "response-ability",  that we previously never knew was our own superpower. 

5 hours ago, WhiteOwl said:

Another thing; You recommend looking at the text afterwards to inspect for beliefs, i can see the how that works. I just sometimes don't like looking at what i wrote afterwards when i feel different. Is "realizing" a belief usually enough for you to not have it come up again? Maybe i "should" look at what i write more to see what is going on.

When I say look, I mean look... directly seeing the words on the screen outside your head. See them in all their innocence of pixels on a screen, making up lines and squiggles. See how you are using the word "look" here when you really mean "judge"? I suggest doing the looking (😂) as you are writing it, or right after, not at a much later time.