Journaling Course: Day 4

[Vanessa Keranovic, Mindfulness Coach] Welcome to day four of Journaling for Beginners. Today, we're going to dive deep into how to deepen your self-awareness and reconnect and strengthen the connection between the mind, body, and soul with journaling. Now this type of journaling, journaling to deepen your self-awareness, is different from the ones we did in day two and day three. Journaling to deepen self-awareness is all about who you are in this very present moment. This type of journaling doesn't look into your past where the reflections look into. And it doesn't look into the future where you would set your intentions and goals. This type of journaling stays in the present moment and wants to deepen it, deepen your connection with it and with yourself. It focuses on questions like, who are you right now at this very moment? What are your values? Are you living in alignment with your values? What are you not letting go of? What are your limiting beliefs? And how can you see beyond them? So this type of journaling explores your limiting beliefs, the stories you have been telling yourself, and offers you a fresh perspective that sees beyond the condition narrative, the stories that you've been telling yourself to see life as it truly is, not as what we think it should be. So we might ask ourselves here, what is no longer serving me? How can I show up for myself, for my authenticity? How can I show up as my most true self? How can I live life in alignment? And how can I serve my life's purpose? I like to think about this type of journaling as a connection between the past experiences, which shaped what you now believe who you are and the future you, which is who you want to be, where do you see yourself, and what do you want to achieve? This type of journaling is that connection into deepening your awareness of what your future can look like. But also, what do you want it to look like? Some of the examples of this type of journaling are journal prompts that are aimed at self-discovery. And this is what we'll do at the end of this course, as we go together through the journal prompts that I will guide you through. You will be answering each question, which will help you deepen your connection and your understanding of your true essence. A great way to go through this type of prompts as we are going to do at the exercise at the very end is to first guide yourself through a meditation. This helps quiet down the thinking mind, which usually likes to interrupt our thought process by telling us what we should be thinking. By quieting our thinking mind, we allow for the true essence for the underlying things to come up. Now, if this sounds confusing at this point, no worries, because at the end of this course, I will guide you to every step of it. And things will become much clearer then. Other two examples of this type of journaling are stream-of-consciousness journaling and using positive affirmations. Stream-of-consciousness journaling is just as it says. You write out things that are currently going on in your mind. You're not trying to influence those thoughts. You're simply writing them out on the paper as they are happening in your mind. With this type of journaling, I find it very helpful to set a timer beforehand. 10, 20, or maybe even 30 minutes. This way you limit yourself to a timeframe, because if you think about it, there's really no obvious end to this type of journaling. Stream-of-consciousness journaling is a great way to find words for whatever is going on currently in your mind. It is a great way to process things that are happening or to simply vent in a safe space. It can help you uncover possible thought patterns. And it's a great outlet for when things feel just like they're too much. Another method I mentioned are affirmations, which are really encouragements that you offer yourself. Using statements "I am," like, "I am enough. I am capable. I am strong. I am resilient," are a way to be our own cheerleaders through life. A lot of our autopilot, automatic thought patterns, can be negative. So using positive affirmations that we feel aligned with is a great way to counteract that. It's a great way to uplift your spirits, have more enjoyment in life, and to simply find a lighter way to go about that day. Journaling to deepen self-awareness to get to know yourself better and to reconnect mind, body, and soul is a beautiful spiritual practice you can offer yourself. These type of journalings are best understood once they're practiced. So I'm not going to talk more about them, but we are going to experience them in the following practices. So after this video, you'll find the meditation which combines gratitude and positive affirmations. After that, there will be a journaling exercise, which has two parts. So first part is a combination of meditation and journaling prompts. I will guide you through a meditation, taking a couple of deep breaths to quiet down the thinking mind. And then I will read out some journal prompts to help you on your self-discovery, on understanding who you are, what drives you, and what limits you. After that you will be offered various journal prompts from all the techniques that we've mentioned in these videos. So journal prompts for self-improvement and personal growth, reflection, organization, tracking progress, and deepening self-awareness, and getting to know yourself. These prompts will be offered for you to write them down and then come back to them whenever you feel like you need them. They can be done daily, weekly, monthly, or as needed. This is really up to you. I found that daily journaling for me is the best way to go about, to help me understand myself better, to organize my days, my life, and to really help me achieve what I want from this life. When you start journaling, simply remember this one rule. It is supposed to feel empowering and fun. So please enjoy yourself as you learn more about yourself. Thank you for joining me in this course. Thank you for learning with me. And thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk about journaling and all the beautiful ways it can support your life. I hope you learned a lot. And I hope you found something for yourself here as well. I'll see you in your meditation practice and in our journaling exercise. And until then, thank you once again and good luck.