Want to get started writing in your journal? Here are 5 simple, yet effective methods you can try right away.
5 Ways to Use Your Journal Right Now
Learning by failure: life on the edge of the comfort zone
I’ve always learned by failing, like getting lost in a new neighborhood, in order to find my way around (pre-Google maps!). But, this can come at a cost to my self-esteem, as I’m constantly in what Brene Brown calls “Fu*king First Times”.
To get me through the feelings of being a stranger in a foreign land, I’ve had to focus as much as possible of my WHY. Why did I want to make this course/book? How do I wish to change the world/give back to my community? Focusing on my why (mostly) gets me through the rusty machinations of the unknown.
My WHY : Creating and delivering inexpensive and accessible mental health tools to as many people as possible so they can take charge of their own healing.
Hindsight 2021 - Reading the mind of teenage me
To celebrate the beginning of the process to write a comprehensive guide to journaling for “non-journalers”, I have started a new series on Instagram celebrating entries from my very first journal, beginning back in 1987. You can watch the series unfold here while I try not to cringe.
Process Journal: Active meditation for busy minds
What is the Process Journal?
The process journal is the dynamic cousin of your high school diary. It is a creative, effective tool for self-growth and professional development - not just a landing pad for capturing the day’s events.
What does it do?
It acts as a powerful release valve for internal pressure. Amazingly, studies have shown, that just knowing that you have access to a trusted outlet, is enough to reduce anxiety. A regular practice provides even more benefit, like illuminating deeper insights and helping halt negative patterns.
The Loneliness of Smartphone Addiction
Cell phone addiction is when, instead of choosing to use our phones, they are just somehow always in our hands, glowing their electric blue promise of being the answers to our every need and desire. They create a dopamine fix of pleasure that keeps us hooked, lusting for next like, engaging text, or candy crushed.
People are addicted to social media now more than ever. We think it will fulfill the Covid sized hole in our social lives. Some connection does happen online, but more often than not, readers leave feeling deflated by how much fun Everyone Else seems to be having. Then, ironically and tragically, we stayed logged-on, scrolling for the happy thing that will bring us up again, or at least back to our baseline.
Mindful Integrity: An 8 Week DIY Mindfulness Course
During times of great upheaval, there’s a sense that we should “to live today as it were your last.” This sounds really appealing, but what does it really mean?
Spiritually speaking, living each day as your last isn’t bestowing worldly possessions and checking-off bucket lists, but about holistic integrity. As Adlai Stevenson famously said, “it is not the years in your life, but the life in your years.” The following are topics of contemplation, calls to action and operating instructions for more mindful living. Try using one of these teachings a week as a focus for your meditation, as journal prompts, or for deepening conversations with loved ones.
Therapy as Emotional Coaching
One myth, stubbornly persistent in our culture, is that needing therapy means one’s mentally ill. In reality, most people seek out therapy for what I like to call emotional coaching. A holistic therapist serves as a translator between heart & mind, helping create a pause, between stimulus & response. Therapy does not have to be about what’s wrong, but about uncovering all that’s right.
Business Talk Radio Interview: A Professional Biography
I am excited to be interviewed this upcoming Monday by Business Talk, on TuneIn Radio. They asked a few deceptively simple pre-interview questions, which provided an opportunity to reflect on my career, my practice and where LiveWork Solutions is headed.
