Refresh with Dawn Herring: #JournalChat Live Facebook Group Event: Part II Day Three of Your Journaling: Just Say Yes! with Special Guests, Sue Ekins, Beth Terrence and Jennifer Morris

Dawn Herring

Here is our Discussion Question:
Does having a journaling strategy to gain clarity help you make better decisions for positive change?

When using this strategy, such as asking Why? or Why Not?, you do find implementing that positive change easier and more effective?

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Sue Ekins For me, journaling helps me keep from living my life by rote. Just going along doing the same things. It helps me look at my life and see where I want to make improvements--or where I might be stuck.

Yesterday at 2:03pm · Like
Beth Shekinah Terrence I was say that gaining clarity is at the top of the reasons why I journal. Sometimes it has to do with getting the clutter out of my mind, other times it is working on why/why not or strategies. Having something written in my journal definitely helps me to implement positive change.

Yesterday at 2:05pm · Like · 2
Sue Ekins I like that word strategies, Beth Shekinah Terrence.. We can list steps toward keeping to our healthy goals.

Yesterday at 2:07pm · Like · 1
Dawn Herring I love this, Sue; you can be much more purposeful about making change and I assume, less unstuck! I agree, Beth. It helps me with breaking down what I need to do in do-able steps so it's not so overwhelming.

Yesterday at 2:07pm · Like · 3
Sue Ekins Yes. And even baby steps forward (toward where we want to be) are better than no steps.

Yesterday at 2:10pm · Like · 2
Dawn Herring That's right, Sue, and we need to give ourselves credit even with just a little progress!

Yesterday at 2:12pm · Like · 3
Sue Ekins We can give ourselves little rewards whenever we make progress. An example is a bubble bath. Sometimes I take one in the dark with just a candle lit. So soothing and relaxing. A great way to give ourselves credit for the progress we've made. Hmm. That reminds me! I'm due for a reward.

Yesterday at 2:14pm · Unlike · 2
Dawn Herring One of my rewards for getting work done is looking at my art journaling or somerset studio magazines; they are so inspiring to give me ideas for my own creations.

Yesterday at 2:16pm · Like · 3
Beth Shekinah Terrence One of the prompts I use in my journal is to acknowledge what I am celebrating even if it is a small thing that is part of a bigger picture.

Yesterday at 2:18pm · Edited · Unlike · 3
Princess Poetry When I kept a personal journal in the past, I would read over past entries to see how far I'd come along on something. I found patterns I had no idea existed and that enabled me to make changes in my life. I formed new and better patterns.

Yesterday at 2:21pm · Unlike · 4
Sue Ekins I love both of your ideas! Sometimes we think celebrating has to cost us money. Or sometimes we reward ourselves with food. Not a good idea for those of us who want or need to lose weight.

Yesterday at 2:22pm · Like
Dawn Herring Patterns are very important indicators of where we are and can help us determine more authentic positive change. Do we like that pattern or do we want to change it? Is it working for us or against us? Great questions for our journals. Thanks, Princess Poetry.

Yesterday at 2:23pm · Like · 3
Dawn Herring Our rewards need to reflect Who We Are and What really matters to us; and most often, it comes from within and doesn't cost a thing. Inner Joy is a perfect example.

Yesterday at 2:24pm · Like · 2
Princess Poetry My pleasure!

Yesterday at 2:25pm · Like
Sue Ekins Good point, Dawn Herring! I recently realized I wanted to drop THREE activities so I can focus more on writing-related activities. I never would have realized that without my journal.

Yesterday at 2:26pm · Like · 1
Jill Winski That is something that is huge for me lately: noticing where my life is too full in some ways to focus on what I really want. It's been through journaling that I've recognized I can't add new activities into an already full life. I need to let something go.

Yesterday at 2:27pm · Unlike · 2
Sue Ekins Yes, Jill Winski, and sometimes we're letting go of good things to make way for our "better" things.

Yesterday at 2:28pm · Like · 1
Dawn Herring When we align with Who We Are and our journals help us do that, we can ask, what do I really want to do? And what don't I want to do? We need to ask and answer these daily even to help us stay on track toward authentic positive change.

Yesterday at 2:30pm · Edited · Like · 1
Jill Winski Isn't that the truth, Sue? And letting go of good stuff can be difficult!

Yesterday at 2:29pm · Like · 1
Sue Ekins Dawn Herring that's so important so we don't reach the end of our lives with regrets! Wishing we'd done things differently.

Yesterday at 2:30pm · Like
Dawn Herring The one thing I think we will regret most is not being Aligned with Who We Are; we can know when this is happening when we feel discouraged and have no initiative toward positive change.

Yesterday at 2:31pm · Like · 2
Sue Ekins Yes, Dawn Herring, that can be a mild depression state maybe.

Yesterday at 2:33pm · Like
Dawn Herring Journaling can help us get motivated and stay positive and hopeful.

Yesterday at 2:35pm · Like · 1
Sue Ekins And set up a strategy as you mentioned earlier.

Yesterday at 2:40pm · Unlike · 1
Jen Mor I agree with Princess Poetry - something I have found really useful is reading over past entries to see where there are patterns in my life. Often I haven't noticed them at the time but on reflection they can be really obvious! This is great for learning how to go forward and not repeat the same mistakes!

Yesterday at 2:41pm · Like · 2
Dawn Herring Indeed, Sue. Strategy is a key word. When we implement one that really resonates with us and helps us find answers, all the better.

Yesterday at 2:41pm · Like
Sue Ekins Jen Mor - true. Sometimes I get tired of seeing myself thrash over the same issues. The losing weight thing actually went on for a few YEARS until I finally sat down and asked Why and Why Don't I want to do this.

Yesterday at 2:45pm · Edited · Like · 1
Carrie Aulenbacher You would not BELIEVE the patterns I have revealed by doing this! I HIGHLY recommend it to all. By doing an entry a day, you might think that what you are writing is not important, but it's all those little things you might read a year from today that might add up to a revelation!!

Yesterday at 2:47pm · Like · 1
Dawn Herring It's amazing to me, Sue, how you struggled with something for that long and then journaling through it made that much of a difference. and then you were successful. That is awesome.

Yesterday at 2:47pm · Like · 1
Dawn Herring Little things add up, that's for sure, Carrie. Nothing is too small for my journal. Everything counts!

Yesterday at 2:48pm · Like
Carrie Aulenbacher I found myself going in circles 5-7 years ago and by literally making a spreadsheet of elements I found recurring in my journals, I took a HUGE step forward in my life. It was transformative. I try not to leave anything out of my journal now. It helps me live consciously!

Yesterday at 2:50pm · Unlike · 4
Sue Ekins Dawn Herring-- yes, maybe it was HOW I'd been writing about my desire to lose weight. I wasn't really digging deep until that recent writing.

Yesterday at 2:51pm · Like
Sue Ekins Carrie Aulenbacher you must be analytical! That's awesome that you put it in a spreadsheet and saw the recurrences.

Yesterday at 2:52pm · Like
Dawn Herring That sounds like something I've done with my dream journals a long time ago, Carrie, recognizing what keeps showing up and what it means to me. Our life elements speak to us when we take the time to listen!

Yesterday at 2:54pm · Edited · Like · 1
Carrie Aulenbacher I feel that people are way more powerful than they give themselves credit for. We each have 24 hrs in a day and we each have this amazing gift to create the best 'us' we want...it just comes down to how badly do we want it? When you get so sick of yourself and the excuses, don't beat yourself up! Look in the mirror and look at the awesome power that has been waiting all this time and that you are now ready to unlock! A low point can be the start of an awesome new chapter in your life. And each day is a new day with which to paint something new on that canvas.

Yesterday at 3:04pm · Unlike · 2
Sue Ekins Carrie Aulenbacher that is very inspiring. My Weight Watchers meetings teach something similar. If we botch up, just start over the next day. Don't beat yourself up.

Yesterday at 3:08pm · Like · 1
Dawn Herring Very eloquently put, Carrie! Beautiful. Be gentle with yourself in your positive change and see each new day as a new start.

Yesterday at 3:09pm · Like · 2
Sue Ekins Dawn Herring, that's such an important concept--"Be gentle with yourself."

Yesterday at 3:11pm · Like
Dawn Herring It pays to repeat, be gentle, all the time. Since we naturally are hard on ourselves. Especially when we don't do something when we want to be; we all make mistakes.

Yesterday at 3:12pm · Like · 1
Carrie Aulenbacher When I get upset with someone, I tell myself that this person who is frustrating me now was once someone's baby. I would never be anything but gentle with a baby; and I sometimes need that reality check with myself to remember to use more patience...even with myself!

Yesterday at 3:17pm · Like · 1
Dawn Herring Kindness and gentleness are qualities the world needs; and journaling can help us be more so with ourselves. What a difference it can make!

Yesterday at 3:18pm · Like · 1
Jen Mor Actually Sue it's really funny now that I think about it. I have been trying to lose weight on and off for over a decade. I never once considered the possibility that I didn't HAVE to lose weight - I just took it as a given. For years I went on and off of diets, going up and down. I just kept going ahead with I must lose weight. More recently I have come to the conclusion that I only have to lose weight if I want to. Personally I have realised that I don't want to keep going ahead with weight-loss measures so I've stopped. It wasn't until I started asking myself in my journal, why do I have to lose weight, that I realised. I don't! The pressures of society/the media etc had become so ingrained that I thought I wanted to lose weight. And to a certain extent I do. But now I am so aware that I have a choice in how I spend my energy - something that came about from looking back over a decade or more of journaling about weight-loss without once considering: do I actually have to lose weight? Or could I choose to do something else? For me this has been so liberating.

Yesterday at 3:20pm · Unlike · 1
Dawn Herring I love these kinds of epiphanies, Jen. We can Choose to do what we know is Best for Us; and we Know what that is. It has to come from the inside. Journaling helps that inside get revealed.

Yesterday at 3:22pm · Like
Sue Ekins I hear you, Jen Mor. In my case, I looked at the Healthy Weight guidelines and realized I wasn't in the healthy zone. It's an issue for me because my parents had a lot of weight-related problems as they aged. I want to avoid that. But I recognize and respect that that is not so important to others.

Yesterday at 3:24pm · Like · 1
Jen Mor Absolutely Sue, and it sounds like for you it was the right thing to do. In terms of making a positive change in my life, after years of dieting, for me stopping was the most liberating. I guess that emphasises how important it is for each individual to think carefully about the positive changes that are best for them and why they want to make those changes.

23 hrs · Like · 1