The journal that you write your gratitude in is gorgeous.
The one that you carry in your bag, at your bedside or keep on your desk is plump with ideas, musings and inspiration, and has the most decadent feel to it, in all ways.
The writing instrument which you use to write the words of thanks, wax poetic about your intentions and mind map your inspirations is not merely a pen, but a vessel from which your own energy flows from and onto the pages of those sacred books.
Those journals, in all their beauty and masterpiece, are containers, preserving all the good thoughts and things documented about You and Your Life and Your Dreams.
So where do you document your angst, your tizzy, your discomfort.
On those days when you are listening to a monologue from your gremlins? The eye rolling, the disdain, the What The …?
There is a journal for that....drumroll please...
Introducing the "Sh** Journal"!!
The Sh** Journal is where you write with whatever marker, crayon, pen, pencil or finger dipped in peanut butter.
You write whatever sh** is running through your mind, that is fast tracking your moment, your morning, afternoon, evening, day, two days, week and beyond into the depths.
The pages will be a safe place in which to express your sh**, your fire, brimstone and disdain.
It is where you articulate thoughts like:
- The "I suck, let me count the ways!" soliloquy,
- The "What on earth made me think I could do this?" tirade,
- The "Are you freaking kidding me?" moments,
- The "Really...Seriously...This is happening?" and other drips of sarcasm,
- The why I should practise, "Would you like fries with that?" monologue.
Where you can pose philosophic questions like:
- "Who gives a Sh**?"
- "Why do I give a Sh**?"
- "Is this really my Sh**?"
- "Why is this Sh** running through my mind?
- boss,
- leader,
- parent,
- partner,
- spouse,
- friend,
- consumer,
- driver etc.
WHY DO IT
We have 60,000 thoughts per day, and lets be honest they are not all affirmations. Its when one of those "I Suck" themed thoughts grabs our attention, then it invites a friend, and the friend invites a friend and suddenly its gone viral. One simple thought morphed into a stadium filled with these self-deprecating, confidence busting, and alignment kinking thoughts.
The longer we ignore them, the more come to the party. So get them out of your head, its like crowd control, calling security or 911 for assistance.
HOW TO DO IT
1. GRAB WHATEVER PAPER IS HANDY
You are welcome to go out and buy THE most unattractive to you journal to have at the ready. You can even doodle or collage a picture of what your gremlin looks like and add it to the back page. Therefore when you write pressing down as hard as you can its like a voodoo energy towards that monster. **Don't forget to add horns or other adornments that further embellish that image.
Also, there is nothing stopping you from grabbing scrap paper from the recycle bin and just going to town. Make it as easy as possible.
2. WRITE WITHOUT STOPPING
Or lifting the pen. Write with absolute abandon, the faster you write those thoughts and get them out the better.
DO NOT edit, correct, punctuate...VENT! Go with the flow. Its not a presentation, dissertation or speech.
Why not type it in a document on your laptop then delete it? Read this article on why handwriting makes you smarter.
Why not type it in a document on your laptop then delete it? Read this article on why handwriting makes you smarter.
3. EYE-ROLLING, SNEERING, SCOWLING ENCOURAGED
Get into the process, whether its rolling your eyes, sneering, snuffling, scowling or mimicking with your mouth what the face of those thoughts look like as you write them out.
Adding facial expressions while you are writing goes further get that energy out of you as you write is doubly cathartic.
4. SAY THANK YOU
Once you have purged and vented all the Sh**, write Thank You to close.
I know you are thinking, "What the....?"
You have just vented it out, every sh**ty detail.
How do you feel now? Relief? Exhausted? Refreshed?
What's happening inside that beautiful head of yours now?
Is it possible that steam roller is no longer making pass after pass flattening your energy, self-esteem, self-worth, and confidence?
Have you every had this experience when talking to a friend, whereas you were given the space to vent or been that friend? What did you say at the end? Probably thank you for letting me get that off my mind.
Thank you is closing the loop, its completing the process.
5. LET IT GO
Rip the papers out of said unattractive to you journal, tear them into itty bitty bits, feed them to the shredder, or if possible set a match to them (in a safe, well ventilated area taking all the precautions when setting something afire).
Feel free to do a tantrum tap dance on top of them before sending them off to their final resting place.
Keeping them serves no value.
Keeping them makes it possible for confidentiality to be compromised.
Keeping them is like keeping those thoughts.
Let them go with another dose of gratitude and a dash of Love.
Why Love? Well, you may have learned something in your Sh** journalling, you may have learned that the stadium of thoughts had a common denominator called Fear.
Fear that those things were factual. (Fear = False Evidence Appearing Real)
Adding love to the letting go process is more for YOU so that you can replenish what had been steam rolled earlier.
AND FINALLY
Big Inhale
and
Big Exhale
Trust me, when you have been hosting all that Sh** in your head you were breathing shallowly and now that its out we can get back to business. So freshen up and reset the body, mind and spirit by taking 3-5 big deep breaths.
Now you can get back to the business of being your awesome self, loving your fabulous thoughts and all sorts of other Good Sh**!
