Article - 'Doing the Write Thing' by Clive Harvey Fox |
 |
Clive Harvey Fox - 'The Indigo Man'
Clive Harvey Fox is a motivational speaker talking at schools, universities and companies. He is also engaged in developing online life skills teaching. He is the author of the book 'Finding My Gift' which deals with the importance of self-love and the need to search for the healing gifts that reside well-hidden in all our painful losses.
Websites: www.indigo-man.com & www.findingmygift.com
|
Julia Cameron, authoress of the widely acclaimed book and course, The Artist’s Way, brought great public attention to the merits of journaling. Cameron’s “morning pages” have helped many millions of people journey successfully through difficult passages of life.
Journaling is not about diary keeping, but more about spending time regularly reflecting on your life as you pen feelings and responses to those emotions.
Most people studiously avoid their feelings. Many have been taught to be stoic and to live in denial of what is happening at the centre of their beings. Is it any surprise that depression and addiction are such prevalent illnesses in the modern world when so many people are incapable of effectively dealing with their turbulent emotions? Shutting off from feelings makes one inauthentic and ultimately less able to enjoy the fruits of real personal power.
The discipline of daily journaling encourages us to meet ourselves, just as we are, everyday. Journaling could be described as a “daily management meeting” with yourself as you address the issues that are giving rise to emotions, which are your natural response to life.
Every feeling is psyche’s reaction to events in your life. Our sub-conscious minds are extremely powerful reservoirs of understanding and knowledge and from the depths of our minds come feelings which are meant to guide appropriate responses.
Rather than avoiding confrontation with the difficult parts of life, which is where considerable learning and healing can be gleaned, we need to delve deep to understand what prompted an emotion and then to ascertain the most effective response. Journaling opens our consciousness or awareness and gives us the opportunity to find the best responses to life’s promptings. When we start to understand that everything is perfect, even in an imperfect world, we begin the exciting journey of making the very most of everything that life presents.
Few people ever make a conscious effort to engender the best possible mental health. Our minds drive the process of our lives and without healthy minds, we are subject to crippled thinking which gives rise to lives that are considerably less than they might possibly have been. Journaling is like a daily “brain gym”, where we exercise our minds to deal with current feelings and to make sure that we dump stressful thinking onto the page so that we don’t go into the new day carrying unnecessary mental baggage. Journaling is a highly effective mechanism to lower stress levels, with positive benefits for physical health as well.
Journaling brings intense clarity to life and it is only when we see through a clear lens, that we are properly equipped to make sound decisions. Many stay trapped in crippling indecision because they cannot see issues for what they truly represent. Others blunder into quick reactions without adequately thinking of the most appropriate way forward. Our decisions always reflect intention and our intentions bring immense focus to the energy coming from us, which duly manifests the path going forward. So best we make sound decisions based on what our absolute intelligence is telling us.
A journal is a very private document that is never to be shared with anyone. Only when we are assured of the absolute privacy of our daily writings are we able to get honest with ourselves. Without that necessary candour, we are wasting our time because it is here that we learn how the truth can set us free. We need to fully engage ourselves as we really are and not through the filter of how we believe the world expects us to be. Absolute authenticity and honesty make journaling a highly efficient skill for navigating a good life.
Great lives are created every day in small purpose-driven steps. We all want the best, but are we prepared to do what is required to get us there? Every Olympic athlete spends years of daily dedication towards a desired result. Long before reaching the winner’s rostrum, these people do what is required without any early accolade, to bring their dreams to reality. These dedicated souls persist knowing that every practice takes them one step closer to what they most want. Likewise, every moment spent quietly in journaling or meditation is an act of self-love geared to taking us towards a fulfilled and meaningful life.
Reading this article may have been Life’s prompting for you to start doing the “write” thing! To gain the most from life, you need to pay full attention to your life and nothing is more effective than the daily journal to bring you into real relationship with yourself.
A good life begins now, in this very moment. Love yourself enough to never delay or defer the possibility of being so much MORE!
Clive Harvey Fox
|
