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Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment

Go deeper…

Reach higher…

Journaling for Self Empowerment

by John Robson of Higher Awareness at http://www.higherawareness.com/

ISBN 0-9732501-1-9 Higher Awareness 2003

Email:[email protected] Updated 5/16/3

http://www.journalingtools.com/ 1

http://www.higherawareness.com/

mailto:[email protected]


Table of Contents

My Story................................................................................................................................... 4 1. The Basics of Journaling .................................................................................................. 5

1.1 What is journaling?...................................................................................................... 5 1.2 Why journal? ................................................................................................................ 5 1.3 How journaling works .................................................................................................. 8

2. Getting Started ................................................................................................................. 12 2.1 Setting up a journal ................................................................................................... 12 2.2 A journaling process.................................................................................................. 13 2.3 How to use this book................................................................................................. 15

3. Go deeper … Reach higher … ...................................................................................... 16 3.1 Go deeper ................................................................................................................... 16 3.2 Reach higher .............................................................................................................. 17 3.3 From awareness to consciousness ........................................................................ 18

4. Journaling Tools for Every Need ................................................................................... 20 5. The Journaling Tools....................................................................................................... 22

5.1 Tips for selecting the best tools to serve you........................................................ 23 5.2 Tools for managing and tracking your journaling process .................................. 23

Tool #1: Hot List ........................................................................................................... 24 Tool #2: Dream Calendar............................................................................................ 25 Tool #3: Daily Tracker ................................................................................................. 26 Tool #4: Stepping Stones – Life History Log ........................................................... 28 Tool #5: The Review/Summary.................................................................................. 29 Tool #6: The Pause...................................................................................................... 30

5.3 Tools that focus intention and create awareness ................................................. 31 Tool #7: Sentence Stubs............................................................................................. 31 Tool #8: Regular Check-ups....................................................................................... 33 Tool #9: List Making..................................................................................................... 34 Tool #10: Radar Trap................................................................................................... 35 Tool #11: Smart Questions ......................................................................................... 36 Tool #12: Unsent Release Letter ............................................................................... 38 Tool #13: Feeling Finder ............................................................................................. 39 Tool #14: Captured Moments..................................................................................... 40 Tool #15: Time Capsule .............................................................................................. 41 Tool #16: Character Sketch........................................................................................ 42 Tool #17: One Word Essence Journaling ................................................................ 43 Tool #18: Headlining .................................................................................................... 44 Tool #19: Creed - Make a Declaration ...................................................................... 45 Tool #20: Perspectives ................................................................................................ 46

5.4 Making inner connections ........................................................................................ 48 Tool #21: Mind Mapping.............................................................................................. 48 Tool #22: Lateral Thinking .......................................................................................... 49 Tool #23: Allow Alliteration ......................................................................................... 50 Tool #24: Rhyme Time ................................................................................................ 51



Tool #25: Alpha Poems ............................................................................................... 52 Tool #26: Stream of Awareness ................................................................................ 53 Tool #27: Dyad ............................................................................................................. 55 Tool #28: Intuitive Resonating.................................................................................... 55 Tool #29: Metaphors .................................................................................................... 57 Tool #30: Modelling...................................................................................................... 58 Tool #31: 5 Why’s Guys ............................................................................................. 59 Tool #32: Duality Tension ........................................................................................... 60 Tool #33: Artwork ......................................................................................................... 61

5.5 Tools for developing the imagination and consciousness .................................. 62 Tool #34: Gratitude Journal ........................................................................................ 63 Tool #35: Dialogue ....................................................................................................... 64 Tool #36: Life Question ............................................................................................... 65 Tool #37: Prose and Poetry........................................................................................ 66 Tool #38: Dream Journal............................................................................................. 67 Tool #39: Meditation Journal ...................................................................................... 69 Tool #40: Stream of Consciousness ......................................................................... 70

6.0 References ..................................................................................................................... 71 Appendices............................................................................................................................ 72 Appendix 1 - 100 Benefits of Journaling........................................................................... 73 Appendix 2 - Dream Day, Week and Month .................................................................... 76 Appendix 3 - The Daily Tracker ......................................................................................... 77 Appendix 4 - Life History Log ............................................................................................. 78 Appendix 5 - 7 P’s Personal Performance Process ....................................................... 79 Appendix 6 - Emotions and Feelings ................................................................................ 81 Appendix 7 - Life Themes ................................................................................................... 83 Appendix 8 - 50 Defenses .................................................................................................. 85 Appendix 9 - Values, Qualities & Virtues.......................................................................... 87



My Story I owe my continuous success and growth to journaling. I began my life’s work in the volatile computer industry, where I needed to manage projects, information, creativity, ideas, time, people, stress and very importantly – myself. I needed the right tools. My life changed one magical day when I first learned about Smart Questions. I discovered that I could be my own business mentor and personal coach when I took the time to ask myself quality questions. The answers were always inside of me and I now had a tool to draw them out. Consistently asking myself Smart Questions, I gained a greater sense of control of my business and personal life. Ideas and solutions came more easily. I began to think in bigger pictures. I opened to a spiritual connection. And I learned to relax and enjoy my life’s adventures. The power of Smart Questions sparked my interest in other journaling tools. I first explored time management, goal setting and staying on track. Then I ventured into creativity and life planning. Later, I delved into intuition and manifesting. And now I’m focusing on life purpose, spiritual connection and service. Journaling has helped me and so many others grow significantly. In 1995, I trained with Kathleen Adams to become a certified journaling facilitator. I coached individuals and groups by helping them to find their own answers. Journaling has led me on an evolving journey of discovering who I am. A life long spiritual journey that keeps me at the edge of my potential. A journey to the authentic me. A journey to loving service. Through journaling, I’m learning to let go of my defences, to get more clarity. I’m learning to be more creative, aware and loving. And my journals offer an audit trail that has captured the essence of my growth. I’ve realized that life draws us in two different directions - to go deeper inside to heal our wounds and to reach higher, to expand ourselves. I sincerely hope that this book, Go deeper… Reach higher…, will bring depth and expansion to your journaling and to your life. Whether you want more control, healing, release, creativity, connection or spirituality, it will offer you dynamic processes and tools to meet your ever-changing needs. I deeply thank all my teachers, staff, students and friends who have shared with me the power of journaling tools. I especially give great thanks and love to Patrice, my wife and business partner, for her high standards of quality and integrity as she edited this book. And I also thank you for taking steps to improve the quality of your life. As each of us becomes more authentic, humanity will move forward in consciousness. John Robson



1. The Basics of Journaling 1.1 What is journaling? I define journaling as “Think It and Ink It.” It’s a process of stimulating the mind, body and heart and then capturing the resulting thoughts and feelings on paper or disk. Different journaling tools and exercises encourage us to think in different ways. Once we capture these thoughts on paper, we can explore different sides of our nature. We can identify beliefs that hold us back. We can glimpse our potential and then monitor ourselves realizing it. We can discover insights, creativity and wisdom we didn't know we had. Journaling allows us to consciously work with the vast resources of our subconscious minds. With journaling, we can intentionally anchor new information in the subconscious. We can also retrieve material from our subconscious that is not normally available to us. Journaling helps us hold steady our fleeting thoughts, sensations and inspirations so we can give them more attention, reflection and meaning. 1.2 Why journal?

"The more you use your brain, the more brain you will have to use.” – George A. Dorsey

Is your mind your best friend or your worst enemy? Our mind can be our worst enemy when we’re not aware of how it works. So many of us take our mental processes for granted. And when this happens, our thoughts think us. We think we’re alert and thinking creatively but in reality, we’re trapped in an endless loop of old thoughts continually repeating themselves. Our minds tend to play the same messages over and over again. About 95% of what we do, think and say comes from old patterns in our subconscious minds. And unfortunately, this old thinking is often negative and limiting. It sabotages our best intentions. It keeps us stuck. So how do we break from these stuck, limiting patterns? With journaling!


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Journaling teaches us how we think, create, learn and intuit. Journaling helps us break through our habitual patterns to discover our innate creative genius. All we need to know – all the answers and the wisdom we could ever need – lie within each of us. And we can draw out this knowledge and wisdom with the right journaling tools and techniques. Journaling is a powerful tool even when used casually. When used with purpose and an understanding of how it works, its power to heal and expand our capabilities grows exponentially. This book offers the keys to help you unlock the wealth of both your rational mind and your intuitive knowing. It will show you how to purposely direct the immense powers of your mind and heart to:

- gain control of and make sense of your life; - clear and heal old hurts that are unconsciously holding you back; - tap your innate creativity for easier and more effective problem-solving and

decision-making; and, - open the doors to higher guidance and consciousness.

With this book as your resource, you will be able to intentionally design your own journaling program to address whatever needs and opportunities surface in your life. Go deeper. Reach higher. Journaling with intent will bring you freedom, inspiration, growth and meaning. Make friends with your mind and your heart. Agree to work together as partners. And you’ll awaken to a whole new world of possibilities! For an extensive list of the benefits of journaling, see our resource list of 100 Benefits of Journaling in Appendix 1. Review the list above and in the Appendix. Identify and prioritise the top 7 benefits you would like to get from journaling. Doing this will help you understand your deeper motivations.



The A to Z’s of Journaling Benefits

Why journal? Just look at some of the benefits it brings! Pick the 7 you most want. Awareness and authenticity Balance Clarity, commitment and creativity Decision-making ability Expansion and empowerment Focus, fun Goals and growth Healing and harmony Intuition, insights, imagination and inspiration Joy Knowledge of self, reality, truth Learning, love and letting go Manifestations, motivation and meaning Non-judgmental, clarifies needs Opening, optimism Peace of mind, planning, purpose Quality of life Results, release, relaxation and revelations Spiritual connection and serenity Truth and transformation Understanding Values Wisdom and wholeness eXplanation, eXploration and eXpansion You get to know yourself better Zest and ZZZZZZ – better sleep!



1.3 How journaling works

"The positive thing about writing is that you connect with yourself in the deepest way, and that's heaven. You get a chance to know who you are, to know what you think. You begin to have a relationship with your mind." – Natalie Goldberg

When we understand how journaling works, we are better able to use it skillfully to meet our needs. Here are some insights as to why many well-known circuit speakers and authors consider journaling to be ‘the best hidden secret to success.’ Slow your mind down so you can see how you think.

Journaling quickly captures our flighty thoughts and feelings on paper. Unless we write them down, thoughts too easily disappear. (We think about 60,000 thoughts per day. How many are you aware of?) Once we can see what we’re thinking, we can learn how we think. And then we can use different journaling exercises to learn to think in different ways.

Our minds work at about 1000 words per minute. When we write, the mind slows down to about 100 words a minute. This allows thoughts to be recorded more deeply. Also the slowing of our mind creates space for deeper and higher thoughts to emerge. A new level of awareness awakens. And this supports a more focused, creative thinking process.

Quadruple your learning by stimulating the senses.

Want to quadruple your memory? Write down what you’re learning so you activate more of your senses. If we only hear information, within a day or two we typically recall 10% to 20% of what we heard. If we write it down, we can double our recall from 20% to 40% because we can now see it. Writing is also kinesthetic so we absorb more through motion. And some of us sub-vocalize what we write, so we hear the information again. Then if we review what we’ve written, we can double our memory again from 40% to 80% because we anchor the material from different perspectives at another time. Remember the three key steps to learning: recall, write, review.

Work with thoughts on paper.

Journaling draws information out of our heads and onto paper. When we can visually see the information, we can do more with it. We can group it, synthesize it, add to it and change it. As we work with the information on paper, we bring it back into our minds – this is how most of us learn. Most creative people doodle and make lots of notes and lists.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Create a bigger picture.

Ever tried to burn just one log or twig? It doesn’t work very well. But pile up many logs or twigs and you’ll get a roaring blaze. Synergy happens. The whole becomes greater than the sum of the parts. The spaces between twigs are as important as the twigs themselves. The same principle applies to our thoughts. If we have one fact on a piece of paper, it’s hard to draw many conclusions about it. But if we write down a few more facts, we can start to see relationships, trends and movement. We are able to see and sense between the written words. The more we review the information, the more new dimensions can be seen. Individual events can be interconnected and we can draw on our intuition to bring more meaning to the material. The information comes alive.

As we develop higher and more impersonal connections and relationships among thoughts and concepts and feelings, we create and raise our consciousness.

Change your perspective.

Have you ever been lost in a dense, dark forest? Literally, you can’t see the forest for the trees. In overwhelm, we get confused. Well, imagine flying over that forest, being able to see it in its entirety, in the context of its surroundings. The higher perspective brings new clarity and understanding. When you have lots of facts or concepts and you reduce them to a few main points, you synthesize. You change your perspective to draw out what’s most important from a myriad of details.

I cannot over-emphasize the importance of a summary or review. We bring together lots of information through our journal writing. Reading and reflecting on what we write helps us step back and see the information from a larger perspective. Summarizing it all into a few sentences brings new insights and anchors conclusions more deeply. It’s like magic.

Begin to think with all of your brain.

Let’s review the functions of the two hemispheres of the brain. The left brain is logical, rational and linear, while the right brain is more creative, spontaneous, intuitive and fun. The left brain is better with facts, events, things and quantity. The right brain is better with relationships of things, wholeness, concepts, spirituality, feelings, emotions, qualities, meaning, essence, purpose, integration, balance and harmony. The left brain is very direct while the right brain is more indirect, metaphoric and symbolic. The left brain relates more to



individual words, while the right brain relates more to language, prose and poetry, music, images, beauty and pictures.

Most of us have a dominant brain hemisphere. Males are predominantly left-brained or analytical, linear thinkers. Females are more likely to be right brained or intuitive and emotional thinkers. Obviously, we are most effective if we can draw equally from both hemispheres so we can use the full range of mental processes.

Research has found that the left brain will remember only 7 or less items when presented with a list. As the list becomes larger, the left brain has a hard time comprehending it. This situation invites the right brain to engage and use its big picture, intuitive approach. The right brain will see the list from new perspectives. When you stand back from your journaling and take a bird’s eye view, this allows the integrating right brain to do its processing.

Stay objective in subjective worlds.

In life, we tend to perceive that we are our thoughts, emotions, feelings and dreams. Journaling allows us to detach from our thoughts and feelings so we can experience them more objectively. Often, when we get the subjective and unfounded thoughts out of our heads, we can actually see how foolish they are. We become more objective, and this helps keep us present, grounded and in right relationship to subjective realities. It helps us stay conscious and more aware of our will, ethics, identity, responsibility and integrity.

Know yourself better.

We get a deeper sense of who we are when we can study our thoughts and feelings on paper. In our written thoughts, we can explore different sides of our nature. We can unlock our unconscious and reveal hidden aspects. We can identify beliefs that hold us back. We can get in touch with our innate talents and gifts and then see ourselves share them. We can discover our own wealth of insights, imagination, creativity and wisdom. We saved the best till the last.

Connect with your subconscious mind.

It’s not hard to change our conscious minds but changing our subconscious minds is a different story. And it’s our subconscious that controls much of what happens in our lives. It is a vast storehouse of limiting beliefs, reactive emotions, old ineffective patterning and self centred programming. It is also our gateway to our intuitive and divine connections. Unfortunately, though, the baggage we carry from our past filters and distorts our higher guidance.



Journaling enables us to work with the vast resources of our subconscious minds. Through journaling, we can indirectly retrieve information from our subconscious that is not normally available to us. It also helps us intentionally anchor new ideas into the subconscious. It’s the information in our subconscious minds that governs our experiences and our behaviour. It takes work to permanently change the information that lies there, so we can get rid of an old habit or go to a new level in performance or growth. From my experience we must do 4 to 6 different things around one focus to create enough tension in our subconscious to shift its programming in that area. We can use 4 to 6 different journaling tools to address the same topic. This creates more perspectives, more dimensions, more tension and more intensity on the situation. As we feed different perspectives into our subconscious mind, it begins to loosen up and work for us. It builds a multi-dimensional hologram. It goes to work to help integrate and balance the different ideas.

Are you starting to grasp the control, momentum, synergy and big picture thinking that’s possible when we get things out of our minds and onto paper? Journaling with intention and purpose has more uses and benefits than any other tools I know. It can truly help us make sense of our world. I would like to repeat that our minds can be our own worst enemies. They tend to justify our limiting and negative beliefs. They are rarely creative on their own. Thoughts and ideas tend to go around and around in our minds like a merry-go-round. Journaling helps us get off the merry-go-round and get new perspectives and insights. So take a leap of faith. Commit to work with the exercises to explore for yourself the value of these tools. Find the ones that work best for you, so you can meet your own awareness that knows the way.



2. Getting Started 2.1 Setting up a journal How do you want to record and organize your exploration of your thoughts? The type of journal you use should reflect your own needs, preferences and style. There are lots of choices. Do you want to write on paper or type into a computer? If you choose a paper journal, would you prefer a 3 ring binder so you can organize your notes with tabs for your favourite topics and/or tools? Or would you be most comfortable with a coiled scribbler or a hard cover journaling book where your entries would be ordered by date? If you are just starting a journaling routine, a 3-ring binder will give you most flexibility until you decide what format best suits your specific needs. If you like to journal in different places, then a hard cover or coiled journal may prove most portable. Whatever form you choose, you may want to leave room for an index and a Hot List (action list) in the first few pages. As you complete certain tools and exercises or write on important topics, you can create an index pointing to the appropriate pages. Alternatively, you may choose to use a computer and store your journaling in computer files. You can use a standard word processing program or you may want to purchase software specifically designed for journaling. Computer journaling differs from paper journaling in significant ways but both are acceptable. Writing is a more natural form of expression that we’ve used for generations. The form of our freehand script can both bring out and show emotion. It can be interesting to watch how our script changes as our topics and emotional involvement shift. Writing offers more opportunities for graphics, colours, spaces and artwork. Typing, on the other hand, is more mechanical, linear and standardized. Fonts don’t convey our unique style of expression or emotion, although for some of us at least, they are much more legible! Typed words don’t reflect emotion except in what is written, and it’s more difficult to use colour and different sizes, shapes and patterns. On the positive side, skilled typists can transfer their thoughts onto the screen much more quickly than they can write manually. With typing, we use both hands, which suggests that we are accessing both hemispheres of the brain. And computers, particularly with good journaling software, allow us to more easily search for, categorize and change our entries.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Personally, I notice a higher quantity and quality of creativity when I journal by freehand writing rather than typing on a keypad. Explore for yourself which form suits you best. You may want to set up different journals or journal sections for different reasons, e.g., dreams, meditation, life planning, daily events, gratitude, relationships, spiritual growth. Within each of these types of journals, you could use different journaling tools. 2.2 A journaling process

“I never know what I think about something until I read what I've written on it.” – William Faulkner

There don’t have to be any rules for journaling. It’s exciting to be open and creative – to find your own style and express yourself. But following some general tips may dramatically increase your results. Here’s a simple 4-step process: Sync, Think, Ink and Link.

1. SYNC – Bring together (synchronize!) supportive elements to set the stage for your journaling. If possible, choose a quiet place during your prime thinking time. You may want to have soft music playing and possibly some incense, oils or candles to scent the air. A selection of coloured pens will stimulate more of the right brain. Get your journaling book ready. Write the date and the topic (your intention) for your journaling session. It’s powerful to create a ritual with strong general intentions before each journaling session. Your ritual may be as simple as lighting a candle and taking 3 deep breaths to relax and centre you. As you breathe, exhale longer than you inhale. And as you exhale, know that you are going to obtain excellent results from your journaling. The more you respect and honour your journaling practice, the more you invite your deep inner knowing to participate.

2. THINK – To draw information from our unconscious minds, we require three

things: a need, repetition and authority. So emphatically ask your subconscious a question or state your request, and do this three times. Be really clear about what you want to achieve. Remember: clarity is power. You want to imprint the question or request deeply in your subconscious for this is the source of your best answers and insights.

3. INK – Now start writing. Write a bit faster than normal. This helps us get

out of our habitual patterns in writing. We asked the subconscious mind for answers, and writing faster allows more of the mind to speak out. Your writing does not have to look or sound perfect. Typos and spelling and grammatical errors are okay. Do not stop writing! If you feel at a loss for words, just make



something up. Listen more deeply and write whatever is on your mind, even if you think it is irrelevant to the topic. Do not censor. No filtering. The key is to keep writing. If you get really stuck, write out the question or request over and over again until new thoughts surface. Just keep writing. Tell your truth as quickly as you can. Get the sense that you are even writing before you are thinking. Allow awareness to awaken. As you become more experienced at journaling, you’ll become more aware of how you hear or sense your information. As you do this, you will turn up the intuitive voice that has all of your answers.

4. LINK – This is one of the most powerful steps, yet very few who journal

ever use it. When you have finished writing, read over your material. Look for shifts in writing style or content, spelling errors that may be Freudian slips, symbols and sentence structure shifts. These may shed a new perspective on your experience. Intentionally step back and look at the bigger picture. You’ll see other perspectives and gain new insights. You may even want to circle words or phrases or highlight them. To conclude, write down a maximum of 3 sentences on whatever comes to your mind after reading what you’ve written. This final entry may record new insights. It may be a summary of your journaling. Or it may be just a few points or action items. Simply write whatever is important to you or whatever comes to your mind. If you got some great insightful results, make an entry in the index of your journal book so you can easily find it in the future.

Get your right brain involved

How can you invoke more creative right brain activity? How can you get more out of your journaling? Here are some suggestions: - relax before and during your journaling session - use colour - involve your physical senses - use motion - work with graphics - include music - experiment with aromas - spend time in nature - play!



2.3 How to use this book I have intended this book to be a complete reference and resource for journaling. I wanted to give you an understanding of how journaling reveals and influences our mental and emotional processes. Understanding the operations involved will heighten your awareness of your own functioning. Later we will explore specific journaling applications. This book offers you a wide variety of journaling tools. They vary from disciplined, logical left brain tools to unique, creative, right brain tools. I have also created a list that recommends the best journaling tools to meet your specific needs. Don’t forget that this is a workbook. You will only get value from journaling if you have an intention and you act on it! Simply knowing about the tools doesn't get us anywhere. It's only when we put them into practice for a specific purpose that the insights and changes come. So please, make a commitment to yourself to establish an ongoing journaling routine for a specific period of time. Try different tools and see which ones work best for you. Over time, you will find your favourites – those that provide consistent insights, ideas and clarity. I’m confident that you will see enough personal benefits in one month of journaling to keep you going in the future. It may help to remember that we all grow and change in small steps that may go unnoticed. It’s usually in hindsight that we can see the accumulative effect those changes have had upon us. Explore these three simple steps to self empowerment:

1. Note your need. Journal with an intention or a question in mind. Before you begin, know what you want from your session.

2. Try the tools. Section 4 lists journaling tools for most needs. For major

challenges, pick 3 to 5 different tools to explore your issue. Use a combination of structured (left brain) and more free-flowing (right brain) tools. The different tools addressing the same subject will create an inner tension that will stimulate the subconscious to release answers and change behaviour. So sharpen your awareness! Open to new ideas, feelings, perspectives and imagination. Be open to a shift in consciousness.

3. Integrate and reap the results. Do your short summaries and reviews. Relax, trust and watch yourself grow. Track your growth – it will inspire you to go deeper and reach even higher.



3. Go deeper … Reach higher … Journaling takes us on adventures of self-discovery that explore two different directions: deeper into the realms of the subconscious where we can clean house of

personal problems, pains, patterns, and reactions; and, higher into the realms of our potential, where we can connect with intuition

and higher guidance and uncover our essence, purpose and gifts. In both cases, we push the frontier of our awareness and understanding of both the subconscious and our higher consciousness so we can live more of who we naturally are. 3.1 Go deeper It takes courage to explore our pains, fears and shadows. To be willing to dig for the real story that has created our own unique version of reality. It helps to know that freedom is only possible when we acknowledge and release the misinformation that holds us back in life. It also helps to know that while going deeper can be painful, we suffer more pain by not healing our old wounds. Here are a few guidelines that will make your explorations easier: Become the watcher. Pull back your perspective to impartially observe the

thoughts and feelings that come through your journaling. This detachment lets us see our automatic patterns and reactions. And this helps us consciously understand why we think, feel and act the way we do. When we become conscious of the unconscious, we can choose to break through our patterns and defenses to experience something new and better for ourselves.

When you get emotional, be willing to really feel your emotions. When we

honestly acknowledge our emotions – when we stop resisting them – they dissolve.

Remember that everything serves our highest interests if we are willing to

open to new perspectives. Lessons, events, illnesses and/or injuries invite us to release subconscious blocks. And when we release our tendency to see ourselves as victims, we reclaim our power to change and grow.

Accept everything that comes up in your writing and your experience. What we resist, persists. Higher consciousness and healing come when we embrace it all, allowing both the negatives and positives to exist in a bigger reality. Banish judgment (but not discernment). Bring in a soul perspective – detached,



accepting, loving and compassionate – to be present with your distress. Higher energy always transforms the lower energy, just with its presence.

Trust yourself. You are wiser than you think. Imagine that your higher self

purposely created the situation you are journaling about. What does it want you to learn? What new perspective will put the situation in a whole new light? Trust also that life only gives us what we can handle.

Allow yourself to grow at your own pace. Spiritual growth is a life-long

process. Be patient. Consciousness shifts gradually as we become aware of the tensions in our lives and learn to shift perspectives.

Ask your soul for guidance. Be willing to release ego’s arrogance and pride

and need to control. Open to allow brand new solutions to be presented. The more we ask and open, the more we receive.

Strive to see the bigger picture. Incidents have little meaning for us till they

fit into a larger context – a broader point of view, a bigger reality, a higher potential. While a situation may seem decidedly less than perfect to the ego, it is perfect for our learning.

Going deeper challenges us because we can become trapped in our feelings and emotions. It is easier to play in the more rational mental realms than in the subjective emotional realms. Clearing and healing deep-seated emotions takes much effort. It is best to use healing and releasing journaling tools in a relaxed, sensitized, meditative state so there are few distractions. Once again, learn to be the Watcher. Experience without judgment, attachment or resistance. Just let it be as it is. Acknowledge, accept and surrender to the tension, the void. Openly focusing attention on tension will melt it. Or here’s another approach. As emotions arise, you can try characterizing them using all of your senses. Ask an emotion questions and communicate with it. Our emotions all have messages for us. Once we understand the source of an emotion, it can be integrated and released. 3.2 Reach higher It also takes courage to open to new and higher aspects of who you are – your potential, calling, truth and responsibility. To reach higher we must continually explore the frontier that lies at the limits of our knowing. We must be willing to move out of our comfort zone to embrace the unknown. The process of reaching higher mirrors going deeper but with a different intention.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment So how do we tap into the higher realms? The good news is that as we go deeper to heal the wounds of the past, we automatically shift to a higher state of being. It is not so much what you do, as who you are that brings higher awareness. Still, we can consciously and intentionally work with ideas, feelings, imagination, creativity and intuition to realize more of our potential. This book offers tools to help you bridge from basic awareness to a level of pure, open, unbounded higher awareness. Consistently applying these tools will open communication channels with your inner source for answers and wisdom. I highly recommend meditation, dreams, poetry, dialogue, free writing and artwork as some of the best tools for reaching higher. The guidelines for going deeper also apply here. In particular, when reaching higher, open to allow in the new. Let go of expectations, biases, desires, limitation and judging. Capture ideas as quickly as they come before your filtering process starts tossing them out. 3.3 From awareness to consciousness As we journey through life, our perspectives change. We place importance on different things and we seek more meaning, beauty and truth. We gradually move from a level of awareness into levels of higher consciousness. Awareness is primarily self-centred and ego-based, stimulated by the physical senses, emotions and lower mind activity. Awareness is a tool of the personality. Consciousness, on the other hand, is what is important to the soul. The word ‘consciousness’ comes from the Latin word ‘conscire,’ which means ‘to know with’ or ‘to be connected with’ or ‘to identify with the other.’ Consciousness grows as we create more connections and relationships in our lives. To raise consciousness, we want to develop a mind that is more impersonal (thinks of others), universal (big picture thinker), abstract (can relate well to concepts and qualities of life) and meaningful (experiences purpose). With consciousness, we begin to experience truth, beauty, love, authenticity, true personal power, abundance and quality relationships. Higher guidance works through our personalities and awareness, so it is important to learn to use our mind and senses appropriately. Higher guidance is also filtered through the shadowy subconscious mind. And so we need to do our best to clear out the limiting beliefs, old patterning, reactive emotions, fears and wounds that reside there, for they distort our perceptions and therefore, our experiences. Journaling builds awareness. The more we journal, the more we start to experience things differently. We develop new perspectives more easily. And all this brings more


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment clarity around our experiences. For example, in journaling about our emotions, we find we can describe them more accurately. Instead of writing that I felt sad, I might note that I felt despondent, sorrowful, heartsick, dejected, or morose. As we see finer degrees of distinction, our lives are no longer just black and white, but landscapes rich in shades and colours. This helps us better understand what’s really going on for us. Awareness and consciousness can only be known through personal experience. We can’t just learn about awareness; we need to experience being aware. And how do we become more aware? We need: To build the discipline to make time and take time to pay attention; To use intention and questions to make connections; To deepen connections by opening to our motives and cause; To purposefully develop the mind, feelings and imagination.

And until we’ve gone through these steps, we’ll never become more conscious. It’s unrealistic to expect to reach enlightenment when we remain trapped in a life of selfishness, chaos, emotional reactions and ignorance. For how can we know another or God when we do not know ourselves? How can we practice discrimination and spiritual discernment and act on intuition when we cannot make basic choices in life or know one reality from another? Life is a progression of awakenings till our consciousness is divine. One step at a time. Are you ready to take your awareness deeper and consciousness higher? To unravel the unconscious, develop imagination, penetrate emotional blocks, push your mental limits, know yourself, write your way to wisdom and know God? Get ready to journey inward and upwards.



4. Journaling Tools for Every Need Many people journal only when they hit the wall or are in crisis – and that’s because journaling works. Others journal when they get overloaded, to help bring structure to their chaos. But wouldn’t it be great to journal before the busyness, stress or serious trauma strikes? Wouldn’t it be great to relieve the pressure before something explodes? Wouldn’t it be great to be in the driver’s seat, doing life rather than having life do us? What needs are you experiencing in your life right now? For each need, we’ve recommended some specific journaling tools. For each need, you can always use list making, smart questions and dialogue. Time management, control, tracking/measuring progress – hot list, dream

calendar, daily tracker, pause, radar trap, one word journaling, headlining Organization – hot list, dream calendar, review, pause, sentence stubs, regular check-

ups, radar trap, mind map, modelling Planning – hot list, dream calendar, review, pause, sentence stubs, mind map, lateral

thinking, dyad, intuitive resonating, metaphors, modelling Decision making – review, pause, perspectives, mind map, metaphors, artwork Learning and integration – review, pause, regular check-ups, mind map, resonating,

metaphors, modelling, meditation Clarity – hot list, stepping stones, review, pause, sentence stubs, regular check-ups,

feeling finder, resonating, metaphors, modelling, 5 why’s guys Stress release – dream calendar, pause, radar trap, feeling finder, stream of awareness,

dyad, gratitude, meditation Commitment – dream calendar, radar trap, creed, dyad, modelling, 5 why’s guys, life

question Focusing – hot list, dream calendar, review, pause, regular check-ups, radar trap, time

capsule, captured moments, character sketch, one word journaling, mind map, dyad, 5 why’s guys

Awareness – daily tracker, regular check-ups, radar trap, one word journaling,

perspectives, stream of awareness, resonating, stream of consciousness


Releasing emotions – review, pause, release letter, feeling finder, captured moments, character sketch, perspectives, stream of awareness, meditation

Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Break habits – dream calendar, daily tracker, pause, radar trap, creed, stream of

awareness, modelling Problem solving – review, pause, mind map, lateral thinking, dyad, resonating,

metaphors, modelling, 5 why’s guys Creativity – mind map, lateral thinking, alliteration, rhyme time, alpha poems,

resonating, metaphors, artwork, prose and poetry, meditation, stream of consciousness

Improved Relationships – daily tracker, stepping stones, review, pause, sentence

stubs, regular check-ups, radar trap, release letter, captured moments, character sketch, perspectives, dualities, gratitude, meditation

More imagination – pause, perspectives, mind map, lateral thinking, alliteration,

rhyming, alpha poems, dyad, metaphors, artwork, prose and poetry, dreams, meditation, stream of consciousness

Manifesting – dream calendar, review, pause, time capsule, character sketch, creed,

resonating, dualities, gratitude, life question, meditation, stream of consciousness Dream analysis – 5 why’s guys, artwork, dream, stream of consciousness Intuition – pause, radar trap, one word journaling, alpha poems, resonating,

metaphors, dualities, life question, prose and poetry, dream, meditation, stream of consciousness

Balance – dream calendar, stepping stones, review, pause, regular check-ups, radar

trap, one word journaling, perspectives, dualities, gratitude Motivation, Inspiration, Passion – hot list, dream calendar, pause, regular check-ups,

creed, dyad, metaphors, modelling, 5 why’s guys, life question, prose and poetry, meditation, stream of consciousness

Purpose and Meaning – hot list, dream calendar, review, pause, release letter, one

word journaling, perspectives, dyad, metaphors, 5 why’s guys, dualities, gratitude, life question, meditation, stream of consciousness

Spiritual Connection – release letter, one word journaling, perspectives, dyad,

resonating, dualities, artwork, gratitude, life question, prose and poetry, meditation, stream of consciousness

Remember that for each need, you can always use list making, smart questions and dialogue.



5. The Journaling Tools This book offers you a variety of journaling tools for creating and tracking your own growth and success. Experiment with them to find those that work most effectively for you. The first few journaling tools listed here help us establish a solid routine for monitoring change and growth. They help us create the discipline that is essential if we are to increase our awareness of who we are and what we want to achieve in our lives. The most important thing is not the type of tool you use, but that you journal consistently. Each tool has at least 3 exercises to show you how to get started, go deeper and reach higher. If you do all of the exercises for each tool, you will get a sense of changing perspectives. Please: Make and take time for your journaling and use that time to your greatest advantage. Any time you commit to monitoring your own process will pay you back in huge dividends. This is your opportunity to become more aware, creative, focused, directed, fulfilled and connected. It is your opportunity to take charge of your life and ensure that you live it in the very best ways possible for you. Your time and your life are precious commodities. Give them the attention they (and you!) deserve. The journaling tools listed below are presented from the more structured, left-brain, analytical tools to the more abstract and intuitive. Tools for managing and tracking your journaling process

1. Hot List 2. Dream Calendar 3. Daily Tracker 4. Stepping Stones – Life History Log 5. Review/Summary 6. The Pause

Tools that focus intention

7. Sentence Stubs 8. Regular Check-ups 9. List Making 10. Radar Trap 11. Smart Questions 12. Unsent Release Letter 13. Feeling Finder 14. Time Capsule 15. Captured Moments



16. Character Sketch 17. One Word Journaling 18. Headlining 19. Creed or Declaration 20. Perspectives

Tools for creating inner connections 21. Mind Mapping 22. Lateral Thinking 23. Allow Alliteration 24. Rhyme Time 25. Alpha Poems 26. Stream of Awareness 27. Dyad 28. Intuitive Resonating 29. Metaphors 30. Modelling 31. 5 Why’s Guys 32. Duality Tension 33. Artwork

Tools for developing the imagination and consciousness

34. Gratitude Journal 35. Dialogue 36. Life Question 37. Prose and Poetry 38. Dream Journal 39. Meditation Journal 40. Stream of Consciousness

5.1 Tips for selecting the best tools to serve you If you tend to be creative, spontaneous, off the wall and a good starter but poor

completer, then explore some of the lower numbered tools, which are more grounded, logical and disciplined.

If you are very structured, logical and conservative, then stretch yourself by using the higher numbered tools. They will activate your right brain and enhance your creativity.

To plan, use tools with lower numbers. To spark creativity, feelings and spirituality, use tools with higher numbers.

5.2 Tools for managing and tracking your journaling process I have learned that if something is important to me, I must measure it! Otherwise how will I know I’ve reached or am progressing toward my goal? For most of us, our


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment personal growth, prosperity, quality of life and spirituality are important. If they are so important, let us measure them. The act of measuring helps us clarify what we want, and this in turn, helps us achieve our aims. Tool #1: Hot List If it is in sight, it is in mind.

“The indispensable first step to getting the things you want out of life is this: decide what you want.” – Ben Stein

What’s most important to you? What deserves more of your time? What do you want to be or do in your lifetime? Create a Hot List of journaling topics to explore the potential of your life. This is basically a to-do list, but it’s one with a difference. The entries on your Hot List will be topics or tasks that truly affect your quality of life. They will be areas you want to explore more deeply. You know – the ones you never seem to get around to. The ones that will make your life your own! Keep a prioritised Hot List visible and handy so that during your assigned journaling time or when you have 5 to 15 minutes free of commitments, you can pick a topic and write on it. Add new topics to your Hot List as they occur to you and as you read this book. For those really important issues, use 3 to 5 different tools focused on one subject so you get different and deeper perspectives. Remember that working on one area from different angles helps to create tension and shifts in our subconscious minds. And these shifts can bring understanding, release and change. You may want to use the Hot List as your index. Date each journal entry and when you journal on a Hot List item, put the date next to the appropriate item on your index so you can find it quickly in the future. Also prioritise your Hot List often so you regularly reflect on what is most important to you. EXERCISES We’ll help you create your first Hot List. Relax, take a few deep breaths and know you are going to get some great results. Then set your intention. Ask the question, “In my highest interest, what topics shall I explore in my journal?” Ask the question 3 times, emphatically and clearly. When you are ready, start writing. If you get stuck, consider the following questions: Getting started: How can I free up more time for myself?


What would I really like to do this month?

Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment What financial matter do I most need to tackle?

Go deeper: What life challenges do I want to resolve? What do I most dislike about myself and need to accept? Who do I need to forgive? What are my top 5 needs (see section 4)?

Reach higher: What are my ambitions and dreams? What talents and skills could I develop more fully? What relationship(s) do I want to develop more deeply? Which 5 benefits of journaling (see section 1) do I most want to achieve?

Tool #2: Dream Calendar Imagine your ideal day, week, month and year, and then anchor them in your calendar.

“Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity. We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand -- and melting like a snowflake.” – Marie Beyon Ray

If we want fulfillment in life, we need to do what fulfills us now. With dream days, weeks and months, we transfer our ideal use of time to our calendars. We actually book time in our daily, weekly and monthly schedules for those important activities that mean most to us. If we commit to making room for what’s meaningful, we must also be willing to let go of what’s not. This process of adding and subtracting activities is a tangible way of bringing our priorities to life. You may use the form in Appendix 2 to map out your perfect dream day, week, month and year. Idealize each timeframe and think of the important things you want in your life that you don’t usually make time for. Consider activities like exercise, meditation, journaling, reading, learning, family time, relaxation, research and review. Once you have completed the form, transfer these commitments to your calendar. Highlight or box these reserved times so they cannot be missed. Do not compromise this time. It’s the time of your life! I highly recommend you block off time for review, tracking, support groups and journaling. These activities offer a high payback. Commit at least 15 minutes per day, an hour per week, 3 hours per month, 6 hours per quarter and 2 days per year to review, reflect, track, refocus, and connect with what is important. Don’t allow yourself to say this isn’t possible! Demand more. Reach higher. Anything’s possible – it’s just a matter of changing your priorities.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment If you are seriously committed to going deeper and reaching higher, then make a spot on your calendar right now for daily journaling. Even 15 minutes will do. Make and take the time for one of the most powerful growth tools available. EXERCISES Map out an ideal dream day, week, month and year for yourself. Before you transfer these activities to your standard calendar, reflect on your dream calendars by journaling on the following questions: Getting started: What do I really want in my life that is not yet there? What am I now doing that doesn’t need to be done? That could be done by

someone else? When am I most alert each day? When am I most creative? How can I schedule

my activities to make best use of my prime times? Go deeper: What are my personal needs? How and where do I give to others while neglecting my own needs? How do I feel about demanding more time for myself?

Reach higher: What would I most want to do with free time? How can I regularly include these activities in my life? How can I find more fulfilment in mundane tasks? How can I best serve my partner or my family or my community or the planet?

“Very few of us know how much we can put into life if we use it properly, wisely, and economically. Let us economize our time -- lifetimes ebb away before we wake up.” – Paramahansa Yogananda

Tool #3: Daily Tracker Every day offers many opportunities for insights, growth, awareness and change. But if we’re not aware of those opportunities, they are lost to us.

“To acquire knowledge, one must study; but to acquire wisdom, one must observe.” – Marilyn vos Savant

The Daily Tracker uncovers and tracks the meaning of key daily events. It also creates a great audit trail for what has happened in the past. It helps us see cycles that reoccur and identify causes and effects. A Daily Tracker form is provided for you in Appendix 3. Print a few copies to get you started.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Pick 3 or 4 areas you most want to monitor. Write each of them as a title for one of the columns on the form. Examples are: feelings and emotions, personal energy levels, money earned, people met, health changes, food, weight, relationships, accomplishments, intuitive hunches, synchronicities, motives, ideas, dreams, meanings, insights, events, etc. What 3 or 4 aspects of life are most important for you to monitor? Regularly or when something important happens relative to an aspect you are monitoring, put in the date and the event or insight that happened for you. Keep this form handy and accessible so you’ll remember to use it. I print this sheet on a fluorescent-coloured paper so it regularly catches my attention. I use a small felt pen so my writing is bold and easily read. I sometimes use a highlighter to mark important items or I may circle them. Do whatever you want to make this sheet work for you. If it’s important, track it! Capture the successes, challenges and insights in your life. Track your growth and change.

“The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.” – Stephen Covey

EXERCISES Getting started: What do you want to track? What is important to you? Pick a few areas from

this list and write them as titles on your Daily Tracker: health, diet, weight, exercise, money earned, career/work, accomplishments, connections with friends, learning, etc.

Go deeper: Consider tracking: feelings and emotions, positive/negative thinking,

relationships, beliefs, dreams, etc. Reach higher: Consider tracking: ideas, intuitive hunches, motives, inspiration,

synchronicities, insights, sources of joy, service, etc.



Tool #4: Stepping Stones – Life History Log Hindsight is 20/20. Look back to read the story of your life – thus far!

“The life which is unexamined is not worth living.” – Plato What milestones or markers distinguish your life? What impact did outer events have on your inner reality? And how has your inner reality affected outer relationships and circumstances? Reflecting on your life journey to date, you can get a deeper sense of who you are now and of the lessons you have been invited to learn. You may also get new perspectives on the gifts you have to offer the world. Stepping Stones has two parts: data gathering and then analysis. Have a look at the Life History Log in Appendix 4. First, pick a period of time. It may cover your whole lifetime. Or you may want to focus specifically on what happened over a shorter period, such as during a career, relationship or illness. The focus period should be at least 6 months long. Next, within this time, identify your stepping stones – your key life events like birth, marriage, having children, job changes, divorce, health challenges, significant successes or accomplishments. Change the column titles to reflect whatever criteria seem important for you. Once the facts are gathered, reflect on the bigger picture of what’s happened. What perspectives come to mind? Are different events connected in any way? Have you repeatedly gone through cycles of one kind or another? What relationships have influenced your direction in life? There are an infinite number of angles to explore to fathom the unique mystery of your life story! Write down your thoughts as you intuitively identify themes or issues of concern over that period. List or write at greater length about shifts or changes that were spurred by or led to the major event milestones. EXERCISES Getting started: Using the Life History Log in Appendix 4, plot the highlights of your whole

life on a few pages. Record for each year from birth where you lived, what you did, your best friends, what car you drove, where you vacationed, etc. Create an organized audit trail of your life.

Pick a relationship or a career. Identify the major milestones over that period and changes you observed. Write about your insights.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Go deeper: Recall a dark time in your life. Perhaps you had difficulties regarding health,

finances, work, relationships or family. Can you identify events prior to that time that may have set the stage for the issue to surface? What other significant events do you remember about this time? Write about your emotions and attitudes at each milestone. How did they contribute to or alleviate the distress? In hindsight, did the dark time prove to be a positive turning point in your life? If so, how?

Reach higher: Reflect on and write down the major events of your lifetime. Which ones

propelled you in directions you perceive as positive? Which ones seem to have diverted you from the path you’d most like to follow? What qualities have characterized the various stages of your life? How can you bring more heart into what’s unfolding now?

“Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.” – Unknown Source

Tool #5: The Review/Summary Stepping back helps us see a bigger, more inclusive picture. Small events make more sense in the bigger scheme of things.

“Reflection is one of the most underused yet powerful tools for success.” – Richard Carlson

The Review: Regularly, take time to reflect on what has been happening in your life. Daily, weekly or after special events, write about what is surfacing for you: activities, insights, meaning, motives, feelings, etc. Foster the discipline to pull back to view your life more objectively. Step back to work ON your life instead of IN it. Become the C.E.O. of your own personal company, or see yourself as the captain of your own ship. This allows you to reconnect with the bigger picture of who you are and what you are doing in your life journey. It’s a great way to integrate what is important. I like to do reviews daily, weekly, and monthly. I like to write a half page but if I'm short of time, I write in point form or even just a few words. If you have limited time for journaling, you may want to at least capture your best and worst experience for the period being considered.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment The Summary: Complete each journaling exercise or session by reviewing and summarizing what you have just written. In your summaries, write whatever comes to mind. It may be an insight, concern, action step, desire, etc. This process can be very healing, integrative and freeing. By writing regular reviews you will gradually see more balance in your life, more harmonizing of the ups and downs and more integration of chaos. EXERCISES Getting started: Go back and quickly scan your journal notes from the exercises you’ve done

from this book and write a short summary of your impressions so far. Reflect on what has happened in the last 24 hours and write a few lines about

your peak experience and then about your worst experience. Go deeper: Identify your worst experience in the last month. Identify and write about your

feelings, your beliefs and the underlying fear(s). Reach higher: At least monthly write a short review on what you are learning, on your own

spiritual growth, on how your character is changing or on your top insight of the month and what that means for you.

Tool #6: The Pause Slow down and let the moments teach you.

“A good rest is half the work.” – Yugoslav Proverb We need to remind ourselves to take breaks! Periodically, it’s essential that we slow down and give our thoughts time to integrate. That we give ourselves time to just be in our own space. If we are often with others, then we can take time to be alone and silent. We lose soul when we try to cram too much into life. We skim the surface of experience, and so our lives lack depth and become increasingly superficial. To be most effective, a break should be 5 to 10 minutes, without conversation and with no eye contact. Do not read or be too focused or busy. Just BE as you possibly get a beverage, take a short walk, go to the washroom, etc. Even during meetings, ask for a Pause. The break will improve the meeting’s productivity.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Vacations bless us with a longer pause. Though they are often busy, at least they give us a reprieve from our normal routines and cares. Be sure to take your journal with you on your holidays, and take time to reflect on the quality of your life. We usually see our lives more clearly when we are physically away from home base. Take a Pause: when you reach overload or saturation of information; when you want to attain your own clarity; to check inside for your own beliefs and truths; or to see whether your thoughts are your own or others’.

During a pause, just be aware of your thinking and your integration process. When you complete your little break or your longer vacation, write down your insights.

“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” – Sidney J. Harris

5.3 Tools that focus intention and create awareness

“Thoughts have power; thoughts are energy. And you can make your world or break it by your own thinking.” – Susan Taylor

Use intention to direct your thoughts to serve you and you will change your life. Build awareness of what is happening moment to moment and your horizons will expand. The next group of exercises will show you how to create intention and direct your thinking. Tool #7: Sentence Stubs The mind often needs a starting point to trigger responses. What do you believe… about yourself? About life? Your beliefs, many of which are unconscious, greatly affect how your life unfolds. Get the facts on your thinking.

“We are what we believe we are.” – Benjamin N. Cardozo Facts are a product of the linear, logical left brain. Unfortunately, some of the ‘facts’ in our belief systems are not accurate. They need to be changed if we are to break free of self-sabotaging patterns. Sentence stubs can help us become aware of our unconscious belief systems.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment You can work with sentence stubs in two ways: Complete the same sentence stub over and over again until you no longer have

any answers. Use the sentence stub to start your thinking process and then allow your

thoughts to take you where they will. EXERCISES Here are some sentence stubs for you to finish. Try both approaches noted above to experience the difference. Getting started: I am not willing to … When I grow up I want to … My favourite … I am responsible for …

Go deeper: I get angry when … I hold myself back … I am most afraid of … I don’t trust …

Reach higher: If I didn’t have to work for a living, … If I were honest with myself, … I am most grateful for … I love …

“There are no limitations to the self except those you believe in.” – Seth

Note: Quotations, songs, affirmations, poems, Holy book verses, sayings, oracles, tarot cards, angel cards, etc. also offer potent starting points to spark your own ideas and journaling.

Statements and questions bring different results in journaling.

Statements are a product of the rational left brain and are usually perceived as complete in themselves. Questions, on the other hand, stimulate the right brain and get us searching for answers. They tend to draw out more creativity and intuition.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Tool #8: Regular Check-ups Life constantly seeks to exist in a state of balance.

“Many people seem to think that success in one area can compensate for failure in other areas. But can it really? ...True effectiveness requires balance.” – Stephen Covey

Regular Check-ups help us stay aware of all aspects of our lives that matter to us. And this helps us keep our priorities in balance. List the 30 most important areas of your life – one topic for each day of the month. If 30 topics are too many, select the number of topics and the timing that will work for you. For example, over one month, you might try 15 topics (one every 2 days) or 6 topics (one every 5 days). Or you can try 7 topics over 7 days. Create a pattern that feels right to you. Sample topics are listed below in the exercises. Review your list closely to ensure you haven’t missed any key areas that are important to you. Number each of your topics. They do not have to be in any order. On the first day of the month, write for a short time on your topic #1. On the second day of the month or your next date for journaling, on a clean page, write on topic #2 and so on, until the end of the month. On the first day of your second month, start the series over again, writing your new entry for topic #1 under the one you’d written the month before. When you write a new entry on a topic, do not peek at your earlier writing until you have completed that day’s journaling. Then read over all entries on the page. Periodically, write a very brief summary of your experience with this topic. Over time, you’ll get a sense of how each area of your life is changing and which issues need more attention. You’ll also clearly see how your perspectives are shifting. EXERCISES: List your journaling topics. You may want to review the ones below. Create one page for each. If you are doing one for each day of the month, start with the number of today’s date. Write a few lines on where you are with this topic in your life. Getting started: Focus on daily topics like career/work, goals, time, money, opportunities, health, hobbies, energy, etc.


Go deeper:

Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Focus on daily topics like relationships with children (each by name), partner, parents, co-workers and/or friends; blocks, life challenges, threats and vulnerabilities, etc. Reach higher: Focus on daily topics like spirituality, creativity, learning, purpose, passion, intuition or values that speak to you like integrity or gratitude. Note: For true balance, create a program of journaling that includes topics from each of the three sections above.

“The more balanced our lives, the more serene we feel.” – Ann Smith

Tool #9: List Making We tend to think we have limited choices in life. In reality, our choices are infinite. Many ideas and options lie within us. We need only draw them out.

“The best way to have a good idea is to have a lot of ideas.” – Linus Pauling

Do you enjoy making lists? If so, here are some guidelines for bringing more creativity to your list making. This process also helps you become aware of how ideas come to you. Here’s how the process works: Relax and pose your intention or question (Sync and Think). Set a target of a minimum of 25, 50 or 100 responses. Write as quickly as you can. Keep responses short. Keep your list on one page. Duplications and meaningless responses are okay. When your list is complete, read it over and group items by common themes. Write a short summary on your insights.

As you write your lists, you may notice that answers come in waves. Ask the watcher in you to notice deep inside how new ideas are triggered. Don’t try too hard; simply allow them to come. The more relaxed we are, the more easily ideas flow. If 25 came easily, set a goal to write 50 or 100 and do not stop till you have that many on your list. Remember that duplicates are okay. Consistently asking for answers keeps the tension on our subconscious, prompting it to respond. Review your list and get another level of insight as you group the items. Make up your own legend and intuitively start grouping. For example, a list of how to have fun might include activities that could be grouped by indoor or outdoor, winter or summer, alone or with others. Grouping your entries will help you see your list from new


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment perspectives. When you have completed your groupings, write any insights that have surfaced. EXERCISES As a minimum, do a list of 25 items on at least one of the following topics: Getting started: Ways you can have more fun in your life Things you like about yourself Choices you will have to make over the next month

Go deeper: What irritates you Things you dislike about yourself Your personal fears

Reach higher: Values you stand for or aspire to live Things you love to do What gives you meaning

Tool #10: Radar Trap If we consistently pay attention, we gain the power to choose to create good habits.

“Mindfulness means moment-to-moment, non-judgmental awareness. It is cultivated by refining our capacity to pay attention, intentionally, in the present moment, and then sustaining that attention over time as best we can. In the process, we become more in touch with our life as it is unfolding.” – Myla & Jon Kabat-Zinn

STOP and pay attention! The Radar Trap journaling tool can be used in 2 ways:

1. It will help you become aware of what you are actually thinking and doing as your day unfolds. On your radar screen, you will begin to pick up the semi-conscious self-talk that runs your life. You’ll also get new insights on where your time goes.

2. It will help you create intention and focus to learn a new habit. Set an alarm to go off periodically, such as every hour or two or even every 15 minutes. When the alarm rings, journal for less than one minute on the focus you have chosen (see the exercises below). Watch for recurring themes and new perspectives. Note the effects of recording your predominant thinking over one or more days. Tap the power of consistent attention.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment EXERCISES Getting started: Write about what you were doing during the last period of time. How are you

using your time? How could you be more effective? What is on your mind? Track your predominant thinking. Are you thinking

positively or negatively? Would you describe your thoughts as valuable or mundane? What themes are evident?

Go deeper: What are you feeling (as opposed to thinking)? Try to be specific as you

connect with your feelings. Take a minute and breathe deeply. Be conscious of your breathing and how

you feel with more oxygen in your body. Start creating a habit of regular deep breathing.

Reach higher: Why are you doing what you are doing? What are your motives? Is this

something you want to do or believe you should do? Are you more conscious of others or yourself? (This is a very powerful exercise.)

Bring to mind a goal and visualize it being complete with you in the picture. Pick a focus such as being more soulful, positive or conscious of the divine

(e.g., What would my soul perceive or do right now?).

“I think self-awareness is probably the most important thing towards being a champion.” – Billie Jean King

Tool #11: Smart Questions Questions invoke a deep response from the subconscious mind.

“The quality of one’s life is directly related to the quality of questions you ask yourself.” – Tony Robbins

As I stated earlier, questions and statements produce different responses. Statements are a product of the left brain. They are perceived as facts. If you want more intuitive answers, creativity, healing and soul connection, then you must more actively use the right brain. And the right brain is accessed more easily with questions. Take just one moment to do this simple exercise. Say to yourself, “I don’t have enough time to get everything done,” and experience how you feel in response to that statement. Now say to yourself, “How can I give more time to my priorities?” and again, tune in to how you feel. Compare your sense of energy and personal power and the potential for ideas from one situation to the other.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Your subconscious mind serves your conscious mind. It implements whatever directives it’s given. If you say you don’t have enough time, your subconscious will ensure that you won’t. If you ask a question, the subconscious will always answer it – you need only pay attention. The answers can be subtle and indirect, and they can come from anywhere at any time. The key is to be aware. The bigger and more complex the question, the longer the subconscious may take to respond with an answer. So turn your problems and self-talk into good questions. You may even explore stating your affirmations and goals as questions. (As an aside, reflect on how often you actually ask or direct your subconscious to work for you during the course of a normal day. How well are you utilizing the vast powers of your subconscious? That’s why I encourage you to bring intention to everything you do.) Use Smart Questions often. Consider adding 10 or 20 to your Hot List. EXERCISES Getting started: What five things have you been procrastinating? What are the hidden agendas of your boss or partner? How can you enhance your inter-personal skills?

Go deeper: When do you feel victimized? What excuses keep you stuck? Where do you need to clarify your stand or position?

Reach higher: What is on your conscience lately? How can you increase your overall sense of abundance? If you had all the resources you needed for the rest of your life, what would

you do to help others? Once each month, use the 7 P’s Personal Performance Process (see Appendix 5). These questions have been tuned over 10 years to support you in being clear, balanced and focused. Book time now on your dream calendar to explore this powerful tool. If answering Smart Questions works well for you, check out Smart Question Coaching. It provides a daily, thought-provoking question, a coaching tip and supporting inspirational quotes in 6 themes. For details visit http://www.smartquestion.com


“Asking the proper question is the central action of transformation … Questions are the key that cause the secret doors of the psyche to swing open.” – Clarissa Pinkola Estes

http://www.smartquestion.com/

Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Tool #12: Unsent Release Letter

Forgiveness heals the pain of separation.

“What you fail to forgive, you live.” – Unknown source Most people feel either guilty or resentful every day. I feel guilty when I did not meet that perfect picture of myself. I feel resentful when others did not meet my perfect expectations of them. Use this tool often to let go of guilt and resentment. Write letters to people with whom you are angry, intimidated or shy. You can also write a release letter to yourself. Let go of emotional, mental, subconscious, energetic and karmic ties. But do not mail the letter! This is your process – it’s no one else’s business. When your letter is complete, make a ritual of destroying or burning the letter – this supports a stronger release. Then forget about it completely and know that the situation is healed. Do not give any more energy to the incident or to the person around that situation. Here is one format for a release letter you can handwrite:

Address Date Dear Soul of… I request the release of (fear, anger, pain, frustration, etc.) regarding…. I give my subconscious mind and my soul permission to carry out the release of the above misunderstandings and emotions whether they reside in my conscious mind or my subconscious mind. Thank you for the experiences. I have gained understanding from them and now I let them go for positive transformation. I forgive (name) and I release him/her to his/her highest good. I forgive myself and I free myself to realize my highest good, freedom, fulfilment of inner dreams, clarity, love, peace, joy, expression and prosperity.

Thank you. Sincerely with love,



Name and signature

EXERCISES Getting started: Write an unsent release letter to a peer or friend for whom you still hold strong

feelings. Go deeper: Write an unsent release letter to a parent or relative for whom you still hold

strong feelings. (They can be dead or alive.) Reverse the technique and write a letter to yourself from someone else. If you

want, mail it to yourself. Reach higher: Write an unsent release letter to God or the highest aspect of yourself. Write a release letter from God or your higher self back to you and mail it to

yourself.

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” – Paul Boese

Tool #13: Feeling Finder Most people are challenged by their feelings and emotions.

“We know too much and feel too little. At least, we feel too little of those creative emotions from which a good life springs.” – Bertrand Russell

Let me first share with you how I distinguish between emotions and feelings. I understand emotions to be reactive and controlled by some hidden aspect of our subconscious mind. Behind emotions are some negative, inappropriate, fearful thoughts. Feelings, on the other hand, are innate and natural. They have no basis in fear. Feelings have a strong connection to the heart and therefore are more loving and compassionate. EXERCISES Getting started:


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment How are you feeling right now? Release judgment and open to your experience

– whatever you are feeling is valid and deserves to be acknowledged. Write as many feeling/emotion words as you can to describe your present situation.

Go deeper: Pick a few strong emotions and/or feelings you have experienced in the last

week. In Appendix 6 are 200 words for feelings and emotions. Scan the list to pick out words that most accurately describe what you are feeling. You can even pick out a grouping of words and sort them in a progression of intensity.

Reach higher: Draw yourself a road map of some of your typical strong emotions (often

negative). Identify the feelings (positive) that can balance these emotions.

“Our feelings are our most genuine paths to knowledge.” – Audre Lorde

Tool #14: Captured Moments Soul lives in depth of experience.

“The true art of memory is the art of attention.” – Samuel Johnson

The Review/Summary journaling tool encourages us to look back over a journaling session or period of time to get the big picture of what’s happened. Stepping Stones invites us to collect the facts of our lives and analyse the larger meaning of different events and experiences. These are both big picture tools. With Captured Moments, we create a brief story or word picture that explores the depth and details of a particularly meaningful or emotional experience. It is a frozen moment in time, a written picture that captures the intricate textures of beauty or joy, frustration or pain. Re-experience the moment in depth. Focus on imagery, sensations, feelings and qualities. Be as descriptive as you can. Write about your experience using lots of adverbs and adjectives and metaphors. Explore the lessons it holds for you. EXERCISES Getting started: Select one of the peak experiences of your life. What do you remember most

about it? How did it touch you? What qualities of life did you experience? Go deeper:


Practice deepening your awareness of a painful event. Allow memories of the situation to surface. Re-connect with the pain. Allow yourself to truly feel the


pain, without resistance or judgment. Seek to actually feel the experience in your body rather than just thinking about the feelings in your head. What happens when you own your pain? Has this acknowledgement of your emotions shifted your understanding of the event in any way? Write about the process of deepening awareness.

Reach higher: Have you had a spiritual experience, a miracle or some unexplainable

experience of bliss or pure love? Re-experience it in your writing. As spiritual experiences cannot always be described with words, pick a symbol for this experience and write about the symbol.

Tool #15: Time Capsule The experiences of our past influence our experience of the present. Through journaling, we can intentionally explore these influences and work with them to our advantage.

“How we see and hold the full range of our experiences in our minds and in our hearts makes an enormous difference in the quality of this journey we are on, and what it means to us. It can influence where we go, what happens, what we learn, and how we feel along the way.” – Jon Kabat-Zinn

The Time Capsule is similar to Captured Moments except that it allows you to chronicle a longer period of time. Sort the wheat from the chaff and record your experiences rather than just the facts of a specific event or time period. Preserve the richness of your memories. EXERCISES Getting started: Pick a holiday you enjoyed and write about the quality of your experience. Did

you feel excitement, trepidation, relief, anxiety, awe…? Describe as accurately as you can how you felt throughout your holiday.

Go deeper: Review how you spent most of your time this past month, whether it was at a

job, working for yourself or at home, or in leisure or retirement. Explore and describe the qualities of your experience.

Reach higher: Write about the details of what you most loved and/or did not love in your

childhood.



“Every man's memory is his private literature.” – Aldous Huxley

Tool #16: Character Sketch

Our relationship with one person can bring insights on our relationships with everyone and everything else.

“Underground issues from one relationship or context invariably fuel our fires in another.” – Harriet Lerner

“The people we are in relationship with are always a mirror, reflecting our own beliefs, and simultaneously we are mirrors reflecting their beliefs. So relationship is one of the most powerful tools for growth... if we look honestly at our relationships we can see so much about how we have created them.” – Shakti Gawain

With Character Sketch, you describe another person or yourself, now, in the past or in the future. Close your eyes and imagine this person or yourself in front of you. What do you notice? What do you feel? What qualities do you sense in this person? What may be their motives or intentions? What do you imagine is on their mind? What is the meaning and purpose of your encounter with them? Be very descriptive. EXERCISES Getting started: Pick a friend or family member. Close your eyes and bring them to mind.

Answer the questions above for this person. Go deeper: Bring to mind someone with whom you’ve been upset recently. Contemplate

the situation and the pain. Describe their character. What did they do that upset you? Why would they do such a thing? Do you think they did it intentionally? What meaning does this have for you?

Reach higher: Project yourself 5 years into the future doing what you ideally want to do.

Connect with your soul and write from its perspective. What does your environment look like? What qualities are you living? What are you especially good at doing? What are your big accomplishments? Who else is around you? What gives you meaning? How are you helping others? Characterize this future you in detail.



“I believe that we are always attracted to what we need most, an instinct leading us towards the persons who are to open new vistas in our lives and fill them with new knowledge.” – Helene Iswolsky

Tool #17: One Word Essence Journaling Spirit lives in the essence of things, not the thing itself.

“The tongue of the original self is the language of the heart.” – Julie Cameron

Sometimes we don’t have the time to journal. (Or perhaps I should say that we don’t make the time to journal.) If you have trouble committing time to journaling, try ‘One Word Journaling.’ But beware – it’s not as easy as it sounds! Focus on attuning to and experiencing the essence of a person, day, a motive, etc. Magically, the more closely we connect with an essence, the fewer words there are to describe it anyway. So rather than spend time journaling, spend it attuning to the essence of things, events and people and build your awareness this way. Do this a few times each day. Each week review your words and write a short summary of your experience. You may want to use the Daily Tracker form (Tool #3) and put in one ‘essence’ word for each of the most important areas of your life. EXERCISES Getting started: Capture the essence of your day with one word. Bring to mind an essence you would like to live all day long.

Go deeper: Bring to mind a relationship with someone and write down one word. Tune into your feelings now and write down one word.

Reach higher: Meditate and write one word describing your experience. Tune into God or your soul and write down one word. What word best captures your main motive throughout the day?

“When we learn how to be truly present with our joy and our sorrow, with our longing and our desires, layer upon layer of our selves and the world are revealed.” – Oriah Mountain Dreamer


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Tool #18: Headlining The fewer the words, the stronger the impression.

“An honest tale speeds best being plainly told.” – William Shakespeare (King Richard III)

Headlines sum up experiences in just a few words. We can write headlines to define any experience. A good headline is typically less than 7 words. If you’re in the mood, have fun with this by playing with alliteration, humour, verse, metaphors, parody, double reverse, rhyming, puns and duality. If you like this process, start a page for daily headlines and you will eventually have a concise overview of the highlights in your life – your own newspaper! Here are a few examples of how you might headline a day: Job interview sparks old fears Reactions to Sam require more healing Forgiveness needed and given Got cross with the boss, but no job loss

EXERCISES Getting started: Write a headline in 7 words or less about yesterday, today and for each day of

the rest of the week. Capture a key highlight or memory or feeling. Go deeper: Create headlines to describe situations you typically avoid. Label your dreams with a headline each morning.

Reach higher: Apply the headline process to your meditations, to a daily spiritual experience

or to your experience of your soul.

“If you wish to know the mind of a man, listen to his words.” – Chinese Proverb



How would you headline your occupation?

Learn about different techniques with these playful headlines for businesses: twist or double reverse: A business without a sign is a sign of no business (signs) Do you own a water filter or are you the filter? (water filters) rhyme: Why squint when you can tint? (sunglasses) Take pride in your ride (travel agency) pun: You should be alarmed! (security) I fix floppy discs (chiropractor) We look after our key customers (lock smith) humour: A flush is better than a full house (plumber) We check out your shorts (electrician) play on words: It’s my interest to save you interest (banker) I’m a freedom fighter - Do you want more money freedom or time freedom? (coach) duality, opposites: Be true to your teeth or they will be false to you (dentist) You can expect to get more with Les parody: I believe in the tooth, the whole tooth and nothing but the tooth (dentist) Opportunity does not knock, it rings (telephone sales)

Tool #19: Creed - Make a Declaration Clear, written and repeated intention can create a new reality for you.

“The mind, ever the willing servant, will respond to boldness, for boldness, in effect, is a command to deliver mental resources.” – Norman Vincent Peale

Be bold and make a major commitment to yourself – in writing! Choose to act upon something that really matters to you. Write out your own personal creed and declare it loudly, emotionally and clearly. This instils more belief. Write it in big letters. Put it on a wall. Anchor your statement deeply in you so it becomes part of you. Make a stand now. Read it daily. Speak it out loud. Know that it all started in your journal. Be proud of yourself as you move forward in bringing your commitments to life.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment EXERCISES Getting started: Declare your intention to keep a tidy house or office, be debt free, exercise

and/or journal three times/week, stop smoking, etc. Go deeper: Make a commitment to move through a particular block that’s holding you

back. Reach higher: Declare your intention to seek out and live your own truth or to follow a

specific line of service.

“Of all that is written, I love only what a person has written with his own blood.” – Friedrich Nietzsche

Tool #20: Perspectives Shifting to more inclusive and impersonal perspectives raises our consciousness.

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” – Abraham H. Maslow

Each time we write, it can be from different viewpoints. The perspective may shift in terms of timing, people, parts of your psyche, seriousness, humour, etc. Changing our perspective can totally shift our experience of pain. We can stand back and be more objective. We can detach from the pain and the memory. We can put meaning or love or humour into the situation. We can feel better about who we are. We always have choice: we can stay stuck in a memory or we can pull ourselves free and watch our life drift to a new level. We all have releasing to do around parents, addictions, conflict, money, divorce, death, guilt and resentments – whatever. Use this tool to let go of chains that are holding you back. EXERCISES Select one of the most challenging times you have had in your life. You are being asked to write about this event in detail from the four different perspectives outlined below. Do them in the order given. This exercise is very effective if you do it verbally with a trusted friend and let them write notes for you as you talk. When you’ve completed the exercise, read over your responses and write about your insights.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Getting started: Revisit the situation in depth. Describe the details of the event. Now identify

with the challenge. It’s okay to be emotional. Get clear about your emotions, attitudes and beliefs.

Go deeper: Now revisit the above situation from the perspective of an observer who is

watching everything unfold. Describe the facts as they would see them. Write their observations.

Reach higher: Next write about the above situation from the perspective of God. What is the

divine viewpoint? What are you being invited to learn? What spiritual quality are you to connect with?

Lastly, write a sit-com around this event. Put humour into it. Create a story that makes you laugh.

ANOTHER EXERCISE: Answer one of the two questions below from 4 perspectives or levels – physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. When you’ve finished, read over your responses and write a short summary of your insights.

1. How much is too much? OR 2. What limits do you set on yourself?

Getting started: Physically – your habits and actions

Go deeper: Emotionally – your reactive emotions or innate deep feelings Mentally – your self-talk, beliefs, attitudes

Reach higher: Spiritually – your service to others, unconditional love

“When you change your patterns of thinking, you change the way you feel about yourself, about others, and about the world. And changing the way you feel enables you to deal more productively with your problems and burdens and to take actions necessary to improve your life.” – Dr. Arthur Freeman and Rose DeWolf



5.4 Making inner connections The tools outlined in the last series help us use intention to direct our perception. This next set offers different ways to create inner connections that stimulate new perspectives and ideas. These tools also help us develop quantity, quality and depth of ideas. As you work with these tools, watch your mind to better understand how it works. Really focus on how new ideas rise within you and how you can stimulate them. Our minds tend to rethink the same thoughts. Albert Einstein said, “Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.” So we want to learn how to draw new thoughts from our imagination, awareness, intelligence and intuition. Tool #21: Mind Mapping Using both the right and left brain allows big ideas and details to blend together.

“...if we are willing to abandon our usual coercive tactics and approach our problems sideways and kitty-corner we stand a good chance of finding our way through some interesting gates.” – Eloise Ristad

Mind mapping is also called clustering or webbing. It's a quick, whole-brain brainstorming process that organizes random thoughts quickly. It combines big picture information and details on the same sheet. It connects key thoughts and free associations to a core subject. To create a mind map, select a focus, write it in the middle of a page and circle it. Then create and label spokes radiating outward from the centre to represent different sub themes. From there, you can create and label branches off the main spokes, and even smaller branches off the branches, to represent different aspects of each theme. Every time you draw and label a branch off a main stem, you are mapping a new layer of detail. As you create your mind map, drawing symbols and pictures will help you anchor the concepts in your mind. This structure allows you to graphically map a complex hierarchy of associated words, feelings and ideas. Mind mapping is a creative way to set goals, solve problems and design action plans. It quickly records ideas in a free-form way. When groups use mind mapping, the thoughts of each participant easily trigger ideas in others. This dynamic group interaction encourages breaking free of old patterns to uncover new and innovative approaches. EXERCISES


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Getting started: Create a mind map to chart your life. Write your name in the middle of the

page and circle it. Then create and label spokes for main life themes (e.g., family, work, friends, money, hobbies, goals and aspirations, etc.). From each spoke, add other radiating lines and on the lines write the thoughts that come to mind about that theme. Map what has been, what is and what will be. Be creative. Assume that resources are not a problem – you can have or do anything to make your path unfold as you dream it. Pay attention to your process. What is going through your mind? What is coming from your heart? Do this periodically and compare your mind maps to see how your beliefs, desires and priorities are shifting.

Go deeper: Pick a fear or shadow part of your self for which you want more

understanding. Allow your mind to create the main spokes for sub topics and then add details as they come to you. You might want to let one spoke hold ideas around the cause of the fear. Another spoke might explore ways to heal the pain and bring more love to your life.

Reach higher: Start a mind map with the word God or Soul in the centre. Allow your mind to

create the main spokes for sub topics and then add details as they come to you. Tool #22: Lateral Thinking

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.” – Edward De Bono

Edward de Bono popularised lateral thinking. Lateral thinking uses systematic techniques to seed and stimulate creativity. The steps for lateral thinking are: 1. Pose your question or define the situation you wish to address. 2. Use a SEED or different perspective or what he calls a ‘PO’ for Provocative

Operations. Examples are POssibilities, opPOsites or supPOsitions. 3. Be willing to move, to explore new ways (without judging) of how the SEED

triggers thoughts about the question or situation. Let the movement occur naturally and have fun with it.

EXERCISES


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Identify a problem you want to resolve. Now play with using the following lateral thinking techniques and approaches to seed your thoughts and stimulate new solutions to your problem: Getting started: Pick words at random out of a dictionary to trigger new ideas. Set up new parameters. Enhance or restrict concepts, challenge assumptions, break

rules, e.g., a railway company raising its vision from only railways to transportation.

Go deeper: Reversals - Collect ideas and then reverse them, e.g., How could I really ruin a

relationship? Reach higher: Future perfect – What would a perfect scenario relative to your question or

situation look like? (eg. Immediate results, no pain, lots of fun, no effort) If God were your personal advisor or on the Board of Directors for your company,

what would God say?

“When patterns are broken, new worlds can emerge.” – Tuli Kupferberg

Tool #23: Allow Alliteration Humour and rhythm and music stimulate the creative process.

“Play… is the mechanism that allows us to continue to explore as adults.” – Paola Novaresio

Any time I have a need for creative work or marketing design, I allow alliteration to generate a wealth of ideas. Alliteration creates a flow and rhythm that more easily activates a part of my mind and subconscious. Because it’s musical and fun, it really engages the creative right brain. Pose a question or situation and go through the alphabet creating alliteration words that relate to your need. Here is a small sampling of words for journaling benefits. When my process was complete, I reviewed the many new descriptive words to pick the best concepts.

Awaken awareness Align action Bust (bridge) blocks Balance the brain



Bring about beauty Clarify chaos Create consciousness Control change Develop discrimination Daily direction Experience expansion Empower expression Explore essence Endless evolving And so on…

EXERCISES Getting started: Create alliterative word phrases for ways you could increase your income.

Go deeper: Create alliterative word phrases that describe who you are.

Reach higher: Create alliterative word phrases to describe what most nurtures you.

“Embrace fully your capacity to create, to think in unlimited ways, and to pursue everything that you have been wanting. Be flexible, open and willing to let the new come to you. …This can be the most joyous, prosperous, and creative time of your life.” – Sanaya Roman and Duane Packer

Tool #24: Rhyme Time Rhyming, like alliteration, stimulates flow, creativity, rhythm and fun using the creative right brain.

“Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.” – Diane Ackerman

Identify key words that relate to your subject and then identify rhyming words to go with them. If you need help, a few web sites offer lists of one and 2 syllable rhyming words. Visit http://www.rhymezone.com/ and http://www.rhymer.com. They also have antonyms, alliteration and more. Here is a small sampling of Rhyme Time words for journaling benefits.


http://www.rhymezone.com/

http://www.rhymer.com/


Think it and ink it Feed needs Feeling and healing Dare to be aware Inspiration information

EXERCISES Getting started: Create rhyming word phrases for what you like and don’t like about your work

or main pastime. Go deeper: Create rhyming word phrases that describe your pet peeves. Create rhyming word phrases that describe your skills and characteristics you

like about yourself. Reach higher: Create rhyming word phrases that demonstrate how you can and do give back

to life.

“You can increase your brain power three- to fivefold simply by laughing and having fun before working on a problem.” – Doug Hall

Tool #25: Alpha Poems

“People rarely succeed unless they have fun in what they are doing.” – Dale Carnegie

Challenge your mind to answer a question or find a solution with words that begin with every letter of the alphabet – in order, of course! This kind of activity really makes a game of problem solving. And because it gets us out of our habitual thinking mode, it can be powerful in generating new perspectives. The bottom line for creativity is to seed it. It’s hard to be creative without a starting point. Alpha poems quickly give you 26 starting points – each letter of the alphabet. Because it’s so clearly a game, it helps us to lighten up, let go and be more spontaneous. Put the letters A to Z vertically down a page. Pick a topic to write about or a question to answer. Now start writing a sentence or multiple sentences. The first word will begin with ‘A’ and the next with ‘B’ and the next with ‘C’ and so on. If necessary, you can cheat a little by writing in a few extra words on the same line, as long as the first one starts with the right letter. Here’s an example about journaling:



Asking Big questions Creates Dynamic Excitement For Greater and Higher Intuition. Joining Key thoughts Lets the Mind Note Outstanding Possibilities and Questions. Reviewing Spiritual Truths Unleashes Very Wild Xpectations and Youthful Zest.

EXERCISES Getting started: Write an Alpha Poem about your time wasters. Write an Alpha Poem about your ideal vacation.

Go deeper: Write an Alpha Poem about an attachment or addiction. Write an Alpha Poem about self-esteem.

Reach higher: Write an Alpha Poem about what brings you joy. Write an Alpha Poem about your purpose in life.

“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.” – Mary Lou Cook

Tool #26: Stream of Awareness All thoughts and feelings come to us for a reason. They each have a purpose and a meaning.

“We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.” – Robert Cecil Day-Lewis

Do you know how you think, create, intuit or learn? Explore your mind with the Stream of Awareness tool. This is the only tool many people use when they journal. Julia Cameron in ‘Artist’s Way’ highly recommends using it daily. She calls it ‘Morning Pages.’ There are two approaches to Stream of Awareness. The first approach has no agenda at all. You simply write whatever comes to mind. It’s doing a mind dump. “I hear…, I feel…, I see…., Is the stove on? This is a stupid exercise. I hope I am doing it right. What if I do not have a thought? My desk sure is messy. Wonder how work will go today? I hear a noise….” Capture every thought, sensation and feeling on paper. Repetition is okay. Aim to keep your pen constantly moving for at least 10 minutes. The second approach is to create some intention to focus your awareness and then to write whatever comes to mind.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Getting predominant thinking and worries out of our heads and onto paper releases trapped energy from our heads, hearts and hands. It eases the repetitive worry routines in our minds. Once we have released the surface chatter, we then get to see deeper layers of our thinking. The subconscious mind regularly sends up thoughts, ideas, emotions, symbols and messages, but they get lost in our habitual self-talk. Now you have a tool to grasp these deeper messages and possibly make sense of them. EXERCISES Getting started: Take 10 minutes and write everything that comes to your mind. This will

require speedwriting – you may want to create your own form of shorthand but aim to get all your thoughts down. Once you complete a good 10-minute dump of your mind, review it. What do you notice about your thoughts and sensations and self-talk? Are there any common themes? If so, what are they? Any insights? Any surprises? Which of your five senses do you use the most? This may bring up more topics for journaling. Write these new topics in your Hot List for future attention.

Create an intention to focus your awareness on your physical body. Do a stream of awareness for a short time by focusing on one or more of the following areas: body sensations, pains, discomforts, gravity, breathing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching or seeing.

Go deeper: Create an intention to focus your awareness on your emotions. Do a stream of

awareness for a short time by focusing on one of the following areas: desires, impatience, grief, defenses, addictions, anger, pet peeves, fears, depression, sadness, or feelings or emotions in general. Review your writing. Are you open to experiencing your emotions or are you blocking or denying them?

Create an intention to focus your awareness on your mind. Do a stream of awareness for a short time by focusing on one of the following areas: guilt, resentment, judgment, self-centeredness, ineffective habits, worthiness, self-talk, etc. Review your notes to assess your predominant mental attitude. Is it primarily negative, with criticism, gossip, deception, illusion, excuses, manipulation, argument, blame, rationalization, etc.? Is it more positive, uplifting, optimistic, inspirational, loving, honest, inclusive, supportive, etc.?

Reach higher: Create an intention to focus your awareness on your etheric energy. Do a

stream of awareness for a short time by focusing on one of the following areas: overall vitality, psychic feelings, other people’s emotions, telepathy, pre-physical sensations or pains, your aura, etc. If this is a new frontier for you, don’t be concerned if you feel you are making up any impressions you detect. Persevere with your explorations.


“Our ideas are like our children – they must crawl before they can walk, and walk before they can run. Be gentle and forgiving in nurturing your


ideas into reality. Our ideas are our teachers, too, and we grow with them as they lift us to new plateaus of achievement.” – Earl Nightengale

Tool #27: Dyad Speaking can be just as powerful as writing as a tool for expression and awareness.

“There is no index of character as sure as the voice.” – Benjamin Disraeli

With a dyad, you speak and let someone else take notes. Some people get more clarity and ideas by speaking than by writing. Select a caring person you trust. Sit across from that person so your knees are almost touching. Have your companion ask you the same pair of questions over and over again, and have them write down your answers. Spend at least 5 minutes repeatedly answering each pair of questions. EXERCISES Getting started: What is a major theme in your life? What do you enjoy or dislike about it?

Go deeper: How do you blame yourself? Why do you do that?

Reach higher: What may be your life purpose? Why do you think so?

“There are tones of voice that mean more than words.” – Robert Frost

Tool #28: Intuitive Resonating Your intuition and higher senses are always communicating to you. The key is to heighten your awareness and listen.

“Wisdom means listening to the still, small voice, the whisper that can be easily lost in the whirlwind of busyness, expectations, and conventions of the world....” – Jean M. Blomquist

Too often, we get stuck in habitual thinking patterns and can’t think of new ideas or solutions. Too often there’s so much noise in our heads, bodies and environment that we do not hear or feel the subtle messages that aim to guide us one way or another. We may need to learn to tune into our intuition.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment At our web site Higher Awareness http://www.higherawareness.com, we offer a comprehensive collection of 75 Intuitive Resource Lists on particular themes. They help us tap our intuition and spark our creativity. Using the Intuitive Resource Lists, we can be more aware of how solutions, ideas and triggers call out to us. To use an Intuitive Resource List, quickly scan a list of items and see which ones ‘resonate’ with you. Be aware of any subtle sensations, feelings and thoughts that arise as you review each item in the list. This is an intuitive process of sensing what affects you. Over time, you may begin to notice the difference between positive and negative and status quo feelings as you scan the items. Especially notice feelings that come up that surprise you. Your subconscious may be bringing a new insight to your attention. Once you have quickly scanned the list and marked items that resonate with you, then logically pick out the top 7 items and prioritise them. The key then is to reflect on the ideas and take action! For an extensive source of intuitive resource lists, visit the Higher Awareness web site at http://www.higherawareness.com/ and look under Resource Lists. EXERCISES Getting started: Scan the Intuitive Resource List on life themes in Appendix 7. Use the above

process to note what resonates, then prioritise your top 7 themes. In your journal, write about one of them.

Go deeper: Scan the Intuitive Resource List on defences in Appendix 8. Use the above

process to note what resonates then prioritise your top 7. In your journal, write about one of them.

Reach higher: Scan the Intuitive Resource List on values and virtues in Appendix 9. Use the

above process to note what resonates then prioritise your top 7. In your journal, write about one of them.

“My teacher said to me, ‘The treasure house within you contains everything, and you are free to use it. You don't need to seek outside.” – Zen Master Dazhu




Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Tool #29: Metaphors Life is all about relationships. As we relate to one person or thing, we relate in similar ways to others.

“When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself.” – Wayne Dyer

Our thinking tends to get stuck in familiar patterns. When a topic comes up, we usually go through the same thinking process. That’s why it is so hard to identify the deeply ingrained beliefs in our subconscious mind. Like lateral thinking, metaphors help us find new perspectives and solutions. How? Metaphors can take us to safe territory where we feel free to express ourselves without risk. For example, when you want to explore an issue of importance to you, if you approach it directly, the same old reactive stuff will come up. Instead, use an indirect or metaphoric route. Pick the metaphor intuitively. If you are working on a relationship with a person, write about your relationship with your car or about the interaction between sunlight and a breeze. If conflict is an issue, you might write about insects in battle. Make up the scenario – use your imagination – and write in detail about all its aspects. When the interaction is complete, review what you have written to find meaning for your own situation. As we write metaphorically about anger, love or relationship, we are writing from our own inner and deeper thoughts about these topics. It doesn’t matter who is playing them out. But by working through an emotion with a new character or metaphor, we tend to be more open in the words we use. The distance and safety of the metaphor helps us let go, become more creative, and trust the thoughts that come up. Our own reactions, attachments and addictions take a back seat. As a result we can fathom more of the beliefs and illusions of our subconscious mind. EXERCISES Getting started: Use a car as a metaphor to get new perspectives on your body. They are both

vehicles. First, just focus on your car. Write about its power, condition, efficiency, colour, functionality, options, reliability, age, vitality, etc. Then relate each of the descriptive terms to your physical body. What insights or conclusions can you draw?

Go deeper: Pick a topic or situation about which you want more resolution or healing.

Then intuitively pick the metaphor. Trust that the first thing that comes to your mind will be the best metaphor to work with. It can be anything. Write for 5 to10 minutes about your metaphor and then do your summary.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Reach higher: Intuitively pick an animal (not a pet) or plant. Now write a page about the life

of that animal or plant. When you’re finished, read it over and make notes on the similarities and insights about your life and purpose.

Tool #30: Modelling We play the big games in life the same way we play the small games.

“The man who removes a mountain begins by carrying away small stones.” – William Faulkner

It’s hard to change, even at the best of times. This is particularly true if we don’t know how we change. Whether you’re tackling a small project or a major life challenge, your experiences in working through change will be comparable. So why not master the process of change, awareness, discipline and willpower in a non-threatening area of your life? Before you tackle a big personal challenge, like a relationship, conflict, addiction or a bad habit, practice making changes with a small, easy project. Intuitively pick a small project that will give you a gentle trial run for a larger challenge you may be considering. For example, if you want to create a new habit or learn something new, then first learn how to juggle or play an easy instrument or learn some new dance steps. If you want to create more discipline, find a simple daily task to work on every day. The project need only require 5 to 10 minutes daily. The key is to be aware of and write down what you think and feel as you prepare for and work at your small project daily. Note your defenses, reactions, thoughts, feelings and roadblocks. EXERCISES Getting started: Create a model for a new habit or discipline. Pick a daily action project that

will require little time but some discipline (e.g., exercise, clean, stretch, organize, learn, read, think, be creative, meditate, or pick some minor ongoing task you’ve been procrastinating). Your challenge is to do your small ‘model’ project daily for 1 to 3 months. Journal daily on your progress and experiences.

Go deeper: Before you address a major situation with a parent, partner or boss, work on

resolving a minor irritation in a less intimidating or critical relationship. Identify the process you might use for the main relationship and practice it first



on the minor relationship. In your journal, track your feelings, reactions, defenses, strategy, etc.

Reach higher: Want to move out of a comfort zone and into the unknown? We need to shift

our psyche by doing something we’ve never done before. Start with a small project that has some limits and go beyond those limits. You might try breaking the joggers’ wall, going to a movie alone, focused breathing deeper and longer than ever before, etc. Journal on your actions, thoughts and experiences of breaking through your comfort zone.

“Life begins at the end of your comfort zone.” – Neale Donald Walsch

Tool #31: 5 Why’s Guys Underlying all actions, reactions, thoughts and emotions, a cause or an essence wants to come through.

“Men are more accountable for their motives than for anything else….” – Archibald Alexander

WHY questions delve deeply into our main motives – why we do what we do. This process helps us go deeper into our reasoning, habits and unconscious beliefs. This tool invites you to ask and answer a series of 5 WHY questions. For each answer that comes up, ask “Why?” to that answer. Do this process at least 5 times till you reach a deeper level of truth or essence. EXERCISES Getting started: Pick an activity you performed over the last 2 days. Ask yourself, “Why did I

do this activity?” Once you’ve answered, ask “Why?” to the answer you just gave. Continue to ask “Why?” to your answers until you’ve gained a deeper understanding of your motives for doing things.

Go deeper: What excuse do you use most often? Write it down in your journal. Ask

yourself the 5 Why’s around that excuse. What insights arise that help you understand why you make excuses to prevent yourself from moving forward? Just being aware of our defences helps us work through them.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Reach higher: Ask yourself, “What is (or might be) my life purpose?” When you get an

answer, ask, “Why do I want to…. (enter the answer you just gave).” Ask WHY at least 5 times, until you run out of answers.

Tool #32: Duality Tension Too often we go out of our way to kill or stifle the tension in our lives. Yet tension is necessary for change and it sparks our mental, creative process.

“Life is the coexistence of all opposite values. Joy and sorrow, pleasure and pain, up and down, hot and cold, here and there, light and darkness, birth and death. All experience is by contrast, and one would be meaningless without the other.” – Deepak Chopra

"Unity cannot be expressed until separatism and duality are known." – Andrew Schneider

Our rational left brain has a challenge with dichotomies, paradoxes, oxymorons, contradictions, absurdities, etc. because there is no logic to them. Dualities and opposites are based on mental concepts of separation and so challenge our higher knowing of wholeness. The right brain is capable of stepping back to process dualities from a more inclusive perspective. So allow your mind to play with dualities more deeply. Allow the right brain to engage and search for the higher truth or meaning of the statement or word pairs. EXERCISES Getting started: Observe and then write down how your mind works as you read these

oxymorons: alone together, living dead, sanitary landfill, genuine imitation, definite maybe, exact estimate.

Go deeper: Here are some paradoxes to think about and then write a short paragraph about

what comes to your mind. Observe your thinking process. o “Nature, to be commanded, must be obeyed." – Francis Bacon o We have fancier houses but broken homes. o Only when I accept myself as I am can I change.

Reach higher: Relax and focus on these words (from a Taoist Meditation) and allow your

mind to go. Then write about your thoughts.



“Close your eyes and you will see clearly, cease to listen and you will hear the truth, be silent and your heart will sing.”

“Living with contradiction, holding together polarities, making room for divergence leads to vitality and enables us to see opposites not as dead ends but as a series of open doors. When we come to know ourselves as gifted and conflicted, we become more tolerant of the differences we encounter in others and can relinquish the illusion that we are the center of a harmonious universe.” – Elizabeth J. Canham

Tool #33: Artwork Pictures are worth a thousand words.

“What is art but a way of seeing?” – Thomas Berger We don’t have to journal with words alone. Explore using colours, drawings and pictures. Art forms and colour activate the right brain and inner imagery. Pose a question and allow your imagination to bring up images. Then play with bringing those images into form using coloured crayons, pencils or paints. Be kind to yourself and release any need for perfection. Can you get a sense of a flow of images and feelings? Take your awareness to a new level as you play with colour, shape and form. If preparing your own artwork is too intimidating, explore making collages using pictures from magazines and whatever other materials catch your imagination. When you are complete, review your artwork and what it means to you, then use words to express your insights in your journal. EXERCISES Getting started: Use artwork to help you choose between two different alternatives. Reflect on

option 1. Think about it in detail. Assume it is your choice. Then draw whatever picture comes to mind. Follow the same process for option 2. When you have completed both pieces, review them and write a summary. Your preference is often obvious. If it’s not, do a third drawing for your ideal solution and then notice any similarities between your ideal and the other two alternatives.

Go deeper: Draw yourself and another person with whom you have a close relationship.

Then journal about the differences and similarities.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Reach higher: Draw a soul map. Draw an island with paths, roadways, mountains, waterways,

etc. Have part of the map represent your past and the other part your future. Plot a journey across your island. Name the routes and surrounding areas appropriately for your life. Step back and look at your soul map and write a brief summary about your insights.

5.5 Tools for developing the imagination and consciousness Imagination is a tool of the soul. It’s the doorway to new feelings, ideas, ideals and the qualitative aspect of reality. It’s how we relate to everything. It’s one of the ways soul creates. It’s how new thoughts arise within us. Imagination also comes from the subconscious and our senses. It’s not factual or objective or literal; it’s always subjective and symbolic. In addition to ideas and thoughts, it has a feeling component. Our imagination gives us the opportunity to mentally ‘try on’ new qualities and perspectives in our life. To change – to shift perspectives and paradigms, to sense the unknown, to break out of comfort zones, to relate to others differently, to manifest, to go deeper and to reach higher – we must re-image what we now know. Only through our imagination can we become multidimensional, experience more love, create more beauty, manifest more results, change our conditions, rewrite the past, and connect with others, divinity and purpose. Imagination also opens doors to the subtle levels of psychism, extra-sensory perception, mass consciousness, telepathy, clairvoyance, clairsentience, clairaudience and many of the other invisible realms. It allows us to tap into our ever-changing cycles, our evolutionary process and higher guidance. To improve imagination, develop and broaden your mind. Make it more impersonal, universal, abstract and qualitative. Learn more about other cultures, philosophies, religions, ways of thinking, psychology, etc. Esoteric studies of subjects like symbols, tarot, astrology, numerology, divination, the I Ching and archetypes help us connect to higher and deeper realms. As you learn, write summaries to integrate new information more effectively. Practice new things you learn so they become part of you. As we evolve and grow in consciousness, we willingly take on more responsibility as we grasp more meaning in life. We make more sense of situations as we increasingly look past the effects to understand the root cause. Our perspectives increase towards wholeness. We more deeply appreciate the beauty available through our 5 senses. We become more aware of our reasoning, knowledge and logic. We increase our


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment sensitivity to body awareness; emotions, feelings and desires, and mental realms of creativity, synthesis, understanding, etc. And we become more sensitive to the formless spiritual realm of inspiration, intuition, ESP and telepathy. As you use the tools below, write from a higher perspective. Keep these words in mind: motives, beauty, devotion, qualities, meaning, bigger picture, accountability, responsibility, purpose, love, inspiration, cause, soul, intuition, service, harmlessness, etc. The following journaling tools will help you build your imagination and consciousness. Tool #34: Gratitude Journal

"If you don't feel grateful for what you have, what makes you think you'll be happy with more?" – Unknown

Although a Gratitude Journal may not be much more that a list or a review, its power can shift consciousness. In a manifesting process, the final step is always giving gratitude. Gratitude is an affirmation of ownership, responsibility, and appreciation. It is an affirmation of our connectedness to and participation in the life force that is unfolding through us. As you express gratitude for even the smallest items, feel your connectedness and appreciation. Feel the source of this gratefulness. Be open to the miracles in your life. EXERCISES Getting started: Make a list daily of at least 5 things you have in your life that you appreciate. What do you do that you appreciate?

Go deeper: Who in your life do you appreciate and why? What do you appreciate about yourself?

Reach higher: What opportunities are you thankful for? In a quiet moment, focus your attention on a simple object beside you. Notice

everything about this object with appreciation and without analysis. Just really be with this object, allowing it to present itself to you. Open to the miracle of all that exists in our lives.

“We live in a wonderful world that is full of beauty, charm and adventure. There is no end to the adventures that we can have if only we seek them with our eyes open.” – Jawaharlal Nehru



"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we have into enough, and more. It turns denial into acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a stranger into a friend. Gratitude makes sense of our past, brings peace for today, and creates a vision for tomorrow." – Melody Beattie

Tool #35: Dialogue Every voice deserves to be heard.

“Someone to tell it to is one of the fundamental needs of human beings.” – Miles Franklin

Dialogue is one of the most popular and powerful journaling tools. With this tool, you carry on a written conversation, making up the parts for both speakers. Your dialogue partner(s) can be any of the following: a person (living or dead), family member, problem, sickness, body part, thing (e.g., a car), event or incident (e.g., birth or wedding), Soul or God, career, money, options, emotions, pets, values and virtues – anything and anyone. For deeper results, before you start using this tool, do a short entrance meditation. Relax. See yourself walking along a beautiful path in nature. Take your time and relax in your surroundings. Then see your dialogue partner come over the hill. Trust that it is the right partner. It may not be who or what you expect. As you get closer, greet the dialogue partner and ask a question. When you are ready, write out the conversation. First write down “ME” and write your question. Then write down the name of the partner you are talking with and note his/her/its response. Then ask another question. You make up the response. You do both parts of the dialogue. Your dialogue partner can also ask you questions. If you are stuck, really use your imagination. Make it up! Write for 10 to 30 minutes. Write as quickly as you can – this will help you shift from your left to right brain. Let the conversation flow. As you get into the dialogue, ask questions like: “What is the meaning of this situation?” “Is there anything else?” “Is this the truth?” “Is there more you can tell me so I have full understanding?” When you have completed, read over the dialogue and write a short summary. EXERCISES Getting started: Create two dialogues to help you make a decision. Bring to mind a significant

choice you have to make. Identify your 2 main options. Talk with Option 1 first. Write down “ME” and a question. Then write down “OPTION 1” and answer your question as though you were Option 1 talking back. Write down



whatever comes up around OPTION 1. Immerse yourself in this option fully. Keep writing the questions and answers for at least 5 minutes.

When you have completed your dialogue with Option 1, clear your mind and immerse yourself in Option 2. Go through the same process as above. When this is done, read over the two dialogues and write a short summary. Your choice should be obvious.

Go deeper: Write a dialogue with the person in your most challenging relationship. You

assume the roles of both the other person and yourself. Reach higher: Write a dialogue with your conscience, guides, soul, intuition or the divine.

Ask questions and then connect with the highest aspect of yourself to answer them. Don’t try too hard – allow the words and images to come to you. When you’ve completed the dialogue, write a short summary of the conversation.

“Each person's life is lived as a series of conversations.” – Deborah Tannen

Tool #36: Life Question Pose a consistent question for a long period of time and your mind will continue to seek better answers.

“It is only by questioning what people take for granted, what people hold to be true, that we can break through the hypnosis of social conditioning.” – Deepak Chopra

What question can you ask yourself regularly that will inspire, empower and energize you? That will bring you more meaning and understanding of life? This question will have more than one answer. It may take years to answer it fully. Or it may be a question that will never be fully answered. This question will connect with your essence and purpose in life and support you in expressing your unique gifts. Create your Life Question, ask it often and record your answers. EXERCISES Unclear about your Life Question? Below are some examples for consideration. Intuitively pick the one that most resonates with you or use these as guides to create your own. Then ask yourself that question regularly and write the answers that come to mind. Meditate on your Life Question. Journal on your Life Question. Before you know it, your life will have moved into new dimensions.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Getting started: How do I:

o master effective communication? o become strong and independent? o become a model parent? o create and leave a legacy? o earn a livelihood from my passion? o achieve more balance?

Go deeper: How do I:

o achieve total acceptance of myself? o become 100% accountable and no longer a victim? o break free of my addictions? o conquer my fear of …? o find my ideal partner? o learn to love myself?

Reach higher: How do I:

o find harmony and peace in conflict and chaos? o be creative in all things that I do? o carry out the divine will? o develop intuition? o heal others? o love unconditionally?

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. … Do not now seek the answers, which cannot be given you because you would not be able to live them and the point is to live everything. Live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

"We are Divine enough to ask and we are important enough to receive." – Wayne Dyer

Tool #37: Prose and Poetry Prose and poetry, along with art, dance and music, connect us with imagination, inspiration, ideals, soul.

“Poetry is life distilled.” – Gwendolyn Brooks


Don’t worry about rules. Just relax, be open and use your imagination to paint your feelings, pictures and ideas in words of either poetry or prose. Only you need see what

Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment you write. Banish your harsh critic to give you freedom to explore these forms. Dare to move out of your comfort zone. Reach for the higher wisdom that lies at the frontier of your present awareness. Open the doorway to your soul. Allow inspiration to flow. Write whatever comes into your mind. EXERCISES Getting started: Pick a topic that inspires you. Do a free-form poem. It does not have to rhyme

or have balance. Just let it express your feelings. Or write a short fictional story that addresses your topic.

Go deeper: Write a love poem to yourself or to someone you love.

Reach higher: Meditate or relax for a few minutes and clear your mind. Imagine you are

walking up a mountain trail and admiring the beauty and the view. You meet a wise person who shares his/her wisdom with you. Allow the wise words to write themselves into a poem or story.

“By words the mind is winged.” – Aristophanes

Tool #38: Dream Journal Our dream world allows us to peek into the subconscious mind – the mind that controls 95% of what we do, think and say.

“Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which, if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare.” – Francis Herbert Hedge

Dreams are often direct messages from our subconscious. They can connect us with deep-seated issues and old personal and collective programming. Dreams may also bring messages from our higher guidance and intuition. Higher guidance also comes through the subconscious. As a result, these messages are often filtered and coloured by our subconscious programming. Dreams from both the subconscious and our higher consciousness give us key opportunities for growth. Dreams present us with two unique challenges. The first is to remember them! We all know how quickly dreams can evaporate. That’s why it’s important to keep a bedside dream journal so you can capture your dreams on paper as quickly as possible. You may want to attach a small book light to your journal.


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment The second and greater challenge is that the language of the subconscious is indirect, symbolic, vague and metaphoric. This is right brain territory that easily baffles analysis by the rational left brain. If you are interested in doing dream work, create a strong intention before you go to bed that you are going to wake up with full recall of your meaningful dreams or insights. When a dream is fresh in your mind, write it down. Capture as many details as you can – images, thoughts and feelings. It helps to remain in a quasi-dream state as you write. Give each session or dream a title that makes it easier to remember. Look at dreams from the point of view that every element of the dream represents some aspect of who you are. All aspects and characters are different faces of you. Review your dream journal often to see cycles and re-occurring symbols. EXERCISES Record your dreams for the next few weeks. Pick the more clear and powerful ones and apply the questions below. Getting started: What was the overall theme of the dream? How did the dream develop? Identify the beginning, middle and end. Identify the key characters, locations and objects in the dream and freely

associate other words or meanings for each of them. What do each of these people and things mean to you?

Go deeper: Overall, how did you feel in this dream? What were the conflicts or contradictions, if any?

Reach higher: What need does the dream address? What values or archetypal energies are conveyed in the dream? Were there any unnatural images, which often represent paradoxes or higher

truths? Create a dialogue with key components and/or the meaning of the dream.

“You are the product of your own brainstorm.” – Rosemary Konner Steinbaum


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Tool #39: Meditation Journal Meditation opens us to more connection, insights and harmony.

“All man's miseries derive from not being able to sit quietly in a room alone.” – Blaise Pascal

Both dreams and meditation connect us directly with our own deep-seated issues and truths, thereby providing us with the greatest opportunities for growth. Insights and experiences in meditation can quickly dissolve. In a meditation journal, make notes immediately after each meditation. Answer questions such as these: How deep did you go? What impressions came to you? How did you feel? What stopped you from going deeper or higher? Do reviews often to see movement in your meditation. EXERCISES Getting started: Find a quiet place to sit with your back erect. Close your eyes and bring to

mind a situation for which you would like insights, solutions or ideas. Visualize the situation and examine only the facts. Check in with your feelings, your judgments and perceptions. Then approach the situation from a more expanded, universal, inclusive, altruistic point of view. Relax and allow new perceptions and insights to surface. After meditatively exploring your scenario, write down your experience. Do this same exercise often throughout the week.

Go deeper: As you are meditating, connect with a relationship that needs healing.

Visualize a connection between both of your hearts. Imagine the heart connection drawing the two of you together so you can have a conversation. Write about your conversation.

Reach higher: Meditate daily over a few weeks on a high level quality like love, power,

beauty, harmony, or peace and track your insights. Meditate on your life purpose for a few weeks and allow clarity and insights to

come to you.

“Meditation helps me feel the shape, the texture of my inner life. Here, in the quiet, I can begin to taste what Buddhists would call my true nature, what Jews call the still, small voice, what Christians call the holy spirit.” – Wayne Muller


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Tool #40: Stream of Consciousness Once you have developed the skills and ability to go deeper and reach higher, you may be ready for the Stream of Consciousness tool. This journaling technique is also known as Inner Wisdom Writing or Free Writing or Soul Writing or Channeled Writing. This tool is similar to Stream of Awareness – but it works at levels beyond the 5 senses. To review, Stream of Awareness brings our attention to our busy mind, strong emotions, physical sensations and self-centred ego concerns. Stream of Consciousness, on the other hand, moves us beyond our individuality to connect with a higher level that is more abstract, impersonal and universal. Consciousness works more with relationships and values like goodness, beauty, love, will and truth. We are in the realm of consciousness when we are dealing with the soul, intuition, ideals, service and the higher imagination. Think more along the lines of meaning, essence, purpose and qualities. Stream of consciousness may involve dialogue, questions, visualization, symbols, inspiration and deeper feelings. The exercise may be more contemplative with less writing, as few words do the higher realms justice. The truth can be made in simple statements. EXERCISES Consider doing a short meditation before using this tool to shift your thinking to an altered state. Getting started: First close your eyes and focus on your breathing for about 5 minutes to fully

relax. Then create a clear intention or ask a question about the meaning, purpose, quality or essence of something. Take 10 minutes and write everything that comes to your mind. On completion, review it. What is the essence of your writing? What insights did you receive? Did you use new or different words than you would normally?

Go deeper: Bring to mind a time when you were awed by something beautiful. Immerse

yourself in your memory of the beauty and write about your feelings. Let the words flow as you become one with the beauty. How does love enter into the picture?

Reach higher: Pick a significant spiritual or miraculous event you have experienced in your

life. Relax and contemplate it and its meaning and purpose. Maintain your connection with that memory and write whatever comes to mind.



6.0 References

Journal to the Self by Kathleen Adams, Warner Books Inc., 1990 The Journal Tape by Kathleen Adams Mightier Than The Sword (The Journal as a Path to Men’s Self-Discovery) by

Kathleen Adams, Warner Books Inc., 1994 Life’s Companion - Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest by Christina Baldwin,

Bantam Books, 1991 Journaling for Joy – Writing Your Way to Personal Growth and Freedom by Joyce

Chapman, Newcastle Publishing Co., 1991 At a Journal Workshop by Ira Progoff, Ph D., G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 1975, 1992 Whole Brain Thinking by Jacquelyn Wonder and Priscilla Donovan



Appendices Appendix 1 – 100 Benefits of Journaling Appendix 2 – Dream Day, Week and Month Appendix 3 – The Daily Tracker Appendix 4 – Life History Log Appendix 5 – 7 P’s Personal Performance Process Appendix 6 – Emotions and Feelings Appendix 7 – Life Themes Appendix 8 – 50 Defenses Appendix 9 – Values, Virtues and Qualities



Appendix 1 - 100 Benefits of Journaling Resource lists are an intuitive tool to help us get feedback from the subconscious about what is important for us. Scan the list below quickly, noting which benefits catch your attention. From the items you checked off, pick the top seven and explore these aspects in your journaling. Stress reduction Reduces the scatter in your life Increases focus Brings stability Offers a deeper level of learning, order, action and release Holds thoughts still so they can be changed and integrated Processes your stuff in a natural and appropriate way Releases pent-up thoughts and emotions Empowers Disentangles thoughts and ideas Bridges inner thinking with outer events Detaches and lets go of the past Allows you to re-experience the past with today's adult mind

Healing Heals relationships Heals the past Dignifies all events Is honest, trusting, non-judgmental Strengthens your sense of yourself Balances and harmonizes Recalls and reconstructs past events Acts as your own counselor Integrates peaks and valleys in life Soothes troubled memories Sees yourself as a larger, important, whole and connected being Leverages therapy sessions for better and faster results Reveals and tracks patterns and cycles

Know yourself and your truth better Builds self confidence and self knowledge Records the past Brings out natural beauty and wisdom Helps you feel better about yourself Helps you identify your values Reads your own mind Aids in connecting causes to effects


Reveals the depths of who you are

Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Reveals outward expression of yet unformed inner impulses Creates mystery Clarifies thoughts, feelings and behavior Reveals your greater potential Shifts you to the observer, recorder, counselor level Reveals your processes - how you think, learn, create and use intuition Creates awareness of beliefs and options so you can change them Self-discovery Reveals different aspects of self Helps you see yourself as an individual Connects you to the bigger picture Is a close, intimate, accepting, trusting, caring, honest, non-judgmental, perfect

friend Accesses the unconscious, subconscious and super consciousness Finds the missing pieces and the unsaid Helps rid you of the masks you wear Helps solve the mysteries of life Finds more meaning in life

Personal growth Enables you to live life to the fullest Is fun, playful and sometimes humorous Expresses and creates Plants seeds Starts the sorting and grouping process Integrates life experiences and learnings Moves you towards wholeness and growth, to who you really are Creates more results in life Explores your spirituality Focuses and clarifies your desires and needs Enhances self expression Enhances career and community Allows freedom of expression Offers progressive inner momentum to static unrelated events Exercises your mental muscles Improves congruency and integrity Enhances breakthroughs Unfolds the writer in you Maximizes time and business efficiency Explores night dreams, day dreams and fantasies Measures and tracks what is important


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Easier problem solving Eases decision making Offers new perspectives Brings things together Shows relationships and wholeness instead of separation

It’s flexible and easy Can be applied to clarify any issue in your life Takes so little time to stop, pay attention and listen to yourself Meets your needs, style, processing methods Caters to left and right brained people Has no rules - messiness, typos, poor writing are all OK Is often self-starting and motivating and supplies its own energy

Enhances intuition and creativity Improves self trust Awakens the inner voice Directs intention and discernment Provides insights Improves sensitivity Interprets your symbols and dreams Increases memory of events

Captures your life story Teaches you how to write stories Soothes troubled memories Captures family and personal story Stimulates personal growth Improves family unity



Appendix 2 - Dream Day, Week and Month

Dream day Dream week Dream month1:00 a.m. Mon. 1 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 Tues. 5 6 6 7 7 8 8 9 Wed. 9 10 10 11 11 12 Noon 12 1:00 p.m. Thurs. 13 2 14 3 15 4 16 5 Fri. 17 6 18 7 19 8 20 9 Sat. 21 10 22 11 23 12 Midnight 24 Sun. 25 26 27 28 29 30

Dream Year on one page Date ____________ Jan. May Sep. Feb. June Oct. Mar. July Nov. April Aug. Dec.



Appendix 3 - The Daily Tracker Pick 3 or 4 areas you want to monitor, like feelings, personal energy levels, money earned, health, weight, relationships, accomplishments, intuitive hunches, synchronicities, motives, ideas, dreams, insights, events, sources of joy, etc. and enter them as column titles.

Date



Appendix 4 - Life History Log Date

Age

Home

Events

School, Job

Friends

Travel



Appendix 5 - 7 P’s Personal Performance Process Catch your blind spots, stay on track and improve your habits. Become more focused, clear, creative, purposeful, aware and balanced. There is magic in taking time to ask yourself the right questions that will bring the right answers for you. At least monthly, if not weekly, spend about an hour and answer all of these questions. Be honest with yourself. Once you have answered the questions, create a list of action steps for your next week or month. Do this process regularly and watch your life change. Patterns, processes, procrastination, habits: Where can I be more efficient in my life? What 5 things have I been procrastinating? What are my time wasters? What excuses keep me stuck? Problems, past, pain: Where am I vulnerable? Where do I hold myself back? What am I afraid of? Where do I not like myself? What stresses me? How are my strengths perceived as a weakness? What major block needs to be resolved? For what problems must I ask for solutions? Perceptions and perspectives of myself and others: What are the needs/desires of my boss or partner or family? What is God's agenda for me? What contacts or friends do I want to develop more? How can I enhance my inter-personal skills? What negative or limiting thoughts keep jumping into my mind? What key choices am I ready to make? Prosperity: How can I create another or larger income stream? How can I increase my overall abundance? In what areas do I want to receive more learning? How can I be more productive and effective? Principles and values: What 3 areas in my life do I want to recommit to? Where do I need to clarify my stand or position? What deeds or actions need my forgiveness or acceptance? What can I do to increase balance in my life?


What value is most important for me to express now?

Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment Purpose, potential, passion, power, possibilities, path: What are my deepest heart-felt desires, dreams and visions? Where are my life purpose and goals unclear? How can I experience a greater sense of meaning in life? What new ideas are teasing me these days? Where are some opportunities for me to give? Peace of mind, play, pleasure, pampering: When do I feel greatest happiness in my life? What can I do to have more fun in all areas of my life? How can I get more stillness, solitude and peace in my life? When you have completed the answers and the resulting action steps, ask yourself, “What am I missing? Is there anything else?” Use questions often. The subconscious mind is always answering. We must only practice asking and then listening.



Appendix 6 - Emotions and Feelings How well can you identify your emotions, your feelings? Go through this list and underline what best describes how you feel now or how you generally feel. If you like, you can then highlight the qualities to which you aspire. If you do not know the definition of a word, look it up so you will gain new awareness of the possibilities open to you.

excited condemned absorbed expressive confident abusive extroverted conflicted accepting fair confused accommodating faithful conservative accomplished fearful content adaptable frightened controlled adversarial frustrated controlling aggressive glad cooperative agreeable good courageous alert grateful cowardly altruistic greedy creative analytical grieving critical angry guilty cruel annoyed happy curious antagonistic harmonizing defeated anxious hatred deluded approved of helpful demanding arrogant helpless dependent ashamed hesitant depressed authentic hopeless desperate balanced idealistic destitute beautiful ignorant destructive belligerent impatient detached bereft important dignified bitter impoverished disconnected bored impulsive discouraged brave indifferent disgusted broken down individualistic dominated bullied inert dominating calm insecure eccentric chaotic insensitive ecstatic cheerful inspired egocentric cold in service egotistical commanding interested empathic compassionate intolerant empowered competitive introspective envious complaining


erratic invulnerable conceited



irresponsible irritated isolated jealous joyful judged judgmental lazy likable lively lonely lost loved loving mad manipulated manipulative mediating miserable mistrusting moody moral negative noble obsessed open panicked paranoid passionate passive peaceful perfectionist pitiful

pleased poor possessive powerful practical preoccupied procrastinating proud punished punishing purposeful rage reactionary reclusive rejected rejoicing repressed resentful resigned resistant responsible ridiculous righteous ruthless sad sadistic secretive selfish self-accepting self-condemning self-defeating self-destructive self-hatred

self-obsessed self-pity self-sabotaging sensitive serene shamed shut-down shy sorry stable stimulated stricken strung-out stubborn superior tantrums timid tolerant unconcerned understanding unforgiving unhappy unresponsive untrusting vain vengeance vicious victimized violent visionary well-meaning withdrawn wise


Appendix 7 - Life Themes Intuitive resource lists help us get feedback from the subconscious about what is important for us. Use these lists to stimulate your thinking and create new inner connections. Scan the list below quickly, noting which items catch your attention. From the items you checked off, pick the top 7 for further exploration through journaling, action, reflection or meditation.

movies failures accidents music family accomplishments my favourite… fashions and fads addictions nature fears adventure negative thinking feelings anger new projects flowers animals nightmares foods appearance opinions freedom art parents friends children parties the future bad times partners games beauty passions gardens best times passing time gifts beliefs the past grudges books peaks and valleys guilt business people habits careers/jobs perfection health cars personalities hobbies celebrations personal growth holidays changes pets houses collectibles photos humour colours places ideas competition plants illnesses computers poetry image creativity possessions injuries customs pride insights dance prizes and rewards integrity deaths purpose intellect depression relationships jobs differences religion learning disappointments resentment love dreams responsibility masks duty reunions mentors emotions schooling miracles envy secrets mischief ethics sex money events


morals shopping facts


values technology solitude wars time songs willpower toys spiritual growth wisdom turning points sports

travel successes truths

work synchronicities



Appendix 8 - 50 Defenses Defense strategies hide from us how we really feel. While they reduce our anxiety, they also distort our perception of reality. We lose touch with our own authenticity, and that blocks our pathway to soul consciousness. Intuitive resource lists help us get feedback from the subconscious about what is important for us. Use these lists to stimulate your thinking and create new inner connections. Scan the list below quickly, noting which items catch your attention. From the items you checked off, pick the top 7 for further exploration through journaling, action, reflection or meditation. accusing acting out – giving expression to forbidden desires without concern for negative consequences. aggression arguing analyzing – a belief that since we understand and can interpret defense strategies, we have cleared our repressed feelings and do not need to work through them. arguing assertion avoidance blaming challenging cockiness compensation – hiding a weakness in one area by excelling or being rewarded in another. compliance complaining compromise confusion control criticism deception defiance denial – refusing to acknowledge the thought or feeling devaluation discounting displacement – channelling thoughts or feelings to a neutral or weaker person or object.. dissociation distrust emotional insulation – withdrawing into inaction so one doesn’t get hurt. explaining


Go deeper ... Reach higher … Journaling for Self Empowerment externalisation – pinpointing outside forces as the cause of our behavior so we don’t have to accept personal responsibility for our actions. fantasizing – not paying attention or using daydreams to escape an uncomfortable situation. humour identification – identifying oneself with a prestigious individual or institution to build one’s sense of self-worth. intellectualization – coming up with highly intellectual reasons or convincing arguments to justify the situation and keep attention away from feelings. introjection – adopting external values and standards as one’s own to ensure those standards are not used against him/her. isolation – separating feelings and thoughts that are connected isolation of affect – ‘thinking’ feelings rather than actually experiencing them judging justifying laughing it off lying manipulation minimizing – writing off problematic events and behaviors as being too minor to worry about. passive aggression – indirect and unassertive expression of aggression towards another. projection – perceiving that another has our thoughts or feelings so we don't have to own them. rationalization – thinking up reasons to justify what’s happening while ignoring one’s feelings. reaction formation – unconsciously thinking, feeling and acting in ways that are opposite to how we really think and feel. regression – slipping back into old, often immature, ways of behaving to release the feelings. repression – burying thoughts and feelings in our unconscious so we no longer have memory of them. ridicule seeking approval self-deception shouting silence smiling sublimation – channeling socially unacceptable feelings into a socially productive activity. suppression – some awareness of a thought or feeling, but we try to hide it. threatening undoing – doing the opposite of how one feels to try to negate the feelings. violence withdrawing



Appendix 9 - Values, Qualities & Virtues Intuitive resource lists help us get feedback from the subconscious about what is important for us. Use these lists to stimulate your thinking and create new inner connections. Scan the list below quickly, noting which items catch your attention. From the items you checked off, pick the top 7 for further exploration through journaling, action, reflection or meditation.

openness flexibility abundance order forgiveness acceptance passion freedom achievement patience friendship adventure peace fun aesthetics perseverance generosity appreciation positive outlook gentleness authenticity power good will balance prosperity grace beauty purity gratitude bliss purpose growth caring recognition harmlessness cheerfulness respect harmony clarity responsibility healing commitment reverence health communication righteousness honesty compassion sacrifice hope co-operation self confidence humanitarianism confidence serenity humility connection service humour contentment sharing idealism courage silence inclusiveness courtesy spirituality insight creativity spontaneity integrity daring strength intelligence dedication support intimacy detachment surrender introspection determination tolerance intuition devotion trust joy diligence trustworthiness justice discipline truth kindness discernment understanding knowledge discrimination union leadership empathy unity love empowerment wisdom loyalty energy wonder maturity enthusiasm

mercy excellence


moderation faith

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