By Kim Ades
RISMEDIA, January 19, 2009-Recently, as I walked to my car after a full and productive day at work, I noticed a small piece of paper sticking out of the crack of my door. It was the size of a business card and there was a note on it. Here’s what it said, “Just felt like leaving you a note…and oh yeah-I love you!” It was a note from Allan, my significant other. He stopped by my office with coffee and left a note for me on the way out. He made my day and yet it really didn’t take much.
As I reflected on this gesture, it occurred to me how poignant his message was. I felt appreciated, loved and cared for with 13 short words. The written word has power. If others can impact us with their words to that degree, then consider the immeasurable impact of our written word on ourselves.
What do I mean by that? I mean that with our words we can help ourselves to feel appreciated, loved and cared for on an ongoing basis. If the way we feel is responsible for the results we get in our lives, what we think about and tell ourselves can make all the difference between stratospheric success and miserable failure.
Journaling is an extraordinarily powerful way to help people achieve their goals. Here’s why:
1. Journaling allows us to unload the tension and stress that builds up when things don’t go according to plan. Journaling enables us to express negative thoughts and release the mental toxins from our system, creating space for positive things to come our way. Just like the feeling that follows after we’ve cleaned our house or our car-ridding our mind of the garbage provides the same sense of peace and calm.
2. What’s the difference between journaling and jogging or yoga as a method for stress relief? Journaling has greater permanence. When it’s in writing, it doesn’t just disappear the moment we are done; it stays and can serve us repeatedly. Journaling is also a tracking mechanism to show how far we’ve traveled over time and to remind us what we have achieved.
3. Journaling acts as a mirror for our psyche. Reading back what we have written provides us with a palate of thoughts we can choose from. If we read something that we don’t like, we can decide to orient our thoughts in a different direction. By the same token, if we read something that we like and it makes us feel good, we can decide to spend more time focusing on it. Journaling helps to reveal the thoughts that are brewing in our minds and gives us access to the kinds of ideas and thoughts we are cultivating subconsciously. When we become aware of the thoughts we are focused on, we can begin to make decisions about the thoughts that will help us to move toward our goal and those thoughts that will keep us stagnant. We can then actively pick thoughts that are helpful and replace those that are harmful.
4. Journaling provides a blank canvas for identifying, creating and designing our dreams. Often, when we are asked what we really want, we hesitate with an answer because we aren’t so sure. Journaling allows us to create a very clear vision of the things we really want-both tangible and intangible. Writing it down exactly how we want it to be engages us in the process of envisioning possibilities that we want to have materialize in our lives. The more detail, texture, color and depth we apply to our visions, the greater the likelihood of attracting it our way. What we focus on grows, and journaling is the tool that encourages us to focus on what we want.
5. Journaling helps us build the muscle to be happy with our present circumstances, to cherish our moments and to take notice of all the abundance that is part of our lives on a daily basis. The shortest distance between where we are now and where we want to be is to truly appreciate where we are now and allow the rest to flow our way.
Through the written word, each of us has the ability to create a new reality-one that has us thriving in a successful career, enjoying the warmth and love of intimate personal relationships, and doing the things that get our hearts racing and our bodies smiling.
The written word has the strength to change how we feel and there is nothing more important than that. It’s quite simple. When we feel good, good things come our way. Journaling allows us to build the mind muscle that keeps us focused on appreciating what is and imagining what could be.
Kim Ades, MBA, is president of Frame of Mind Coaching and one of North America’s foremost experts on performance through thought management. By using her unique process of coaching through journaling, she works with clients to unveil and switch their thought patterns to ignite significant change and life transformation. For more information, please visit www.frameofmindcoaching.com or e-mail kim@fom52.com
