The Lost Art of Journaling for Your 5 Essential Life Questions l S1E008

Linda Orsini: 00:00:08

Hello and welcome to a call for love. I believe the most powerful gift you can offer yourself is to give and receive love more freely. I'm your host, Linda Orsini meditation guidance spiritual coach. Everyone has the desire to be seen, heard, respected and loved. The journey to becoming more connected to your greater purpose lies within the ability to live from the deep source of love within you. Let's begin.

Linda Orsini: 00:00:39

Today, I'd like to talk to you about one of my favorite things, and it is the art of journaling. I kind of feel like journaling has become a lost art. But for me, it's alive and well. To prepare for this podcast, I actually looked in all my secret locations. And I don't know if it's something I should boast about or be very shy about. But I think I have close to 20 or more journals. And I have them all the way from when I could first begin to print, it is really mind boggling. When I put them all together. I feel like journaling is has been such a pivotal point in my life. It's been such a pivotal practice, for me to evolve, in my thinking in my thoughts. Now, I really believe we are not our thoughts. We are just the consciousness behind our thoughts. But we do need to process them. And this is why I feel that journaling has been so powerful for me. I've kept a journal for about everything. I kept a journal when I was young, I kept a journal when I started teaching, I kept a family journal, I even kept a journal of all the books I've read since 1993. And I find it so important for me to be able to look back to see my growth. Now sometimes reading the journal can be painful. So I don't know how much we want to dive into it. But I feel like it really helps you notice the evolvement of your thinking and of your soul. So to begin, I would like to share one of my favorite journals. And when my boys were little I started to journal before they could print I actually wrote in the journal and when they got old enough, then they begin to write in the journal. And I'd like to share with you this one item when my son and I went to the movie theater for the very first time. This is from 1997. Last night, you and I went to see your first movie 101 Dalmatians, it was two hours long, and you were so attentive the whole time. Every once in a while I would look over at you f just smile because you looked so cute. You were so light and little in that big movie chair, that the seat did not lie flat, it sprang up a little and your feet just reached the edge of the seat, you're so much fun to be with. I love you so much mummy. That was just one I was reading through my journals, and it just really warmed my heart. But then, of course, there's so many other journals that I have written in. If you were to look back at my life and ever find my journals, you might have thought I was a really depressed child. But I wasn't I had a really great life. But I had really big feelings that I felt I needed to work through. And the only time I really wanted to write in my journal was when I needed to move through these big emotions. So some of the journal entries are quite heavy. There's one that I wrote from 1982. And I said, I wish life was so simple. But if it was, I know I wouldn't be alive. Life is so hard. I guess the thing is that you got to learn when to hold on. And when to let go. It hurts so much. The thing that gets me the most is you're born into this world alone, and you die pretty much alone. I just have to be strong. But now I want to go to sleep. So that journal entry was when I was about 14 1415 years old. So it does sound a little depressing. But I do. I do find that my journals were a vehicle for me to really move through my thoughts and feelings because maybe as a teenager, I can't really remember now, but maybe that's the safest place for me to express myself. I remember one day when I was young. I'd gone into my brother's room and I saw his journal there. I think we're a family journalists actually. And I was going I went to open it up to read it. And I opened to the first page. And I can't remember exactly what it said. But it said, This is my personal journal. It is a reflection of all my thoughts and my inner self, please respect it, do not read, if you find this, close the cover and put it away. And guess what I did, I put it away. I know, it just felt so heartfelt, and felt so private. And I felt it was a real violation to read it. So I tucked it away. And that made such a huge impact on my life, because I realized that everyone needs a place and space to share their innermost thoughts. And for me, that's been journaling. Now I know in this day and age, we print on the computers all the time. But I still like the paper pencil feeling. And I think it makes a difference when you are holding the pencil or pen in your hand. And you're writing down on paper, I know that my mind goes 1000 miles a minute, actually is 70,000 thoughts a day. And my hand can't print that fast. So it's only natural or expected that I have to slow down my mind. In order to print. I feel this is one of the major benefits of journaling by hand, because it slows down your thoughts. And by the time I think it into writing it, my thoughts can transform they can transmute. So I invite you to maybe consider taking up the practice of journaling. If it's once a week, if it's twice a week, if it's at pivotal times in your life. It's something to consider it certainly is a lost art that I would like to see come back. Now I know when I go to these big bookstores, I do see journals, especially around January Am I wonder how many people are actually writing in their journals, I would really be interested to know, I have created a seven day journal to self love workbook. And I would like to go through a couple of questions. But before I do that, I would like to share with you some tools and tips of how you can start journaling. If you want to begin the art of journaling, just show up, start with one or two minutes a day. Just write down maybe what you're grateful for or what you think or feel and just start there. And then slowly, you can build your practice, if it resonates with you. The other thing is maybe set up a regular time to journal. I like to journal in the morning. And sometimes I like to journal at night. And then other times of the year I like to journal at night and not in the morning. It actually depends on the season to especially when it's the days are dark in the morning, it might influence when you want to write, but it's something to consider. Find a regular time that works for you. And because you may be working full time, maybe during the week doesn't work. Or maybe the weekend does, but it really is dependent on everybody else. It's dependent on you. If you find a journal and you start practicing getting your thoughts down on paper, and you miss a while don't beat yourself up, please do not put sugar on you know shoulda woulda coulda right, just do what you can keep it in a nice place. If it's private, you may want to tuck it somewhere that no one can see. But you know, consider your practice. And if you can't get to it really do not beat yourself up. The reason why I think journaling is is so important, as I've said, but I'm going to say in clear steps is that it reduces your anxiety. It helps you manage your emotions, it increases your positive self talk. It helps you break free of obsessive thinking. It helps you keep track of how you moving forward in your life. And guess what, it improves your memory because sometimes you can't remember but when you process it and write it down, it does increase your memory skills. And it can uplift your mood. Of course, you could begin journaling in one state of mind and end up finishing your journal in another state of mind. So if that enticed you to possibly want to start journaling, or re create that practice for yourself, how about thinking about a couple of questions? So you may be driving you may be walking or you may be sitting down. I'd like to see share these questions with you. And you can ponder them, maybe go back and use these as a starting point on your journaling adventure.

Linda Orsini: 00:10:10

The first question I usually ask myself when I don't know what to write, and especially when I wake up in the morning is the question, Who am I? Who am I? That's a loaded question. And usually when somebody asks you that, you say, Well, I'm a mother, I'm a wife, I would say, I'm a yoga teacher, entrepreneur, podcast host, etc. And then when you get past that, you'll say, oh, you know, I'm a person, I'm a sensitive person. Well, I've really taken that big question, and really, really dived into it. And I've decided that who I am, is light and love. That's all I am, I don't really think of myself as personally, a title. I just feel like when I am most myself and my inner self is, I'd like to think of myself as light, light, for other people, light for myself, light in a sense of ease, sense of joy, and love. Because for me, that's the biggest thing that I ever want to create in my life and share with others love, love and light. So when I say Who am I, I think of myself as love and light now. Yes, me, my husband might not always say that, because we're not always in that place. But when we're at our core, when we're really feeling our best, who are we? Who am I? Something to think about, possibly journal about? The next question I always say is, what am I grateful for? I always start my mornings off with that. And if I get in a downer, if I go down a slippery slope of negativity, I automatically think of something I can be grateful for, because it flips the switch. What am I grateful for, I have so many things to be grateful for my health. Absolutely. Number one, peace, peace. I live in a peaceful place, I live in peaceful area, I have a peaceful family. And I'm also grateful for my family, and especially all the people in my life, I have so many beautiful people in my life, I could almost cry. I go to my yoga studios, I have so many friends, I just actually almost brings tears to my eyes. I am so grateful for all the beautiful people in my life. Which brings me to Who am I grateful for? You can invite that into your mindset to Who are you grateful for. And just you know, you can go down another avenue, but we're just talking about who we're grateful for here. And you can write a list, I remember doing an activity with people. And I would say, write 50 People who you're grateful for and everyone's eyes and almost popped out of their sockets. But you'd be surprised. You could think of 50 people that you could be grateful for. The next question is, how do I want to feel? How do I want to feel this changes every day. It could change from the morning to the afternoon to the evening. So I could start out wanting to feel one way in the morning. And then something happens in the afternoon. And it changes. So right now how do I want to feel is right now when I'm recording this in the afternoon, I want to feel energized. I want to feel happy. I want to feel joyful. I want to feel invigorated. And I want to feel really grounded and connected. This is my new feeling right now I want to feel grounded and connected if I start feeling ungrounded because I'm very, very cerebral. I plant my feet on the ground and really pay attention to the soles of my feet. I tried to take myself in Word. And if that doesn't work, I go outside. It's the number one trick to go for a walk outside. It completely grounds me. And it sets me up for a little bit more stability, which is what I need. I feel like I'm very airy, and very flowy and I like to be grounded. The next question think about is how do I show love for myself and you could ask that to yourself. How do I show love to myself? It's We're thinking about, and once again it changes, it always changes. How do I show love for myself, I really be mindful of how I feed my mind, my body and my soul. I don't always eat great. And that's okay. But generally, I tried to eat very well. My body, I need to move my body every day, I'll tell you COVID. And working on this computer and online, I think I was going to go crazy. I need to move my body, I possibly have ADHD, honestly, I cannot sit still is one of the great benefits. When I was teaching the last half of my career that I was in a special ed teacher and ESL teacher English as a second language and then teacher librarian. It gave me the opportunity to walk around, to go to other classes to go to the office to be a support for others. And when we went online, I could not believe how hard it was for me to sit in one place. So I really, really need to move my body. And I feed my spirit I feed my Spirit every day by you know, I pick oracle cards, I pick, you know, cards of inspiration I read, read every day, I read A Course in Miracles every day, I read inspirational thinkers. And that really feeds my soul. So that's how I show myself self love. And the other thing is, my favorite thing in the world is my hot tub. Gone my hot tub almost every night that I can I think last night well yesterday was a big snow day where I was. And last night I brushed all the snow off the hot tub. And I sat outside in the night time, this bubbling nice steamy water. I think that I'm in a spa, every time I go into that hot tub, it is my greatest greatest source of tension, release it, I can just be present. Empty, my thoughts be surrounded by the air, the night air is one of my greatest greatest gifts for self care. And the last question that you may want to ask yourself and journal about is how do I show love to others is really important. Of course, we have to fill our own tank. But then what is what does that mean? If we don't allow our cup to overflow with it if we don't allow ourselves to spread that to others? How do you show love? How do I show love to others? That's a really important question to ask. And that deserves our attention, intention and action. Because we want to be the best people we can be for ourselves, but for others and our world. So I love to show others by really being present to them. I love to support them, show them love, send messages, connect with them. It doesn't always happen. But I don't know who it was. Many people have said this. But when you leave a place are you leaving the people in that place happier than when you first walked in? That is a real objective of mine. When I walk into a room or when I'm walking into somebody's presence, I want to be a source of love and light for them. And that's how I can show love to others by being that light by possibly, hopefully and trying to live by example. Of course, people need all kinds of support volunteer, we need to reach out and offer ourselves when so many people are hurting. So many people are suffering. That's part of the human experience. So we want to do that. Such a pivotal question that we can ask ourselves every day and journal about every day. So I will write these questions in the show notes that you can refer to but I'm gonna just say them one more time. Who am I? What am I grateful for? Who am I grateful for? How do I want to feel?

Linda Orsini: 00:19:36

How do I show love to myself? How do I show love to others? That's a great starting point. If you want to start the lost art of journaling, write it down. Ask yourself the same questions every day or every month or every season and see how they change See how they transform. Your writing will evolve as you evolve. It's such a beautiful thing to reflect back on. And that's the great thing about journaling is you get to look back. And when you write it in hand, you even see the the transformation of your handwriting, which is very, very cool. I know as a school teacher, I taught grade three for many years, and I taught cursive writing. And it was a main part of my curriculum. And then somewhere down the line, we had no time for cursive writing. Other things got more important. And I think even the the art of cursive writing has dissipated over the years. So, you know, you could have been a writer and now you've turned to a printer because we're always typing on the computer. I don't know. I think it's shows so much evolution of our selves in our handwriting. So I invite you to do that. Now, if it doesn't work for you. Don't write it down. You can type it in your computer. You can even speak it into a voice texts, whatever it is, may be inviting those questions into your heart, into your mind into your soul. And reach out to me. You can email me you can connect with me on my website, but I'd love to hear how this resonated with you. And my last tip is if you have a partnership, or if you have a community, keep a community journal. See how it goes. Could be really fun. Anyways, from my heart to yours, Namaste