I was gifted a journal called ‘The Positive Journal’, which contains techniques backed by science for using journaling to "increase gratitude, confidence, communication, meaning and purpose". This is supposed to create a “happier, more fulfilling life” with just 5 minutes a day of practicing the techniques and exercises provided in the journal.
This book came into my life, and my full-body response to
it was “YES – I want to try this!”. I had been lying in bed the night before,
feeling a bit lost, un-grounded, feeling as if there was not enough ‘Me/Self’
in my current living, creating the experience of ‘Life happening and moving all
around me’, and me being on a ship going along with the currents, using
everything of me to simply ‘stay afloat’.
The timeline within which this internal experience was
created was that of moving from South Africa, my place of temporary residence,
to Panama – my future permanent home. There was a lot of moving pieces involved
in this move, and I had gotten to a point of peace when I realized I could not
fight or control my reality, but sometimes, when working with a lot of others
and moving pieces, one must let go of the reins a little bit, and simply go
with the flow – because I was trying to control every aspect of the move, and
was becoming too stressed and panicked when things would not move according to
how I thought was best. I really had to learn to become more ‘responsive’ to
external factors instead of being the sole driving force. So instead of controlling
every aspect of every individual involved, I had to let go of control, observe,
monitor and watch things play out around me, and step in where needed, rolling
with the punches as I would be confronted with the errors of others, the
timelines of others, the abilities of others and so on, while at the same time,
making sure I was doing my part to the best of my ability.
Then I finally, after months of preparation, arrive in
Panama, and BOOM – my reality changes entirely! This ‘go with the flow’, ‘let
things play out as I monitor and direct’ strategy or way of being – is no longer
what works! For a while I didn’t realize this, and felt totally turned upside
down, floating, helpless and disempowered as the moving pieces in my reality
were no longer ‘working together FOR ME’, but was now the already established
lives of others, into which I was stepping and placing myself, requiring me to
now re-assert myself within myself as the driver/creator of my space and place
within an already established household.
And this is where I am using the journal I received as a gift
in this particular moment of transitioning into this new position of Self and
Life creation, where it is now time for settling in, finding my feet, planting
my roots. And to do this I must within it figure out and get to know intimately
Who I Am, what do I want to create here, for and as myself, but also within a
group. Keeping in mind, with this journal, that everything I do, I integrate into
and as my own living principles, wherein, for example, I redefine the journal as
I use it in order to create an outflow that is best for me. So, instead of the
journal’s title “The Positive Journal’, I am re-defining it to ‘My process
Journal’. And when I read the every day exercises, I make sure that I have looked
at each word and defined it for myself in awareness.
For example, the first day’s exercise is to write a few lines
about my “decision to work on the 40 percent happiness in my life that is under
my control” (the journal suggests that the other 60 percent is genetic, and
circumstantial).
So I looked at the words: ‘decision’, ‘happiness’ and ‘control’.
I have already walked a process with the word ‘decision’, and
I have a base for what it really means to make a decision, what my internal
experience is like when I make a decision for real, and when I make a decision
with a starting point of energy, like hope, fear, judgment etc. So for me, I
took a moment with myself to make this decision, clear my expectations, the
rush, and the rigidity of my past experience with the word decision, and also
bring in the complimentary words of ‘commitment’, ‘structure’, ‘flexibility’
and ‘flow’.
And my answer was yes, I am deciding to do this, I commit to
this decision, and within that, I understand the challenges that come with
making a commitment. I will structure a time to practice my commitment, but I
realize that I may not always be able to do it at that time. I have a job and a
dog and other people in my world and a reality that is constantly changing, so
I will be flexible with myself instead of trying to rigidly stick to the time
slot I have decided upon, I will instead flow with my reality and adjust along
the way. There may come a time when the journal no longer serves me as well as something
else, and may let it go for a bit and take
on the new thing, or the journal may serve as a stepping stone to get me
through this period, where I will move to something else, and perhaps only use
the journal when I require some grounding and direction. In this, I see a
decision is not a once-off thing, but something that must be decided upon again
and again. Sometimes a re-assessment is needed, and the decision changes, it all
depends on Self, one’s reason and starting point for making the decision.
For the word ‘happiness’ - for me this is not a useful word as how I
had previously defined it, where ‘happiness’ is like this positive energy that
one sits in. This is impractical for a plethora of reasons that is for another
blog. I then looked at bundling a group of words together, such as ‘contentment’,
‘enjoyment’, ‘gratitude’, ‘fulfillment’, ‘purpose’, ‘effectiveness’ – and then
placed the label of ‘happiness’ onto this bundle. But it wasn’t sitting right
with me. So I decided to scratch the words ‘happiness’ and ‘positivity’
altogether, and simply call the journal ‘My Process Journal’, which includes
redefining the first exercise as ‘my decision to walk this process’.
For “the 40 percent I
can control” – I would like to challenge this statement, as I don’t think
we are stagnant in terms of what percentage of ourselves and our lives we have ‘control’
over. I see it more as a skill that is developed and expanded upon, and not something
to be limited by placing a belief upon what specific percentage we should
strive to attain. And besides, life and self and one’s living and ‘control’ is
too complex and dynamic to break down into clean and concise percentiles. I
mean, do we measure it by time? By movements? By tasks? Already this becomes
too vague and impractical, creating an opening for self-sabotage and also
slight frustration and confusion within me. So, no…. just no.
For the words ‘control’ – I will also replace this word for
the context, use and purpose of why I am using this journal. I will instead
look at the words ‘Self-Directive Principle’ and ‘Self-Mastery’. These words
are already a part of my desteni process, and so doesn’t require specific
attention or to be separated out in any way here, and so I am leaving it out.
The end product of walking the process of re-defining my ‘Positive
Journal’ for the first day’s exercise is:
“Write a few lines on my decision to walk this process”
-
Because
I know I have more potential than what I am currently living
-
Because
I have seen the consequences of living as the mind/continuing as I am or have
been, and I would prefer to instead change and live in such a way where I
CREATE, GROW, EXPAND, instead of diminish, limit and create destructive
consequences.
-
Because
I would rather walk/stand/live as a solution for and as myself and this world,
instead of not changing and doing nothing in a statement of
acceptance/allowance of the way things currently are, for myself and everyone
else.
-
Because
I cannot accept or allow the ways things currently are, within myself and in
this world, and so in the end, there isn’t really a choice.
