And this is something I really point out at the beginning of every course that I do.
You know, whether it's like, you know, helping people with intuition or connecting further with themselves or even like the accelerated program.
I always say make it a mission in the first week to go and get a new journal.
But you've got to go and get a journal that really speaks to you.
Welcome, I'm Peter Williams and for the past 10 years I've been connecting with thousands of people from the stage and online to help them discover the importance of spiritual and energetic practices so they can thrive with confidence, clarity and purpose.
It is time to awaken your connection, align with your soul and achieve your own inner power right here on the Inner Power Podcast.
Welcome back to all my beautiful and wonderful listeners.
It is nice to have your company once again.
I am absolutely thrilled to say that this episode is again inspired by listener feedback and questions which I'm more than happy to answer here for any of my listeners.
So if you have your questions, queries and you want some help guidance or insight from me, please make sure you reach out through the email or socials and I'd love to help you out and get chatting to you.
And if you like enough, I might even get you online so we can talk it out live so you never know.
However, this one was a beautifully inspired episode again by a lovely fellow member of mine and her question was about journaling.
And the question specifically was that what do you do when you go to journal and you just can't get it happening?
You just don't want to write anything even though you really know you should.
So it's a really good question.
I know that I've also had this in the past for myself and so we're going to start with obviously looking at that question, but it brings in the whole beautiful aspect of journaling which of course I haven't had the privilege yet of talking about.
So this is a great topic to bring into.
This is a topic I do talk about journaling a lot with any of the courses or programs I do because I highly do recommend for people to have a journal.
There's quite a lot of people who have different ideas around journaling.
Sometimes they have a certain stigma around journaling thinking, "Oh, I can't sit down and write every day."
No, that's more like a diary if you're going to do that.
In this mean like journaling is not like that.
It's definitely not like that for me anyway.
If you want to do that, there's nothing wrong with that.
But the whole point for me in journaling is really just to have it there because it's a great place for me to at least move the energy.
Journaling is a great thing.
So it does flow on from my previous episode where I was talking about our energy, our emotions, emotional states, vibration, frequency, all of these things.
Of course, as I was saying in the previous episode, that it's so important to acknowledge these feelings and emotions and states, but sometimes we don't know how to.
If we don't acknowledge them properly or work through them properly, then it almost comes redone and we go back to square one of not sure wanting to do.
This is where journaling can come into play and it can help.
So I'm going to walk you through some hints and tips and also some prompts to level up your journaling if you'd like it.
I've got some good ones here for you.
Even if you're not journaling, you might be listening in your car.
You might be listening on a walk or exercise.
Even though I have been told numerous times now, kind of I'm worried a little bit and you can help me out here guys and you just let me know on socials that apparently my voice is very calming.
I personally like especially maybe I don't know, but I've been told that my voice helps people sleep.
I'm hoping that's not always the case, especially on the podcast.
I hope you're not falling asleep to my voice behind the wheel.
I'm just saying caught up with a friend today.
She goes, "Oh, no, I try to listen to your podcast, but it makes me fall asleep."
I'm like, okay, but you know what?
I just said, that's okay.
My wife says the same thing.
Sometimes when she's just struggling to fall asleep, she's like, "Can you just talk to me?"
Yeah, probably within 60 seconds flat.
Completely knocked out.
Anyway, so you might be using the in a power podcast to help you sleep, but that's a great health benefit and that's good energy when you wake up.
I will take that.
It's okay.
Sorry, this is at the far side.
I'm asking you the question.
You never know.
You'll have to journal around that later on, but we'll see what happens.
I'm going to take you through some journal tips, hints and some prompts, like I said, to level up your journaling.
Like I was trying to say when I got sidetracked by my own thought there was that even if you are listening, wherever you are listening to this, even with some of these prompts that I'm going to give you toward the end of this episode, you can even just think about them, reflect on them because they are a very good self-reflection prompts and very powerful.
Very, very powerful indeed.
You can actually just do them in the head or while you're on your walk or while you're driving to work, wherever you're listening to this, you can do that.
So it's going to be there as well.
I'm just going to work this and of course, as we go through all of this, I'll also answer the lovely question that came in around what to do there.
But I'll throw that in when we get to that point.
The whole point is, like I said, there's a bit of a stigma sometimes attached.
What do we do?
What should I do?
The whole thing about journaling is for me personally, it is like the great friend that you have when in need and you're not even in the mood to even talk to someone or sometimes and many times actually.
In my case, is you have that lovely 3.30 wake up call where you just get up to move in the bed and then you just wake up enough, a thought pops into your head, "Ping!"
and you are awake and you do your best.
You roll around, toss and turn, you give yourself maybe 20, 30 minutes and then you go, "Nope, this ain't happening.
I'm awake.
There's nothing I can do."
And I've now really learned that at that point, they are very core things that I need to acknowledge within myself.
Hence, I do practice what I preach going back to the previous episode of Emotion, just saying, "Go back and listen to it if you haven't heard it."
And the whole point is that I do, I get up and I spend the time and I'm always so much better.
So, it's not always generally for me is kind of like when I really need it and my body, my mind, my emotional state, my energetic body, it always does let me know when I need it.
I have that and it's a great place to do because sometimes as we know, we can't always control when we're going to have certain thoughts, feelings, emotions or even inspirations.
And I've had the other way.
When I've got inspirations, I want to write them down.
So, I throw that in my journal too.
So, it's just really there for when I need it and especially when it's early in the morning and I can't talk to anyone because I'll be too noisy or it's the case of like when I do get inspired or I'm on the fly, I want to write it down so I don't forget it because I'm about to do some work, see a client, do a stage show or it's more the case of like, you know what, I'm not in the mood.
I'm just going to really write this out and be with myself and that's a very powerful thing in its own way.
It's just being with yourself and acknowledging the self-reflecting on where you're at.
It's very, very important because it allows you to work through what's going on.
It keeps that energy moving rather than building up.
So, this is where journaling is very, very helpful and if it's new to you, if you've never tried it, I highly recommend just even giving it a go but if it's not your thing, if writing is not your thing, it's okay.
I'm not a writer.
You've got to remember when you're journaling, you're not writing to write a novel or a New York bestseller.
It is just literally for you and your self-reflection but that brings up another thing.
I think other people get afraid of journaling sometimes because they're afraid of someone else finding it or they're afraid of someone else reading it and you know, I can hear a couple of them going, "Oh yeah."
And the whole thing is, if it's just being true to yourself then you just be honest, like, "That's me.
I have no class.
My journal is set out in the open.
People can read it."
Sadly, and this is when it really crossed my mind, is I accidentally left a beautiful journal that was gifted to me.
Absolutely gorgeous.
I love the paper.
I was traveling through Broken Hill and to Adelaide and I was doing events down there and lo and behold, I took my journal out.
I placed it on top of the kind of, I don't want to call it walnut but let's just call it walnut for the sake of it and I put it on top there.
I packed up my room.
I went through my room.
I checked the drawers again because I don't really use a lot of drawers.
Just did it and I was like, "Cool."
Now the room's clean.
What did I forget?
My journal because it blended in with the furniture and it was sitting on top of the furniture.
I couldn't see it.
It was the same freaking color as the furniture.
Alas, my journal was MIA and luckily enough with the little hotel that I was staying at, I got in touch with Yona.
I told him that said it still took two months to get my journal back to me.
I was almost at a point and I can tell you right now, I really did want a journal through those two months but it was at a point of like, "Do I get a new one?"
And fortunately in it, it did turn up.
And then I did.
I had a friend ask me, "Oh my God, you left your journal?
Are you afraid of someone like, "Well, what if the cleaners would have picked it up?"
I was like, "Oh, you're concerned about it.
They're going to read it."
I'm like, "What are they going to read?
The inna workings and thoughts of myself?"
Which a lot of it, they won't have 100% context to because it's so broken.
It's like here and there.
And I said, "You know what?
I actually turned it around."
I thought, "You know what?
If they do, they may even get some inspiration out of it."
And that inspiration could be the simple fact of like, "Oh wow, I'm not alone."
And someone else is going through something similar.
Or it could be the inspiration of like, "Okay, now that I've read this, the days of our lives are here.
My life ain't so bad.
So you know what?
It's helped them to turn around and see their life in a far more positive way than what was going on in my head and my emotions at the same time."
So you never know.
So I did look to them and go.
And so therefore, I just released them going, "What's it going to matter?"
So I don't really care.
And that's what I mean.
Like if you really kind of think about it and I always look at it and go, "If someone reads your journal, like you're just being honest to yourself.
You're being honest with yourself.
If that's ever a problem and if someone has a problem with that, if they ever read your journal, then you've got a problem."
So that means you've got a lack of communication or there's something, you know, much bigger lying underneath the surface.
But we're not here to get into that.
But you can see here, so if you have ever had a fear or you're worried about that, that's the way I'd encourage you to look at it.
So if you know fear of someone, "I thought about it, but I don't want people to read it."
Like you're not asking inviting people to read it, but it's just like at the same time, if they do happen to find it and do it.
Number one, you can have a chat to them about boundaries, trust and privacy for one.
But like I said, the other way to look at it too is going, "What did you think?"
Like, "That's just what I've had."
And if nothing else, if it doesn't start a conversation, "Well, I don't know what will."
So if the fear of that, I would encourage you to look at that, kind of move beyond that and see the positives that can kind of come out of it.
The other reason I find a lot of people with journaling that you might get stuck or you kind of don't really want to get into it.
And this is something I really point out at the beginning of every course that I do.
You know, whether it's like helping people with intuition or connecting further with themselves or even like the accelerated program.
I always say, make it a mission in the first week to go and get a new journal.
But you've got to go and get a journal that really speaks to you.
And this is one of those things I actually purposely say, and I encourage you to do this.
You listen to this and you're thinking about, "Go out and get a journal and spoil yourself.
Look online.
Find something that really connects with you.
Find something that really resonates with you."
You know, I remember even though it wasn't a journal at the time, but I remember I found an awesome notebook that I just fell in love with when I was younger.
I've still got it because I love it that much.
It's got Marvin the Martian on it, you know?
Or Grit and Jerklings from Looney Tunes, Bugs Bunny and all the rest of it.
I love Marvin the Martian.
I don't know why, but I always have.
And I wrote, that was my dream journal.
And for years, it was my dream journal.
It's got so many wonderful, like I look back on the dreams I had and I'm like, "Wow."
So I've still got that.
And I was always keen to write on it because I connected with it.
That book resonated with me.
My second main journal with blank pages, like, "I need a certain characteristic."
You know, most journals on offer a mainstream, a lack of a better term.
You know, they're a bit lackluster.
I find them very generic.
They might have some fancy, maybe some nice, inspiring words on the front, but that doesn't connect with me.
That's not my thing.
That's not my gem.
So that's okay.
But if that's yours, great.
Then get that one.
You know, you need something that's going to resonate with you.
So my second one, I was lucky enough, I found down in Melbourne on Chapel Street and it was a wonderful shop.
Beautiful book of stationery, like a lot of handmade stuff.
And the journal was so simple.
It's suede green cover with recycled paper, like bound by cord and string.
Love it.
Loved it.
Had it for 10 years.
I've still got it, of course.
But it meant something to me.
Carried it for a lot of times.
Nice, lightweight, easy.
My current new journal, like I said, unusually, it was gifted to me, but I'm very grateful.
A lot of personal taste, a lot of, you know, character to it.
It's got like the tree of life.
If you're a Lord of the Rings fan, you might remember the, at the very end, oh my God, I'm not that much of a Lord of the Rings nerd that I can remember the name of the tree in the town, but it's the same kind of, it looks very similar to that.
So you can almost call it like the tree of life, but it's leather and it's got beautiful old style paper.
And quite often when I pull it out, if I'm generally in a cafe, a lot of people say, "Oh my God, where'd you get that?"
It looks like Harry Potter.
It's something from Harry Potter.
It's like an old spell book.
And it's always interesting when I've got other people looking at my book or at the journal, that also says something because even they're looking at it, that's got their attention.
It's resonating with them.
It's got an intrigue.
So when you're choosing a journal or if you're looking to get it, that will help you.
That is going to inspire you so much more to connect with it, want to use it and want to write in it come the time.
So it's a very important thing to step into and have a look at.
So take the time and spoil yourself.
Treat yourself.
Who cares?
If it costs 60 bucks, it's guaranteed.
That'll be the best 60 bucks that you'll buy.
And I can guarantee you, it'll be the cheapest therapy that you'll ever have.
It is such a great tool and it really does help.
So should you journal, it really does help.
Where do you start with this?
This is always another little common question.
If you are starting out, there's simple things that you can do.
It's always come back to yourself.
That's what journaling is really for.
Whatever thoughts are going through your head.
Maybe you've got a couple of thoughts that are just really rolling around and they've been going there for a couple of days.
Get them out onto the journal.
That way it's going to give you clarity.
It's going to give you space to see different angles, perspectives, maybe receive different answers.
Very, very helpful.
The same thing around feelings, emotions.
When you've got those and sometimes even the heavier ones, get them out because it's going to offload them.
It's going to make you feel lighter and raise your vibration and frequency.
And by doing that, you're going to see things differently again.
So that's a very, very positive outcome there as well.
And of course, on the lighter note, when you're getting inspiration, don't let that slide right them down too.
When you have inspiration, that is universe working with you, poking and prodding you, trying to nudge you, guide you onto a good sing or a good path.
And so it's really important to write those things down too because they are there to help you.
So thoughts, feelings, emotions and inspirations are really good starting point to get into the journal.
Another little tip that I like to add onto that for people is especially around feelings and emotions.
Another one you can add to it is you can start more of a gratitude diary or a gratitude journal.
Now, to do that, gratitude, I'm going to do another episode about that because a beautiful example has come up in the current group that I'm working with.
Gratitude, if you're unfamiliar with it, of course, it's about being grateful for things in your life.
But what's really important is what I tend to really ask my students and members to do with this is start working with numbers much easier.
So you can even do this in your everyday journal.
You can just find a little corner off to the side as soon as you start your journal.
For me personally, I always date it and then I give it a title because titles help me to summarize what it's about.
And then if you want to, in the corner or right after the title, you can put a number down and this number is your happiness number.
It's like, how are you really feeling?
It could be a two.
It could be a nine.
It could be a 7.5.
It doesn't matter.
You put it in there.
And the other thing too is when you finish writing out your entry and you finish your session, then at the end, you can rate yourself of how you now feel.
And that way you're going to reinforce for yourself how this is actually helping and going, "You know what?
I feel better after journaling or I feel the same or sometimes I feel a bit worse."
But that's okay.
It happens in a lot, but it can happen.
But it's just about doing that.
So that can help with it.
It can help you there as well.
I love that.
It's so simple.
It's so quick, but it's really positive and it reinforces a lot for you.
So there's something you can do there.
If that's something that you'd like to get into, if that's something that you want to start with or you want to really kind of get into a little bit, maybe you want to start with the gratitude journaling.
I do offer the gratitude journaling PDF so you can practice these things.
And all you have to do is go over to peterwilliamsinapower.com and up the front there, you can simply enter your address and you can get that PDF for free.
So if you're looking for a start or you really want to try and boost that happiness factor and lift your energy a little bit, this is the way that I recommend it.
It is a beautiful way of doing it.
Help clients do it all the time.
And all you have to do is enter your email address and you'll get that sent to your inbox and you can let us know how you go.
So that is there.
It's free just to help you guys out if you want to get started.
So you can jump over to the website and grab that if you want to as well.
Right?
Now, of course, as you do this, if you start all of this, then sometimes we then get to the case of where my lovely member is at going, "So what happened?
I don't want to do this."
But I'm just not writing even though I feel like I should write.
Then this is an important point.
This is when you have to let go of all the logic.
I tend to write, obviously, in coherent senses.
The structure may not always be coherent because my thoughts are jumping.
That's completely, that's a good thing.
You're allowing the flow.
Then if you're finding that you're feeling somewhat blocked, stuck or not really being able to get started, this is when I call you just dump.
This is the journal dump and it's really important about just getting off there.
How do you start the dump?
You usually start with the immediate biggest feeling that you're feeling.
Usually when we're feeling stuck or we're not feeling willing or wanting to start writing, it's because we're not wanting to acknowledge the disappointments or the hurt that we might be feeling because all of a sudden it becomes more real.
We have to acknowledge it because it's easier to keep in our body and our mind and push it down like I was talking about that's not a good thing.
Get it out.
Dump.
I don't care.
There was a 4 AM session that I was up on a couple of weeks ago and it had to be a dump because there was just so much stuff rolling around.
I didn't realize how much stuff was rolling around that I was not acknowledging.
So all I simply did is I started off with a lovely, lovely word that starts with an F and ends in a C, K and I wrote Fire Truck about five times before anything else came out.
So that's mean.
It was because I needed to get out that immediate built up frustration, disappointment, anger and I didn't realize how much was there.
I obviously hadn't acknowledged or worked through it enough and it had built up and it's great.
Get it out.
That's what I call the dump.
It's like when you are literally like you use those pages, get it out.
It's like your best friend, best therapy you can have and it's not about getting answers.
It's not about self-reflection.
It is a dump.
It is literally just say whatever you're feeling.
Don't look at analyzing it.
Don't look at looking for answers.
You're not looking for solutions.
You're literally getting it out of your system and putting it down on paper.
You may find that you might etch your pen a little bit more into the page sometimes.
So be mindful of that.
I have broken through a page or two in those dumping sessions.
So just be mindful of that.
But of course when you're in the flow really feeling it, who cares, right?
So do that.
So if you ever feel like you're stuck and I hope this answers your question that if you ever feel stuck literally just go at it like that.
Start the emotions off the bat and then you can kind of see where the flow goes.
Don't worry about coherency.
Don't worry about structure because we get taught at school.
Structure, you know, intro.
No, this is just a space to write down what you need.
Okay.
What you need to get rid of.
So it's a really great way to do it.
So you can start there.
Now to wrap it up, I just also want to point.
So hopefully that's helping there but I also want to encourage you.
So if you're not, if you're new to journaling, don't find your journal and these things can get you started.
If you're already doing journaling, these are going to be great little things to get you thinking.
Right.
I love pushing the boundary, getting everybody to think and grow.
So this is going to be a really positive ones.
I'm just going to walk you through some prompts.
And of course, if you're listening along to this, you can literally start coming up with some answers as we go along.
A little bit of fun.
So I'd love to hear it if you've come up with immediate answers and whatever else.
I'd love to hear them.
So don't be afraid to let us know on the socials because it's a lovely little thing.
I'm hoping, I really am hoping and I truly do believe these few journal prompts will just get the cogs turning a little bit.
All right.
So we're going to jump in some prompts.
Then after that, I'm going to leave you to finish off wherever you are, but I encourage you, even if you are working along with me here on an exercise walk or on the treadmill in the gym or on the car in the car, wherever you are, I still encourage you to get home and actually write these downs because the benefit is the more you write, the more you create space in your mind.
As you create that space, more things, new things, new ways of thinking, new ways of seeing it, new ways of understanding it come through.
That's what brings the clarity.
So that's where journals are really important.
So I really encourage you to do it at the end here as well.
The prompts that you can work with, this are really good.
Number one, a bit of a doozy straight off, but number one, what is something you regret doing?
What is something you regret doing?
There you go.
There's your first prompt.
This will lead you to help you.
It's a deeper one.
You can have a look at it.
And even with that, don't just think about the actual situation that you regret doing.
I really would encourage you to start exploring the emotions, thoughts and feelings about when it happened, the regret, and also how you feel about it now.
This is a great, simple prompt to really start moving the energy around.
Like I was talking about in the previous episode, this will start to move the energy around, removing some of those blocks.
So there's your first one.
Second one, what are your usual distractions?
What are your usual distractions?
This is a great prompt because so many of us are easily distracted, including myself.
However, when you take time to actually look at this and look at yourself, you become aware.
This is a really great thing that all of a sudden you might start to realize there are things you are doing that you didn't even know you were that are distracting you.
This is also a very important one because you have to get very honest with yourself.
If you're struggling with this, maybe you think, "You know, I'm squeaky clean.
I'm super productive.
I'm productive all the time.
There are some people out there, but I can guarantee you there's usually a distraction for everyone."
If you're more of a latter, maybe ask some people around you and we'll get some advice from that.
These are also great conversation questions, by the way, so you can do that.
The next one, what are your personal boundaries?
What are your personal boundaries?
This one, super helpful.
It allows you to reflect upon yourself and this can really and drastically improve your life.
I know this helps a lot of people because a lot of people, when we're a little bit low on self-esteem, a little bit low on self-worth, we struggle with our boundaries, not just setting them, but also holding them.
But by recognizing them, it makes it that little bit easier to hold them, put them in place and communicate them effectively.
So, it's a very powerful one.
Okay.
Other ones to help you also further improve your life.
What three changes can you make to live according to your dreams or goals?
Three changes can you make to live according to your dreams and goals?
Super powerful, super insightful because we sometimes tend to always think about dreams and goals as being way down the track.
Believe it or not, there's always things that we can start to do now that can really help us shorten and magnetize those dreams and goals to us a lot faster.
Have a look at that and there's three changes there.
It could be simple things, having less distractions, getting more productive or making better work boundaries with family or whatever.
You just never know.
You start putting this in place.
Guess what guys?
You are already steps closer to your dreams and your goals and that is always worth doing.
Now, couple of other ones.
When do you trust yourself the most?
I love this one.
This is a good energetic, intuitive one.
So when do you trust yourself the most?
Then we have the counter question to that.
When is it harder for you to have faith and trust in your own instincts?
When is it harder to have faith in yourself and your instincts?
So that's a double whammy.
So there's a big one there but that's more energetic and whatever else.
That's a really good one to ponder on.
And if you do that, you actually take the time to sit with that and work through that.
You can really start to raise your awareness.
You can really start to raise your emotional, energetic sensitivity and become more powerful, become more confident and gain more clarity.
So they're really, really powerful prompts.
Those are the prompts.
That's the little trip on journeying and obviously hope that's helped you.
It doesn't matter where you're on your journeying journey.
Maybe that has even inspired you to start the journaling journey.
It is a wonderful thing to do.
It is so simple.
It is very, very effective and it's very, very healthy.
So I really encourage you to have a look at it.
And of course, if you do need a little bit of a jumpstart, please just go over to innerpowder.com.
Up the top there, put email in and you can get started with the gratitude journaling PDF and it's opposite yours and test to get you started and get you moving.
So thanks for your time guys.
We really look forward to hearing your responses and I really wish you luck with those prompts and the self discovery that comes with it.
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