I’m sure all of you’ve heard someone somewhere talking about journaling. Everyone from CEOs of large billion-dollar companies to stay-at-home moms are raving about the power of putting pen to paper.
So what’s all the journaling fuss about?
Journaling offers you an opportunity to reflect and dream in a quiet space. It allows you to sort your emotions, feelings, desires, and goals. Journaling allows you to see yourself from a new perspective, giving clarity to details you can’t get from rational thought—it can unlock information from deep within. It enables you to tap into your inner wisdom, clear blocks, find patterns, and reset your mind.
Journaling guides you to be more present and accelerates your ability to manifest your dream life.
The four most important keys to manifestation are clarity, imagination, emotions (feeling as if), and raising your frequency to become a match to what it is you desire. Journaling helps you get there quicker.
This template is designed around those four key elements.
Step 1: Gratitude, or appreciation, is the highest frequency you can hold in your body. Start by listing five things you’re grateful for right away in the morning—three things that have already happened and two things that haven’t happened yet that you’re looking forward to during the day. Creating this list as soon as you wake up is challenging and requires you to appreciate the little things in life.
Step 2: List three affirmation statements or I AM statements. For example, my creations are manifesting with ease. I AM open to receiving it. I AM statements are the most powerful statements in the universe. How you think and feel about yourself is important, and we can often be our biggest critics. Start your day with these powerful statements to remind yourself how powerful you are and set yourself up for success.
How do you talk to yourself throughout the day? The other 23 hours and 55 minutes outside your morning routine are also important. It’s easy to write and repeat these affirmations right in the morning, but can you keep thinking positively throughout the day? I’ve designed a personalized water bottle with affirmations printed all over it so each time you take a drink of water, you automatically start repeating affirmations to yourself. Click HERE to purchase a water bottle.
And always remember, if you wouldn’t say it to a friend, don’t say it to yourself. You are more powerful than you realize. You can decide who you’re going to become, and talking negatively to yourself isn’t going to get you there. You have the power to choose how you’re going to show up each and every day. I AM statements help to keep you on track.
Step 3: List a few things you’re proud of yourself for. We are busier than ever these days. We have to-do lists a mile long, and it’s a good day to check off each item on that list. However, things often get moved to the following day or to the next week, and we never quite feel like we’re holding it all together…and then we bring shame and guilt upon ourselves for no apparent reason. Reminding yourself of all the things you DID accomplish will give you peace of mind and understanding that you’re doing your best.
Success in any area of life has much to do with how the brain retrieves memories. For example, suppose you were in love once but ended badly for one reason or another. In that case, you’ll enter into the next relationship with hesitation, resistance, and possibly a closed heart based on memories from that bad experience. Let’s say you took a bad spill while skiing one time and broke your ankle. All of your future skiing experiences would be contaminated around the fear of getting hurt again based on that previous memory of breaking your ankle. Side note: these memories can be changed to release the negative emotional associations to them through time travel techniques.
It is also true that when you bring forward good memories of success, elation, comfort, and well-being, you will begin to take bolder steps while moving forward based on those positive memories. Thus the reason for writing about something you’re proud of yourself for; you’re bringing forth a positive memory and the positive emotion that’s connected to it. You will begin to visualize yourself doing great things and feel feelings of strength and confidence, which will motivate you as you move forward.
“When you feel good feelings your brain releases chemicals called dopamine, oxytocin, vasopressin, and growth hormone, that enter the blood and nourish and regulate the genetics and behaviors of the body’s cells. The chemistry released by the brain into the blood complements the perceptions and beliefs we hold in our minds. When we change the way we respond to the world, we change the chemical composition of our blood, which in turn regulates our genetics and behavior.” —Bruce Lipton
Step 4: List a few things to forgive yourself or others for. What can you forgive your mom for? What can you forgive your dad for? A friend? A coworker? We’re all just doing our best with what we know now. It’s essential not only to show compassion to others but also to yourself. Forgiveness is all about releasing negative emotions around negative memories.
Through the process of forgiveness, you automatically bring forth the negative memory and feel the negative emotion. You then begin to feel compassion for yourself or another person. Then you automatically replace that negative memory and emotion with a positive thought and a positive emotion while locking in new positive memory. You have now neutralized that energy and have released the negative memory and emotion from your body.
Step 5: What actions will you commit to today to move one step closer to living your dream life? Write them out, and then stick to it. If you can, take those actions before doing anything else. Taking action, of course, gets you one step closer to your dreams, but it also increases your frequency, builds confidence, and you start thinking of more ways to reach your goals faster. And, when you take action toward your desired future, you’re showing God/Universe/Creator that you are serious about what you want.
Step 6: Write your dream life in the present tense as if you’re already living it. Write out all of the details. What does your dream house look like? How is it decorated? What color are the drapes? What does it smell like? What does it feel like? What kind of car do you dream of driving? What does your love life look like? What does your business look like? What does your health look like? How much money are you making? Write it all out in detail. Now, you probably won’t have time each day to write the entirety of your dream life in all areas. Write about what comes to mind each day. Or, you can pick a specific area of life and business each day. You could set a timer. There are many ways to do this. Find what works for YOU.
Writing out your dream life in the present tense takes some imagination on your part. You can see the vision of your future life in your mind’s eye as you write the words. Your brain doesn’t know the difference between fake and reality—as you’re visualizing and wiring about your dream life, your mind is tricked into believing that you’re already living that reality. You will automatically begin to have chemical reactions in your body that elicit excitement, peace, joy, and happiness. You begin to feel as if you already have the desired things and are raising your frequency.
For all of you who geek out on the science part of this (like me), what’s happening in the background is your brain’s Reticular Activating System (RAS) is filtering information. Eliminating the white noise and passing along important messages that are then converted into conscious thoughts, emotions, or even both.
The only messages that get through are the ones that are important to you. The thoughts you think the most are considered to be the important ones. This is why it’s crucial to keep your goals top of mind—the more often you think about them, the more your subconscious mind will work to reach them.
On the flip side, this is also how we can get caught up in a negative loop. If your thoughts are constantly negative, your RAS will see them as important and attach emotions to them, eventually leading you down a rabbit hole to depression or never reaching your goals.
These ingredients are KEY to manifesting what you want. When you start your day by writing out your future life, visualizing, feeling good, and raising your frequency, the whole day goes so much smoother. This practice gives you a sense of where you’re headed. It keeps your goals top of mind, and when your intentions are top of mind, your brain will automatically begin thinking of actions to take to get there.
Step 7: Free write. Write out anything you’re worried about, excited about, or trying to work out. You can ask a question that you haven’t been able to get an answer to. For example, ask a question such as, should I stay at my current job or start looking for a new one? Then start writing whatever comes to mind for as long as you need to get the answer. Writing by hand helps you get out of your logical brain into your unconscious mind, where all the answers lie. Write it out.
The next steps are not widely discussed but have been a game-changer for me. Not only is it essential to start your day with good habits, but it’s also essential to end your day with good habits and set yourself up for tomorrow.
Step 8: Before going to sleep, write out anything on your mind. Do a complete brain dump. You’ll fall asleep faster and will feel more refreshed in the morning.
Step 9: List five things you’re grateful for. Feelings of gratitude and appreciation will change your state to happiness and raise your frequency.
Step 10: List three moments of grace or beauty that happened throughout the day. Where did you show someone some grace? Where did someone show you some grace? What is one moment you don’t want to forget?
Step 11: Write about one lesson learned today. It could be a lesson learned from watching someone else (your kids, husband, or coworker). It could be a lesson learned from failure. A lesson learned in a win. A lesson learned from a short conversation with a stranger.
Step 12: List any motivational people you talked to, podcasts you listened to, good books you read, or helpful videos you watched. You know how you watch, listen, or read something really good, and then you can’t remember what it was? Here’s your chance to keep track. Write a short synopsis along with the title to help jog your memory.
Step 13: Describe how you’re going to show up tomorrow. For example, I’m going to wake up refreshed and energized. This one thing has changed EVERYTHING for me. I cannot for the life of me believe how much this one-second trick improves my attitude upon waking and how it carries out throughout the day. If you don’t have time to do anything else, do this one thing.
Step 14: List any important to-do items for tomorrow. Get these out of your mind and onto the paper so you can rest easy in knowing exactly what you will focus on in the morning.
Step 15: Write down one burning question you want the answer to. Ask the question and go to sleep. Don’t try to think about an answer logically. Just ask the question and forget about it. You’ll either have a dream about the answer, or you’ll wake up to a solution. It is REALLY important to pay attention to your thoughts as you wake—they’re gone in about 30 seconds. Keep your journal next to your bed so you can write down thoughts and visions right away before you forget them.
This looks like a lot to do. However, it goes really fast. You only need about 10-30 minutes in the morning and about 5-10 minutes before you go to sleep.
Click HERE to download your free Journaling Template. You can make enough copies for each day and fill up a binder, or make one copy and use it as a reference as you write in your journal. I’m currently working on getting these printed with either a hardcover or a softcover. If you know of any printers, please leave your name in the comments below! Thank you!
