JOURNALING EXERCISES



—designed to help make that wonderful second “S” of your Miracle Morning better! Here are several things you can try...in the comments let us all know which you will use as well as journaling techniques you use now so this can be a resource for others!

 DAILY APPRECIATION: Write out 3-5 things for which you’re grateful. Really dig in and also write WHY you’re grateful for them. Include grand things (like hearing your loved ones breathing in their sleep) and typically insignificant things that you’d usually take for granted--like warm water on demand, or the engineers that make the tread on your tires safer during bad weather. ALSO include obstacles, setbacks and disappointments—and include why they are GOOD for you. When you have that mastered, you will be winning at life.

 GREAT DAY EXERCISE: Write out what will make today one of the best you’ve ever had. Write the amazing things you will do, what you will accomplish, WHO you will serve and inspire! Write out the miracles of life you will savor. It's a truly grand thing for you to be able to script your day. Yes! I’m getting excited thinking about this.

 DAILY INTENTION: Write out your intentions for the day. Not just what you will do...there’s plenty of time for a “to do” list— but this time, Write out your “TO BE” list. Are you committed to being courageous, kind, ambitious, helpful, mesmerizing, loving, powerful?!! You can be all of those things! I like to write out that I will be a bright, shining light for God today...and that little written statement stays with me all day and influences my actions (which is what a good scribing session should do).

 WHAT I WANT: Write out what you WANT. Be descriptive and clear. List the goals you want to accomplish. How you want to make someone (or yourself!) feel! What you want to own—or get rid of...where you want to travel, the awards you’d like to receive, the money you’d like to make and even give away. Write out the desires of your heart. Just let it flow and write out everything that’s sitting in your soul and let it see the light of day!

 THE PERFECT DAY EXERCISE!!! This was so, so powerful for me: Write out what your ideal, perfect day would be. From the moment you open your eyes to the time you blissfully or exhaustedly go to sleep. Let your imagination run wild! Include yachts or jets if that’s your thing. Wake up and go to sleep in an exotic place that sets your soul on  fire! Include who is with you sharing this time, and what you’re doing throughout your day! This is all you, and in this exercise you can have anything at all that you want. It can be for ANY time in the future. But do it! This will obviously feel good--but the true genius in this exercise is that it will set your subconcious mind free to go to work on this day and make it a reality.

 THE DREAM DISGRONIFIER...Write out your dreams, like the nocturnal kind you had last night. Be as descriptive as you can to remember them. There’s usually a message that your subconscious wants you to know...but if not, it’s usually entertaining and great writing practice. And of course you can write out the things you’re dreaming of in life, too!

 DEAR DIARY: Write our what happened to you yesterday, this week, or even a time in your past. Write out how you are FEELING about that. Especially if they’re bad feelings, it’s soooo good to get them out of the festering darkness of your troubled mind and out into the light of day on paper. It’s liberating to objectively THINK about your thinking. You can reject those negative, self defeating thoughts in their tracks and kick them right in the teeth. You can write out your good thoughts too. You can take the time to celebrate and give yourself a pat on the back for when you acted courageously or finally did that thing...you know the one. This is gold, and the almost third party objective view of your feelings will help you to better control those familiar feelings in the future. .

 The Problem Solver. You’ve got problems, I’ve got them too. This is a great way to DESTROY them. Write them out in all of their ugly, gory details. Go out to the very worst case scenario when the whole world will blow up...get it all OUT of your mind and onto the paper my friend. Hauling those bad boys out into the light of day will help you feel so, so much better.

1) you’ll feel a sense of relief, because you just took a step in solving the problem.

2) you’re going to see that maybe it isn’t as bad as that crappy inner voice/critic had been telling you *that voice is a friggin’ no good, wretched LIAR!

3) You’re already going to start to think of how to solve that problem...just by looking at it on paper. That’s the magnificent way in which we’ve been designed.

We are problem solvers...just sometimes out of practice.
Now, you can start to write out some actions to take to bust that problem up and punch it right in its ugly nose.

 The System Solutions. Your dreams, wants, plans and problems are all there, and they’re yearning for a SYSTEM to help make them better. Write or even draw out (I like to do that, that’s why I use a dotted bullet journal) the system that will set you free.

Brainstorm solutions and get them out of your head. When one sparks your soul, then go to town on it. What are the smallest first steps you can take to bring that to reality? Yes! When you start this, the excitement will build in you until you HAVE to take action!

 Dear Self: Write a letter of love and encouragement to the most important person in your life: YOU. We are often so damn tough on ourselves! After all, we’ve been present for all of the royally stupid things we’ve done in life. We had a front row seat to all of that foolishness. But you would NEVER keep a friend around who always reminded you of all of the bad things you’ve done and told you about them constantly. We would also never say all of those mean and hurtful things to a cherished friend! We would encourage them. Pray for them. Love them with all of our might...

Now, let’s do that for ourselves. Write out a letter to yourself as if you were a dearly loved friend or family member. Be extraordinarily kind. Be encouraging and praise yourself as you would them.

The Buddha said that you deserve your own love as much as anyone in the world, and he was right. Write that out in your scribing session. You deserve that.

Make sure to include some of the badass things you’ve done and conquered during your life. Savor those and bring anything you WANT to bring with you going forward. 

 The Idea List: I learned this from James Altucher. Pick a topic or subject like, “Books that I could write to change the world,” or “Ways I can make my Beloved Feel Extra Special,” or “The Top 10 Things I can Do To Improve My Life Massively In A Week or Less!”

Then list out a minimum of 10 ideas for the subject you picked that day. I prefer 15-20 to really get my mind sweating. The list itself can have value, as you may get a crazy good, elegant idea that will set your life on fire...but the real good is the development of your mind. When you do this consistently, you will become an IDEA MACHINE and never be at a loss for what to do...and you’ll be able to write great lists like scribing ideas for others, hahahaa!

One of the first IDEA LISTS? 20 Idea Lists I Could Write that Would Change the World For Me.

Btw--they don't all have to be utilitarian lists. You could also do things that make you laugh (like the 10 funniest times in my whole life), what movies I enjoyed the most...or names I'd never name my baby...whatever. The idea (pun intended)is to get that magnificent brain of yours in MOTION.

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I actually have more, and will post it at a later time—but I sincerely hope this can help when you’re looking a blank page when it’s time to scribe. For me, the scribing part of my MM is my cornerstone habit. When I do that, everything else gets easier and better.

I wish you well in your scribing, and your life my virtual friend!

EDIT:

After reading a few comments, here are a few clarifications!

 I don’t do ALL of these all of the time! Most of these I do rarely—like the Perfect Day exercise might be done once or twice a year.

The ones that are consistent are:

 the Daily Appreciation/Gratitude posts usually upon waking and right before going to sleep.

 The Great Day Exercise.

 Daily Intention.

 Meditation Insights/The Download (which is its own mega post)

 Daily Wins, The Thomas Edison, and The Daily Practice (which I’ll be talking about in an upcoming post).

 People are scared that there are so many journals and they’re all filled...and that I must be retired to have written so much.

Nope! I work very hard outside of just journaling every day.

My total journaling habit takes less than 15 min per day. But as you can see from the journals, it’s pretty consistent.

But I include A LOT in my journal. It’s also now (but wasn’t always) my daily planner, and I keep notes from books, podcasts, courses and all of my ideas in them, too. That’s why there are so many journals!

Please don’t be intimidated or think journaling isn’t for you. That’s the exact opposite effect I wished to have with this post.

Anyone can do this. It just needs to become USEFUL for you.

Thank you for these responses! I’m feeling the love and I’m so appreciative!

List what you like here, or other things you do for scribing below so this can be a resource for others in the group, please!!