The Healing Power Of Journaling (Live Session Recording)

1:12:19

1:12:19

The Healing Power Of Journaling (Live Session Recording)

by Emilio Jose Garcia

Rated

5

Type

talks

Activity

Meditation

Suitable for

Everyone

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157

Journaling is a very powerful tool to help you become more aware, productive, aligned, organized, and live with more intention. It can help you create new habits, heal, reflect, avoid distractions, and design a lifestyle you will love. We will cover the bullet journal method & other ways to journal.

Healing Journaling Awareness Productivity Alignment Reflection Overcoming Distractions Digital Detox Journaling Intentions Creative Journaling Journaling Support Brain Dumps Intentions Singing Bowls Organization

Meet your Teacher

Emilio Jose Garcia

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Meet your Teacher

Emilio Jose Garcia

Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

Transcript

Close your eyes simple Good morning everybody. Happy Tuesday. Hola Beth, Hola Cecilia, CJ. Thank you so much for being here. ¿Cómo estás? I'm good today. I'm very happy to be talking about journaling today. And I'm using my big singing bowl. Just love the sound of it. So amazing. How are you guys doing today? Where did you get your singing bowl? So Beth, Funny story. When I was traveling, I was in north of India, Very close to Nepal and Tibet. And then I bought two in a store there and I shipped them home to my parents. So when I came back home, We just couldn't find them. I never found them. So when I went back to Barcelona three or four years ago, We went to a Buddhist store and we just got two. We got this size, The big one that sounds really nice. And then we have a smaller one that I have it on the tiny office in the backyard. But this is the bigger one. And this is all handmade with a hammer and the sound is amazing. Yeah. It's really relaxing. It's really the vibration. It's very good. They say that when you choose your own singing bowl, You should grab it on your hand and then you should play a few and then connect with the one that you like. So the singing bowl will tell you which one is the right fit for you. Buenos dias Marisa. Hi Beth. I went to Lake, My sister yesterday, So I brought about our day. Amazing. So guys, Today we're going to be talking about journaling. Okay. Someone requested this topic and I don't know if that person is here, But someone requested this topic because they were reviewing a bunch of journals from the past. That's what I understood. Oh, Amy. Okay. So that was you. So today I would like to share a little bit of the benefits of journaling, The different approaches that I know, And then open up the space for everybody to share how they use the journals. Like if you do, Some people do, Some people don't. You don't have to journal. I think life has cycled. Sometimes you may feel like journaling a lot. Sometimes you may feel like not touching your journal and that's okay. I'm perfect. But it's a tool that you have always available. Okay. So how many of you guys journal here? Just say I journal or I've been doing it for the past year or two years or whatever my entire life, Or I have never done it, But I want to get started. Or I am curious about learning more. So if it says I journal me a little, Not regularly, I do my whole life. Okay. So never done. Amazing. So there is a variety of reasons, Right? I want to learn more. I do it since 2015. Totally amazing. That's a lot of years. So let me ask you guys, For those of you who journal, What is the main intention of you journaling? Is it gratefulness? Is it productivity? Is it creativity? Is it your agenda? Is it reflection? Is it just taking notes? Like what's your intention of journaling for you? How do you use your journal? I used to use a gratitude journal. Okay. Yeah. Thank you. Reflection and processing. Okay. Thank you. To find my authentic truth. Amazing. Gratitude meditation, Reflection, Getting the thoughts out of head. Great. That is on you. Yes. That's a big reason of why I recommend journaling. Interested to know how journaling works. Maria, Amazing. You're going to learn that. To dump what's in my mind. What's bothering me? I want to change how I use it. Though because I can see rumination in that. Lauren, Absolutely. That's a reflection piece that if you don't write it down, You will forget. We will forget. Some days just a brain dump. Yeah. Brain dump. So there are a few ways. So some of the things that come up for me when thinking about journaling and from what I have seen from other people and what I have learned. So it's very important to understand like all the options that journaling gives you, Right? Some people use it to avoid distractions. So they want to write stuff. They don't want to use devices anymore. So a digital detox. It's good. Because when you have a journal and pen, You are allowing mindful time with yourself. Okay. So that's mindfulness guys. That's you spending time with yourself with your thoughts. So you can use that time to be grateful. You can use that time to reflect. You can use that time to bribe what happened during the day, The good and the challenges so that you can read them and then you can overcome them and understand them and dive deeper into those emotions. You can use them as productivity. Maybe you have your to do list there. Maybe you keep track of the things you want to do. The ideas that you have. Okay. You can use it as a brain dump to declare your mind. So you just take your journal and say, Oh my God, My head is going to explode. So you just dump everything on the paper in the form of a cloud, In the form of a mind map, In the form of whatever makes sense to you. Bullet points. It doesn't matter. Once you have everything in paper, It's easier for the brain to see what you are trying to do. It's easy for the brain to then prioritize. Okay. Really reflect about what you wrote, How you feel about it, And then what you want to take action on. You can use it too for creativity. You can draw, You can do mandalas, You can paint, You can color, You can do whatever you want to do though. Okay. Good morning, Amanda. Hi Violet. I love journaling. Got here just in time. So Violet, We were, I was just asking people if they journal and what is the use of your journal? What do you use your journal for? Mainly. Is it for gratefulness? Is it for productivity? Is it for creativity? So for those of you trying to learn this method that you have never done it, That was me a few years ago. Okay. I never had like a journal. When I was traveling, I had a blog and I kind of, That was my journal, Digital journal, But it's nothing to do with actually having a journal. Okay. I paint. Amazing Lisa. So you paint, So you paint on your journal. Hola. Okay. So for those of you who are trying to get started, It's very overwhelming at the, At the beginning. I'm not going to lie because there are so many options. I follow morning pages and I use it every morning to write three pages on anything that's on my mind or for gratitude. Thank you Violet for sharing that. Okay. So one of the, One of the things that I did was to reset to different options that are out there for journaling. Okay. Cause you have the option of just getting a regular notebook plane and just start your own thing there. Okay. It's just blank. And you have the option of getting something that is already pre-made. Okay. Some ideas are the passion planner, The five minute journal. I don't know if you go to the store, You can see the options. I will suggest you open them up. You see the structure, You see how they use the pages, What they are inviting you to do. And in my case, I explore the different ideas and I brought down the ideas that I liked. So I liked some stuff from the passion planner. I liked some stuff from the five minute journal. I liked some stuff from the bullet journaling method. So I kind of gathered the things that I liked and then I got started creating my own method. Okay. But that's another secret. The first step is to get started. What is the advantage between paper versus journaling digitally on your computer? So Maya, Many differences. Okay. Difference number one, Distractions. Okay. Unless you have a dedicated device that doesn't have any notifications, Anything, It's very easy for you to get distracted when you are like, If I were to grab my phone because I journal on my phone and I open it, I guarantee you that I will have a notification. There you go. I have emails. So how tempted are you going to be to just click in there and see what, Oh, There is an email what's in here. And so many times I do that. And then 15 minutes later, I think, Why did I pick up my phone for, What was I trying to do? Okay. So the distraction piece is one, Two, There is something that says that when you write down something on paper, Pen to paper, You brought it down. The fact of writing it down has an effect in your brain that you don't get by typing. Okay. And some people have a tablet and they have a pen, A tactic pen like this one. And then they use that to write in there. That's an option that you can explore. But again, If that device is connected to the internet and that device has notifications, Apps, Et cetera, You are not being mindful. It's very easy to get distracted. Okay. That's another reason. So those are some of the reasons. Also like when you set the intention and you are only with your journal, You can go anywhere you want. You can leave your devices behind and you are actually setting the intention of, I am going to spend time with myself and I am going to be grateful. I am going to write what happened yesterday. I am going to reflect on my to-do list. I am going to do a brain dump. So you decide what you are doing and then it's the only thing that you are doing. You, Your journal, Your pen, And then you just do that. Okay. So I have these napkins when I forgot my journal. Yeah. So it doesn't really matter. It's just the fact of pen to paper. And I always invite you guys to give it a try. Okay. There is not a right or wrong answer. If you are disciplined enough to use your device, There are a lot of great apps, Bullet journaling apps that you can use or journaling apps or whatever. At the end of the day, The method that you use is not as important as how you use it and the intention behind it. Okay. So if you are trying, If just get, Get clear on your intentions, What are you trying to do? Are you trying to be intentional about what? Maybe you say, I want to be grateful every day. And I want to write down five things I'm grateful for in the morning and two things I'm grateful for in the evening. So that's your specific goal. So now you can measure that. Now you can see, Have I done it? Yes or no. And if you do that regularly on your device and you don't get distracted, Maybe that's work for you. If you try and you pay attention and you find yourself getting distracted, You find yourself the light of the screen bothering you, You find yourself that is not the ceremony that you were expecting. Then maybe you should try something different. Maybe I would invite you to create a corner in your, In your home where you feel well, Maybe light up a candle, Maybe take a couple of deep breaths, Maybe play some background music, And then you sit down with your journal and then you do a one minute silence meditation and then you do your gratefulness. So that's a completely different ceremony than just grabbing your phone and doing it. So do you see the difference here? So you can choose how you do it. The method is not as important as the intention behind it. Okay. Good morning from Santa Fe. I try good days and not so good days. It helps more. It helps have more good days and it helps me remember what I did, How I felt. Yeah, Absolutely. Susan, That's something that I also do and I want to share with you some of the things that I do that really helps me understand those things, Right? So for example, Sometimes I track my week and it looks like this, Right? So I have a notebook and then I have a column for each day. And as you see, Each day I write down when I got up, What I did, And then at the bottom I have some notes. So I can have notes like, I was sick, I had a tough nose, Or doing the meditation in the evening wasn't a good idea because I wasn't centered. Doing the meditation in the morning felt really nice. Nice reflecting time, Checking my journal at 8 p. M. I don't know, You start writing down things that you enjoyed, Things that you didn't enjoy, And then when you look at those things, It's what Susan is saying, It's easier for you to recreate what you enjoyed and change what you didn't like. And if you don't journal, How many of you guys will remember what you did a week ago? How you felt a week ago? How many of you will actually remember how you felt last Tuesday? Okay, How many of you remember what did you do last Tuesday? What did you eat? What time did you get up? How did you feel? Did you face a challenge? Did you celebrate something great? How many of you actually remember everything that happened that Tuesday? I don't remember, I have to think really hard. I probably have to look at my calendar and probably, So if you don't journal things, You just forget. And then our mind will go to, I woke up to your life. If you don't allow yourself to reflect, To write it down, You just will, You will not remember. That's why journaling is a way for you to be able to reflect on the reality. Okay? So about methods, Today there is this book, It's called the Bullet Journaling Method, Okay? And the creator of the bullet journaling, His name is Ryder Carroll. That's his name, Okay? So this book is something that if you are interested in learning the why of the bullet journaling, How he came up with this method, And the ins and outs of this method, I honestly recommend that you read this book. The Bullet Journaling Method. I just got it from the library, Okay? So you don't have to buy it. If you have a library, Most likely they will have it. But this book really dives deeper into the specifics of the method that I can show you some examples. But basically, This is one thing that I like from the, So it says, The bullet journal method will help you accomplish more by working on less. How many of you want to accomplish more? By working on less. How many of you want that? So how many of you want to accomplish more by working on less? I think everybody wants that, Right? So it helps you identify and focus on what is meaningful by stripping away what is meaningless. Okay? So you are trying to identify what's meaningful for you, Remove all the excess that you don't need, So that you can get more done by working less. Okay? And this is the graph that they share, Okay? So there is a circle that is productivity, And there is another circle that is intentionality. So when those two circles touch, That is the, Sorry, Productivity is one and mindfulness is the other circle. And where they cross, That's intentionality. Okay? Because how much sense it makes to be very productive at doing something that you don't need, You don't want, And it's not aligned with you. Does that make any sense to be very productive at doing something that you don't care about? At doing something that you don't even want to do in the first place? And you don't have to do it, Right? If it's not a responsibility that you have to do, Like what's the point of being productive, Doing things that you don't want to do, You don't feel like doing, Or they are not aligned with you. That's why the bullet journaling or any journaling method is going to help you identify what do I really want? What is important to me? Okay? How much time do I really have? And then what's the priority of these things? What am I going to invest my time, Energy in doing? Not at all. Minimalism is about devoting your energy to what you truly value. Exactly. But if you cannot find that, You're going to learn productivity hacks. You're going to like create a week. You're going to do everything. But if the intention is not there, Okay? If you don't allow yourself time to be with yourself and really identify what's important to you, And then start creating the time for that, You will always be a victim of the situation, Of life, Of circumstances. You will always be putting fires off, But you will never have the time to do what you want to be doing. Okay? So another thing that I like from another quote that the book has, Listen this out. Intentional living is the art of making our own choices before others choices make us. Did you get it? So intentional living, That that's what my lives are all about, Like sharing intentional living with you. Intentional living is the art of making your own choices before others choices make us. So what does that mean? This is by Richie Norton, By the way, It's a quote from the book. So that means that if you don't take the time to decide what your choices are going to be and get clear on them, And then create and protect time and energy and creativity to make them happen, Others choices are going to make you and you are not going to like it. Intentional living is the art of making your own choices before others choices make us. Amazing. So the book is called the Bullet Journal Method by Ryder Carroll. Okay? So this is one of the books that I'm following today because many of you were asking about journaling methods and for me and for my wife, Bullet journal has been a very, Very nice method that we both have enjoyed and we use. Okay? Ryder Carroll. Can you see it? Ryder Carroll. That's the author. If you guys type the bullet journaling method on Google, You will find all the information. There is a nice website with all the information in there. So you have a lot of choices in there. Be aware that if you go online and you look for ideas, Okay, There are a lot of people out there that they are really good at bullet journaling and they are very creative, Very artsy. Okay? So they create these beautiful pages with beautiful colors. And what happens sometimes to some people is that they see that and they just feel I will never be able to do that. So I am not going to get started. For example, Some people see this. This is my wife's journal and they are overwhelmed. They are like, Wow, There is no way I'm going to spend time coloring that. There is no way I'm going to spend time doing all that. That's way too much. I'm not that creative. And then you start facing resistance. You start facing limiting beliefs. You start facing perfectionism. You start facing a lot of stuff and then you just choose not to do it. Okay? But my invitation to you is to get started. It doesn't have to be perfect. Okay? It doesn't have to be perfect. This is your journal. Do you guys want to see my evolution when I got started journaling a few years ago and how my journal looked like the first one? You want to see it? Yes. So this is my first journal. This was a notebook that I received for free in a conference. And my wife told me, Emilio, You should get started journaling. And I say, Sure, Whatever. And then I put a sticker of my business here. I don't know. So plain, Right? And then it's like, Okay. I opened the pages like, What do I do in here? I have no idea. Okay. I'm going to, I'm going to put my name and the date. So I did that. I put my name and the date. Okay. And I say, Okay. And then I started taking notes that didn't make any sense. And then I scratched them and then I, I did another one and I was testing a different pen. And then I was like embarrassed of this page. And then I did a project and then I was doing a layout of a project. And then when I was finishing, I was just scratching the page like that. I didn't have any method. This is a budget for a project that I was doing. So as you see, There is no structure. There is nothing like very like imperfect, Very like dirty, Just one single color. We play a game called fields. I just have scores in here from another day. Sometimes I don't even put the date on the page. So it doesn't matter. Like this was a year of practice for me. Like what is your learning? And I just was just doing this. Did I make any sense to me? But I was getting in the habit of doing it. Sometimes I use extra paper and then I say, Oh no, I have to use my journal. So I kind of fold it in a way that fit the page and I put it in there and I reminded myself, You have to use your journal. So this is, This was very like, Again, Like no system, Nothing, But I spent a whole year using it. Okay. So after this, I was inspired to say, Oh, Emilio, You've been doing this for like a year. That's great. So let's try something a bit more playful. So this is the other notebook I got. So I got some stickers out and then I put like a Emilio's journal on here. And then I started being a bit more clean. I started to set more intentions as you see here. Like I made this page that opens and I glued to the journal and then it says Emilio's to do list every day. And then I say, Drink one liter of water, Journal every day, Meditate every day and breathe properly every few hours. So that was my daily intention that I had in here. And this, This page can open, Doesn't matter where I am in my journal. Right. So, And then I started testing different methods. This is the five minute journal. I started like answering the same questions that I saw in that journal. Yeah. Green is my favorite color. How do you know? And then I started tracking my time as you see here. So I started implementing new ideas, Right? I started to implement a habit tracker as you see here. And then ideas, As you see, They started, I was ready. I was developing my capacity for journaling. And this is what I want to share with you guys. At the beginning, You will not have a hundred percent of capacity to do the journaling. This is a new habit for many of you. Okay. So it's okay to not know what to do. It's okay to don't have the clarity about how do you want to use your journal? That's why it's important to get started. Use it every day and start evolving, Evolving your system until you create something that feels good to you. From this, I went to this because I was resisting spending money on a nice journal. And I say, I can use a regular notebook. So again, It doesn't matter what notebook you use. You can use whatever you want, But this one, My wife made this nice picture for me. So I put it on the cover here and then I have a pocket here where I have some extra pages. And then this one, I started using the bullet journaling method that I learned. So I have an index and then I have like a daily, I have like a daily entry here. So I have a date and then I have the green is, Is what, What I like from the day and the celebrations. The red is the challenges that I was facing. And then I had my to do list. So I started developing the method of bullet journaling and then seeing how I felt with it. And it felt good. It felt really good. Okay. So it was a process. As I say, It was a process. It's consistency and it's just trying different things until you find something that you like. This was one of my attempts of designing my week. As you see, There is nothing, There is not much inside, But I started by just doing the basics of when do I sleep? When do I eat? When do I practice sport? And the rest, I had no idea how to do it. It's like, I don't know how to put the stuff in here. And then that's when I started tracking my weeks too. That's when I started doing this exercise of tracking my week, Right? Because I was trying to create my ideal week and I had no idea how to do it. So it's okay to not have any idea how to do it. That means that's a learning opportunity to see, Wow, Like how come that I don't know how I want my ideal week to look like. If I don't know that, Who is going to know it for me? No one. So I was going through my weeks and I wasn't liking my weeks, But I wasn't doing anything to change them. Okay. So that's why it's important to get started. Start implementing the things that you learn. Start implementing the ideas that you feel inspired about. And then if you don't like some, Just don't use them again. Keep evolving your progress, Your system. Keep making progress and the system that you need, It will reveal itself by you using it. Okay. Another thing that the bullet journaling does, It has like a month glance, A month view, And then you have like a view of your month and then the things that you are planning on doing or the things that you did. And this allows you to look at your month, The main events that happened. And this is great for reflection, Right? Because like in here I say, Oh wow, I did a session with Eric. I saw my first how to declare a course. I recorded a webinar with Jennifer. So the main takeaways first time using the breast pump, That was from my wife. Again, Like you just start tracking the things that are important to you and the things that you want to know. Deborah says, I write three journals currently. Deborah, Would you mind to share why do you have three journals and the intention of each one for others to know? Hello, I started journaling after my brother died in April. Save me. I also draw on it. Thank you for sharing. So for you, Was it like a place to grieve? Was it a place to bribe your thoughts? So again, If you want to share the intention behind it, That would be great. Thank you for sharing your progression Emilio. You're welcome, Lauren. I just want you guys to know that like it just, You just have to use it. For example, This is another method that I was trying to use. I was thinking what happens if the same day I have a column for like the things that I want to do and stuff. And then on the right side, I track my time. So I tried this too, But I didn't like it because I like to see my week all at once. So this method after doing it, I realized like, I don't like it. So I don't want to do this again. So I started doing my week in one page. Okay. So you guys are going to be different. And then the last thing I want to show you my week, And then I inserted a habit tracker. And I like that because that means that every week I can see my week all at once and I can track my habits just below it of the things that I want to do that week. And I can have a color like green or red. So that's something that I really enjoy. And my last journal, My last journal is this. I spent $30 on this. Okay. This is a Mullinskin. It's the brand. And then this is a very nice journal with dot pages. Emilio, Do you have thoughts on using a loose leaf binder versus bound journal? So Lenore, Let me share one thing with you. Oh, Yeah, It's here. Yes. I also use that. I use this binder one time. I had like a covering here and then what I did with this binder, I created different categories. I think I still have the names. Yeah. So I was using this in this way. I had book. So I was writing a book at that time. So I had a section for my book. I had a section for courses. I had a section for events. I had a section for coaching. Okay. I had a section for personal organization and home organization. So those are the sections that I used to have in here. And I like the idea of being able to put pages in and removing pages and move the order of them. Okay. So I use this method for a few months. What I found with this in my case is that it was too complicated for me. Like I started creating too many categories and then I had to remember how to go to each one and then it became a little bit overwhelming for me and I stopped doing this. But this is another option that you can test. Okay. Just test it again. This was a few months of me trying the idea and then I didn't like it. So I transitioned into this. Okay. And then in this now like I opened this and then I have my self care listing here and I have a photo of my family in here that I see. And then I have my what I call my life vision that is a drawing that I made a few months ago of how I want my life to look like. And then I have my affirmations in the back that I try to read often. Okay. And then the last entry that I have is I was trying to create a mindfulness routine here. So you can see the steps. I haven't been doing it every morning, But it's a start. I created the steps. I want to take three deep breaths. I want to close my eyes and do a quick body scan. I want to do gratefulness. Say 10 things I'm grateful for. Okay. I want to look at my creation and my self care list. So this is the mindfulness ceremony, A free ritual that I would like to create. And then I want to do the mirror work at the same time. So what I did, I went to the, To the store and I got a mirror and guess what color is the mirror? It's green. But then I tried to use this mirror to look at myself and do the mirror work at the same time. I'm doing the journaling and it wasn't happening because it wasn't convenient, But now it's right here. So I have no excuse. It's right there. Okay. And my pen is right here. So now my work is to make the time to actually make it happen. And that's one of the hardest things to do to create the time. Texture is of paper is everything for me. If the pen doesn't flow, I don't flow. Mark, That's a great observation. And I did a bunch of workshops about bullet journaling and something that came up in one of them, A person stood up and said, I don't want to journal if it's not worth my time. If I don't have a good quality journal, Let it cover a beautiful pen. If the experience of journaling is not great, I won't do it. So that person clearly said, I need a good quality, Something that feels worth my time to journal on. So that was important for him. And this is something that you guys have to reflect what kind of journal do you want? Okay. How, What size? And sometimes if you have your favorite backpack or purse and it's the size and you have these options, Maybe this one doesn't fit in the one that you always carry with you. So you will not use it because you don't have it with you, But maybe this size will. So again, Different sizes for different needs. If you write a lot, The size may be too small for you. But again, You have to, You have to test the idea, Test the system and see which one you like. Amy says, I need a beautiful cover. Otherwise it reminds me of school when I felt stupid as a kid. So Amy, For you, A notebook can trigger you, Right? Because it brings up a memory that you have from when you were little. So you are associating that notebook to feeling stupid. So it's either you change that or you get a notebook that inspires you. You get a notebook with a beautiful cover, Or you make it yours in a way that when you look at that notebook, You are invited to use it rather than, Um, Like triggered. I like ring bound journals. So Maya, There are different options out there about that option too. Uh, When I was looking for journals, I found two or three companies that they make it and they have these, Uh, Different sizes and the same idea. You can add pages and remove pages. And it's really convenient and you have different kinds of pages. You have blank pages, Dot pages, Um, Pages with lines. You have agenda style, Uh, You have like contact style. So you have different options that you can put in an app. I use like a, A Waco fountain pen flows wonderfully. And I have a variety of ink colors. Amazing. Caron. I use, I myself like this pen. It has four colors. And then I normally use the black color is to make headings and make the titles and stuff. The structure of the journal. The blue one is just to write the regular notes. The red one, I use it to write things that I am challenged by or things that I didn't like from my day. And the green one I use for gratefulness things that happened in my life that I'm grateful for. And then when I look at a page, Having those colors really helps, Helps me see, Helps me see very clearly those areas, Right? When I'm trying to, Uh, Reflect about my day, It's very easy for me to see, For example, If I look at this page, It's very easy for me to, To locate what, What my challenge was because I have it right there. It's in red. It's very easy for me to, To have the green ones and that's my gratefulness. And then the blue one is just the regular notes that I take. So that's how, But again, Different, Different ways for different people. Amy screenshot, Amelia's face and stick it in your journal. Okay. So I want to show you now in this book, I want to share with you how this method kind of works for you to have an idea. Again, Just take it with a grain of salt. Okay. This is not something that you have to do. Absolutely. But the book talks about having an index so that you can find things easily. Then you can have a, Like the future log. It's basically having the, The months in the future so that you can write things on every month. And then in here, This is the monthly log. The monthly log is basically a page for a full month. And then you will have from day one to day 30 or 31st, Depending on the month and you will write the things that happened that month. Okay. That's the, The month monthly log. And then the daily log is what you are going to be using every day to look, To, To track the things that are happening, Your to dos and things like that. Okay. Then you will have what they call collections and collection is basically a bunch of pages that you are using with a specific intention. So a collection could be, I am going to Hawaii and I am planning a trip. So I need a few pages to, To write down. I don't know where I'm, Where am I going to stay? Things I want to do while I'm there, The budget, Whatever you need to write in there, That will be a collection and it will be called Hawaii trip 2021. Another collection for me is blog post to write ideas for life sessions on insight timer. I could create a collection and then I will track in there all the ideas that I have to do life sessions. Okay. You can have a collection for budget, How much money you are spending, And then that's where you will track the money that you are spending on a daily, Weekly, Monthly basis. Again, Collections are very flexible and you can use them for whatever you want. Okay. And I know the thing that I really like from the bullet generally method is the migration. Okay. What does migration means? Migration means that when you write something down, Especially a task that you want to do, How many of you create an endless to do list. And then at the end of the day, You just break that to the list, Throw it out. And the next day you start over. How many of you do that? Okay. Okay. Because if you do that, The bullet generally, You are not going to remove the page. You are not going to throw it out. What you are going to be doing is like, You're going to write down the things that you want to do. And if you don't do them, You are going to migrate them. So you are going to reflect and you're going to think, Okay, This task, Is it still important? Yes or no? If it's a no, You will scratch it. And then you just don't do that. If it's still important, You will decide, Okay, When am I going to be doing this? So you can migrate it to the next day. You can migrate to the next month or you can migrate to the day that makes sense to you. Okay. Yeah. Amy says that you, You have inspired, You have your notes with inspiring coverage for $5. They don't have to be expensive. Guys, You don't have, If money's an issue for you, If budget is an issue, Just get a regular notebook again, Get started. And if you are afraid of wrecking your journal, Because it's not going to be perfect, Don't spend a lot of money at the beginning, Because a lot of people come to my live sessions. When I, When I was doing live sessions about bullet journaling with my wife, They will come to the session with a beautiful journal, Beautiful journal, But then they didn't have anything inside. And then we asked them like, What's going on here? This journal is so beautiful. I just don't want to write in it because I know I'm gonna, I'm gonna fuck it up. I'm gonna make a mistake. And then if I make a mistake, I will feel guilty. So I didn't get started because I need to learn first. And then it's very difficult. That's a lot of pressure to you. Don't do that. Please don't do that. Allow yourself the time to fail, To have fun, To be messy, To be imperfect. So you know what we did with that person. My wife came to her and say, Okay, I want you to open your journal. Okay. First page. Okay. I want you to write on the top, My first imperfect page. She brought that. And I want you now to scratch in the page. Just do something crazy. She said, What are you talking about? Just do it. So she grabbed the pen and then started doing this. I think, I actually feel better now I can get started. So that's what she did. So guys don't get, Don't allow perfectionism to stop you. Okay. Use whatever notebook you have, Whatever binder you want to use, Do whatever you need to do to get started and allow yourself to be messy. Allow yourself to make mistakes. Allow yourself to test ideas. Okay. And it's so beautiful to see the journal after a few months, How it evolved. Okay. I have a wreck this journal and did just the first activity. I'll have to find it. Yeah. Biggie it's okay. Again, If you are trying to get that beautiful, Perfect journal that you see online, You know how much time those people spend creating that journal. Are you willing to spend the same amount of time? Some people are, Some people are not and that's fine. Okay. So Savannah says, I have two journals at a time, One fancy one and one for free writing, Et cetera. Is it most, It is mostly about my inner life, Dreams, Guidance, Not much about the outer world activities, Have resistance to putting inner and outer life together. So Savannah, If that system is working for you and you feel aligned with having those two journals and you actually do them, You actually write on them and they are serving the purpose that you need them to serve. That's beautiful. And that's perfect. Okay. I was working with a person and she had three journals on her desk. So I asked her because I'm always curious to know how other people use the journals and the reasons behind why they do it. The first thing that I asked her is like, Oh, Do you journal? She said, Yes. Is it working for you? Yes. Great. I want to learn how you do it. I want to be curious about the system that you have. Can you share it with me? She said, Absolutely. This is my life journal. First one, My life journal has everything about my life and a little bit of work, But very general work. Okay. I don't have all the details of my work in there, But I have my week and I know what I'm working, When I'm free and my life, Family time and everything happens there. Second, Your now was her general work journal because she's a project manager. Okay. So she has a general work journal where she tracks. I don't know how many projects she was working on three, Five or whatever. Okay. Some projects are not very complicated. So she keeps track of them in there because every day, Maybe she needs one or two pages per parade. And that's fine. The third, Your now it's a dedicated journal for a specific project that is very time consuming. And she says, I need to fill up, I don't know, 10 to 20 pages of information in this journal. I am tracking 15 people working on this project. I have vendors. So if it came too complicated to have it in the main journal. So she has a dedicated third journal just for that specific project. So that will be like having a collection, But instead of having a collection in the same journal, You create a collection about that specific project on a separate journal. It makes sense to her. It's working for her. She's staying accountable. She's staying productive. She's staying decluttered. Her mind is focused and that's what matters. So that was her example. So for some of you, If you are feeling that you need more than one journal, Question it. Why is that? Is it because of perfection or is it because I really need to, Or I enjoy having to? And then just do that. Give it a try, Try, Test it. Okay. Test it and then see how it goes. And then when you find yourself using a system for a few months and it's flowing, Then you can think about what is the best journal to fit this specific need for me. How many pages do I need? Do I need a binder with rings that I can add and remove pages or a regular journal is good for me? You know what I mean? And then you will have more clarity. So this is a comparison about the traditional method and the bullet journaling method. Okay. So Amy says I stopped journaling many years ago after my husband read it and what I brought was the reason for my divorce. Okay. I guess that's something to take in account if you are writing very, Very private information and you don't want anyone to read it, Maybe you have to make sure that that journal is in a safe place, I guess. But yeah, I mean, When you are sharing a lot of your inner world in there, Someone can just grab it and read it and that can happen, Right? I'm sorry that that happened to you, Amy. So for example, This is one example of how the bullet journal works. Okay. So this person says, Okay, So they put the date, They put the date and then they say, Okay, I have to call Keith regarding a Saturday dinner. So they put a dot and then they put that's a task. So that's another thing I want to tell you guys, Like the rapid logging has a structure. Okay. So this is the structure that you see here. So if you use a dot, That means that this is a task, You have to do something about it. If you do a circle, That's an event. If you do a line, That's a note. And then if you cross the dot, That means that the task is done. And if you don't want to do the task, You will scratch it. And if you are migrating that task to a future, You will do an arrow that looks like that, Right? An arrow to say that you are migrating that task into another day. Okay. So knowing that logging every day, This is just one example of how it looks like. So you see that this person is like, Okay, I have to call this person. I have to go to this event. When I went to that event, I felt this way, Or I met this person that her name was Susan and Susan had two children that her name are William and Emily. And then I am going for dinner at Mike's house. And then I have to make sure that I bring a pie and her wife's favorite pie is lemon meringue. Okay. So he brought those things. And that's how it looks like. You are tracking the things that you want to do on a daily basis. And then when the day ends, You will put the date for the next day, And then you will complete that page. In my case, I like that because it's not a set to stone structure. You don't have to have the whole year in there. In my case, Sometimes I went to a conference, For example, If I need three pages to take notes, I can use three pages. If I want 10 pages, I can use 10 pages. And if I only use half a page, I only use half a page. So it's very flexible. Okay. Some people like to have the whole year in there. And then if they want to take a lot of notes, They either do it at the end of the journal, Or they have a separate journal for that. Again, You have to test the different ideas and see which one you feel more comfortable following. There are wonderful YouTube videos on broker journaling. Highly recommended. Yeah, Michelle, There are so many beautiful content out there for you to get inspired. I have multiple in different locations, So it's handy and I've typed entries so I can flow faster. Amazing. Now my daughter is reading everything I email or text also that create many misunderstandings and fights. Yeah, Reading this may bring to mind that others may have a different reality than you might. Yeah. Yeah. So guys, How do you feel about the bullet journaling so far? Do you feel that this is something that you can use? Do you feel, Again, This is a book, A very in-depth book. And I honestly, When I got started, I was a bit overwhelmed about the structure. I was overwhelmed about how to use the different things. But when you start using it, Okay, When you understand kind of the flow and then you just give it an honest try with curiosity, See how it flows for you. For me, It became clear the things that I liked and the things that I didn't like. So I tried the monthly algorithms and I tried the calendar aspect of the bullet journaling and I faced that in my case, I use my phone for that. I use Google Calendar because I share the calendar with my wife because I just need to update it. And if I don't do it, I don't want to do double the work. So for me, The calendar piece doesn't live in my journal. Okay, That's for me. What lives in my journal is the daily log, It's monitoring my week, It's writing down what I like from my day, What I didn't like, And creating my life vision. Okay, Doing my creation about the different areas of life and just writing down the things that I want to make a reality in my life. So those are things that live in my journal. For example, This is the last creation that I did. Okay, This is, It's a page and then I write the different areas of my life. And then I write what I want to do. And then when I do them, I actually close them or I use a green pen to just say I did this or I didn't do that. And then some of the things I will ask, Why didn't I do this? And then I will reflect, It's like, Is it because I didn't have time? Is it still relevant for me? If it is, It will go to the next creation. If it's not, I will say, You know what, This was a great idea, But right now it doesn't feel right for me anymore. So I'm going to let it go with confidence. Okay. So this is just one example of like how it works for me. Another thing, Like sometimes, For example, In here, I did a gratefulness challenge and every day I was writing 10 things I was grateful for. So I just did that consistently for a few days. That lives in my journal, Right? I just did it every day so I can go back to this and I can read it. And then I can, I can reflect about that. I also do the habit tracking. Okay. So those are some of the things that you guys can try. Need to run half hand writing. Bye Yana. I think bullet bulleting sounds efficient and wonderful. Let's carry more simple, Better consistency. Plus my handwriting sucks, So less words. Yeah. Susan, The bullet journaling is very simplistic. Okay. It's very, Very simplistic. It's just very simple, Very structured, Very like minimalist. So that's something that, That is very nice that you don't have to spend a lot of space. You don't need to use colors. You don't have to be creative. What is a habit writing? Michelle, I don't know what you mean by that, But I guess just writing about something that you are interested about. Do you ever do catching up if you miss a day? So Maya, Sometimes you just don't use the journal for a few days. I haven't been using my journal daily for the past few weeks because I need simplicity because I have already structure because my week became a habit because I'm trying to do less. I'm trying to have less structure and I'm trying to flow more. So in my case, Now I know that I do the live on inside timer. I am creating a new course. So I'm doing enough that keeps me busy enough. And I know I cannot take on more. So the only thing I have to do is monitor that I am actually doing that every day. And I use my journal to, To reflect and then to look at my creation, But I'm not actively writing down everything as I used to. Once I finished my course and I, I get like, Okay, I have extra time and energy now to like, I may go back and then do a daily thing again. You will know how it feels to you. Some people need to do a habit tracking every single day because you are creating a new habit. Some people say I have done it. That's fine. I don't need it right now. Some people may need to write every single day, Three pages, Five pages. Some people won't. It depends on your needs and it depends what feels good to you. I need to get more guidance. I can tell I'll check out the book. This will be a great way to, Uh, Yeah, To get your life more organized. The book really, Really helped me get understand the mindfulness aspect of journaling. Okay. Uh, The habit creation of journaling and all the different ideas that you can implement with examples so that you can start taking action. At the end of the book, He shares lots of examples of how people use the bullet journaling, How it looks like. Okay. So you can see different examples here. And then if you go online, You can see what people do inside bullet journals. There are so many ideas like this is an example of a gratitude log from a person. Um, Some people draw stuff like my wife is very creative. Okay. My wife is very creative. So she, She does a lot of like, She uses a lot of color. She, She has a having a habit tracker that she does every month. Uh, She does her creation and then she likes to use some drawings and colors and you see like she has a creation and then she has the, The habit tracker for the whole month underneath. And then she will call her if, If, If she's doing things or not. Um, So you can see like this is her, Her month at a glance for August. So you can see that she writes the main events that happen in the moon. And then she has like a brain dump, Um, Cause that she wants to create. So she said somehow the intention, I don't know. This is another page of, Uh, Ideas and notes. And this is what came up for her. I am sure she was probably attending a class or doing a webinar and then she likes doodling. So she likes coloring, Doing mandalas, Doing something like that. So this is a way for her to, She's still listening. Like I, I remember one time I was in a class with her and she was like this all the time. And the teacher actually stopped the class and say, Uh, Excuse me. And then Samantha kind of like, She was like this, No. And then she say, Uh, Yeah, What are you doing? You're not paying any attention. I say, I am actually listening very carefully what you are saying. I'm just, I just like doodling at the same time. And then the guy was kind of upset. And then she said, What was I talking about? And then she went like, You were saying this, This and that and this and then, And I, My opinion is about this, This and that. And then he was like, Okay, So you are listening. Okay. That's fine. But she likes doodling and doodling helps her concentrate. And she's actually listening very carefully, Even if she's not looking at you. So again, Different styles, Different ways for different people. And for her, The journal is a place to be creative. It's a place to doodle. It's a place, Um, Yeah, I can show the page again. You can see that she used different colors and then she just has different ideas. And I don't know. Sometimes, Excuse me. Sometimes it's nice to just let it flow. Okay. You are in front of your journal and then you just let it flow. Like honestly, When I created this, I didn't do it in my journal because I didn't have it with me, But when I created this live vision, Okay, I didn't have an idea of what I was doing. I just started doing stuff. And then I started thinking, Oh, This is my family. I love my family. So my family, And I noticed that I draw my family in the center of the page. So I realized, Wow, They are the main focus of my life. Right. And then around my family, I started doing the things that I want to see. I want to create courses. Those courses will impact thousands of people in the world. And in return, They will pay me and they will send me great feedback and I will do one-on-one coaching and help people one-on-one. And I will always keep learning new things and attending classes and, And getting better and getting inspired. And by doing all these things, My life will be variety, Will be playful, Will be, Uh, This is me kite surfing with the sunshine and then my wife and even the, So all that flow out of nothing. And I was like, I was looking at it and I was like, Wow, Like I didn't plan for this to happen. Like I just started drawing and this came out and I'm not a very creative person, So I'm not a good drawer. So again, Sometimes just allowing yourself the time and space to do it can help you just develop the habit. Okay. So guys, We are at the end of the session. Any specific questions that you have before we go about journaling that I didn't cover. We woman like multitasking. So beautiful that plan. Thank you. Me too. I write a lot on color. Yeah. So what is your main takeaway from this session? How often do you glue stuff in like a scrapbook? Sometimes you can do that anytime you want. Uh, Sometimes, Uh, If you forget your journal and you do something on a piece of paper or on an napkin, You can glue that into your journal. Of course, That's not a problem. Uh, Whatever feels good to you. There are no rules. Uh, Try different things. Yeah. Just start. Just start. Absolutely. Just start doing it. Exactly. Start. Get started. Get the book. Absolutely guys. Get the book. The bullet journal method by Ryder Caro. Get the book, Read it and you will understand a lot of why he created that. Allow to be messy. Yes. Just start and mistakes are fine. They are to be expected and will help learn what style works for you. Absolutely. To create an outer life journal instead of using loose pages for life's task. Amazing. Journaling intimidates me. I can try so. Shelly, Just think about the intention and an actual, I also reflect why does it intimidate you? What's behind that intimidation? So that's a learning opportunity to why are you facing resistance? Right? And this is something for all of you when you get started and you're facing resistance. Yes. I just said, Wow, Why am I facing resistance of giving this a try? Why, What, Uh, What am I afraid of? I have a lot and send myself postcards when on vacation to put in my journal. Yeah. That's amazing. Please show the book again. I joined late. Yeah. The book is called the bullet journaling method by Ryder Carroll. If you type bullet journal on Google, You will find it very easily. He's the creator of the method and the book is right there. Okay. I love that idea. Could you show your weekly page again? Yeah. So the weekly page, I can show you one of my wives, For example, That is very colorful. So this is just one, That idea, Right? This is how it looks like. So my wife and I, We have a, A week that we create together because we were frustrated with our daughter Eva. We didn't know when we were supposed to do things. We are both self-employed. So we were lacking a lot of structure. So we decided we divided our time. When is who is taking care of Eva? When, When am I allowed to go and play squash, Go to the gym, Meet my friends, Just work. When is she allowed to do yoga and do the things that she wants to do? So we create a structure that repeats every week. And then anytime we feel frustration, We sit together. And then we, We look at the calendar and say, What can we change in this week to, To make sure that we both feel well, But that we are not dismissing obligations. Right? So that's how we do it. That's how it was for us. Give myself permission to be messy or uncomfortable. It's okay. Just start. You learn, Just get started. If you are afraid of making mistakes, Just choose a novel that you don't care about, But get started and allow yourself mistakes. Mistakes are necessary for you to discover what works and what doesn't for you. If you don't make those mistakes, You will not gain clarity. You will not discover what method works for you the best. You have to allow those mistakes to happen. Okay. Just think about a baby learning how to walk. How many mistakes do they need to make before they can actually walk? How many? And then the parents around that baby, Are they stopping them from making mistakes or are they encouraging them to keep trying, Try again, And they are playful and they are encouraging. So do that with yourself. You are learning a new habit. You want to try journaling. Allow yourself to fail a thousand times. Allow yourself to have fun. Allow yourself to be messy. Allow yourself to say, Wow, That didn't work. I don't like it. I know I don't want to do that. Next idea. Next idea. I love that idea. I'm going to do it again tomorrow. And then you start developing, Refining your method. Okay. And that only happens with experience. And experience only happens when you allow yourself to do it. And experience happens after you make mistakes and you learn from them. Okay. So you are not making mistakes. You are learning what doesn't work. You are learning what you don't like by doing it. If you don't do it, You will never know and you will never make progress. Okay. So just think about that. You are making progress by identifying what doesn't work for you and focusing on what is working for you or focusing on a new idea to see if that works better for you. Okay. I always think of skateboarding and all their fault and they keep getting up. Yeah. Any skill guys, Any person that has mastered something, Just go to them and ask them how many times did you fail? Guys, I juggle. That's the master of failing. Juggling is the master of failing. You failed thousands and thousands and thousands of times. And now you see me juggling and I juggle four balls. And people are like, Wow, You are so perfect. It's like, No, I spent a lot of time failing guys. I failed so many times. You just didn't see that. Now I'm learning how to do five and people see me failing a lot, But it does the process. I have to repeat, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat, Repeat until I was, I'm able to start seeing the pattern sometimes, But I cannot do five yet. But if I don't keep failing, Failing, Failing, I will never get five balls in the air. Question. How do you use reflection on what you have journaled to make progression in your life? Lauren asked this earlier. Thank you, Lauren. So Becca, How do you use reflection? First, By having a place where you are reflecting. So you need to have a place where you are writing down the things that you are trying to change, The things that, Uh, That you failed. Uh, In my, In my case, I have different ways. I do my creation. Okay. When, When I do my creation, That looks like this, I will come back to this page and I will say, Okay, Emilio on September, 2021, September 13th, You brought down body. You want to explore a Vipassana idea. You want to do hot yoga weekly. You want to do a cleanse with when Sam is gone, She was traveling. So I did the class for five days. I am doing yoga regularly. I explore the Vipassana idea and I decided not to do it now because it didn't match my calendar. Uh, Simplify meal planning. That's something that I still have to do. So my reflection here will be, Okay, I want to simplify my meal planning. Okay. Is this something important? Yes. Do I want to do it? Yes. So this will go to my next creation. I want to make that a priority. Uh, Change my morning coffee for use. I don't want to do that. So I will scratch that. I don't want to do that. It was an idea, But I don't want to do it. It doesn't feel right for me. And I love coffee. Like I have a coffee here. Okay. So that's how that's one way. Another way. Anytime you are doing your daily log, You will write down things that you didn't like from that day. So for example, Let me see if I can find a day here, Uh, For you to see. So for example, This is just one, One of my days. Okay. So this is one of my days. I will write down something green that I loved things that happen. I know the green thing that I love and here there are no red things, But if there is a red thing, That's a challenge. That's something that I didn't like. So if I see something red, I will come back and I will say, Oh wow. On Wednesday, I really like the couple of times that I did with Samantha while having breakfast. I really enjoyed playing tennis with my friend Stan. So those two things, I love them. Uh, Let me see if I find something that I didn't like. If I write something in red, That means that for example, Thursday here, I have a red thing. So I will come to this, To this, And then I will say, Oh, We had another argument Sam and I, And I am tired of this. I don't know what to do, How to behave. It sucks. That's what I brought. Okay. So I will come here and I will reflect, Oh wow. What happened here? Why did we have an argument? How can I avoid that argument in the future? So now we do intentional dialogues. Okay. So anytime we sense a frustration, We do an intentional dialogue. That's our reflection about this intentional dialogues help us get to the, To the point and feel heard and, And, And respected. Okay. So this is ways for us, How we reflect on this. I hope it helps. I told a friend I was quitting coffee. She said, You are Colombian. What Colombian woman quits coffee. Thank you for your honesty. Maybe thank you. Uh, I put it in a, Uh, In a donation, But didn't see, Uh, Thank you so much, Lauren. Okay guys. So I have to go now. Thank you so much for being here today. I hope that this session helps you get clarity and get started guys. If you take something from the session is this, Get a journal, Whatever that is, A piece of a piece of paper, A binder, Whatever you want to use and get started. Think about the intention and get started. Read the book. If you want to go to the store and look at the passion planner, The five minute journal, All the different options, See what you feel inspired about and start doing that in your journal. Okay. So if you see on the passion planner, I love how it invites me to set the intention for every day of my week. If you like that, Do that in your journal. If you open the journal and say, I hate this structure. Don't do that in your journal and then start perfecting your method, Start using it, Start failing, Start being imperfect, Start discovering your flow and keep doing it. Okay. That's the main takeaway that I want you guys to take from this session. Thank you, Everyone. And maybe you are extra special for openly sharing so much. Thank you to Samantha too. Yeah. You are welcome guys. Thank you so much for being here. If you like this session, You can always support me with a donation or you can enroll in one of my courses here on Inside Timer. Make sure that you follow me so that you don't miss any live sessions. And I will see you on Thursday that we are going to talk about hygge. It's a very cool philosophy that comes from the Northern Europe countries. It's about feeling cozy. It's about minimalism, But in a different way. You will love it. And yeah, Please take one of my courses. I have one about self care. I have another one about minimalism and I am almost finished creating my new one about creating your peaceful and clutter free home. I hope to have it finished by Wednesday this week. So hopefully they publish it soon. Okay. Thank you so much guys. Have an amazing rest of the week and I will see you on Thursday at the same time. 10 AM. Bye bye guys.