480: The Power Of Journaling

So watch what happens with your nervous system.

Journaling can become like a friend.

Like literally,

If you feel like you want to talk to somebody and that person's not available or you don't feel like you have anyone you can talk to,

Grab a journal.

I think there's magic when we place pen to paper.

I really do think it taps into the unconscious mind on a different level.

When you get in the flow state of journaling,

You're going to be amazed at what comes through you that you thought you didn't have access to.

Because again,

Pen to paper,

When we get in that flow state,

It starts to bring up unconscious memories.

You start gaining awareness around things like,

Gosh,

I didn't even know that about myself.

I had no clue.

Look at this.

This is crazy.

I love it.

Welcome back,

My friends.

This is Michelle Shelfat.

Welcome to the Michelle Shelfat Show.

It is that time of year again,

You know,

When the bears go into hibernation.

And here at the Michelle Shelfat Company,

We start talking about journaling.

It's a great thing to do this time of year.

It is a beautiful,

Introspective tool that helps us to process emotions and move energy,

Move emotions,

Help us heal,

Help us transform.

There's so many reasons why we love journaling around here.

And every year we do the journaling challenge in November and it is upon us.

So I love to talk about really the power of journaling.

Why do we journal?

How do we journal?

What does that even mean?

Why the hell do I want to start journaling?

I don't like journaling.

All these questions will be answered today.

So let's talk about,

First of all,

There is huge power in journaling.

Journaling is a,

Something we do with journaling is a process.

You know,

It really helps us to move energy,

Which is we can move thoughts,

We can move emotions.

It really can transform us in so many ways.

But something that it does is it can actually alchemize or help us to process and metabolize emotions.

So some people say,

I just feel stuck.

You know,

I don't know what to do.

I don't know how to move forward.

So I always suggest one of the things to do around that is to put a pen to paper and get curious about what comes out.

You never know when you start journaling,

You never know what's going to come out and move through you.

You just want to start writing pen to paper,

Right at the top of the paper.

I feel stuck and then see what happens next.

See what comes next.

I feel stuck and I don't know what to do.

What are some options?

What happens is when we just let our pen to paper go,

It actually leads us into an unconscious journey if we allow it.

And we don't go into that perfectionism around writing.

We don't have to make sure we have perfect handwriting.

Nobody's going to read this thing but you.

So allow yourself just to write,

Write,

Write,

Write.

You can say,

I feel stuck.

I think journaling is stupid.

Like write that.

If that's how you feel,

Write it.

Because what happens is there's an actual stream of consciousness that starts to come right through your hand and onto your paper if you give it the space to do that.

So that's something.

So if you're feeling stuck,

Overwhelmed,

Or just even having a great day,

Journaling is wonderful.

It just start writing somewhere,

Start writing,

Meaning start somewhere,

Wherever you are,

Any emotion that you're feeling,

Good,

Bad,

Indifferent,

Write about it.

And watch what unfolds as you're journaling.

As that stream of consciousness starts coming through you,

You might be amazed.

Because what I find is I start getting new ideas or epiphanies will drop in.

Yeah,

Things where I might have felt stuck or blocked,

It's like,

Oh,

There it is.

It's right there.

How'd that happen?

What I find is that sometimes something else seems to just take over because I get writing so fast.

I don't even know what I'm writing sometimes if you guys know what I'm talking about.

Once you get in that flow state,

It just starts flowing through you.

It's like water pouring right through us.

So it's a beautiful process to help process,

Alchemize,

And again,

Metabolize emotions.

Number two,

Like I kind of just said,

It helps us to access inner wisdom.

We all have wisdom within,

All of us,

Every human does.

The question is,

Is how do we access it?

There are a myriad of ways to access your inner wisdom or your higher wisdom.

But one of the ways that I love doing this is with journaling.

And we can call it automatic writing or just start journaling.

Call it whatever the heck you want to call it,

But do journal and watch what happens.

You're going to get insights and clarity when you access that higher mind or what we call even our adult voice,

That higher,

Healthy adult self will start to come through.

You can ask it questions like,

Hey,

I'm struggling with this.

Help me,

Higher self,

Adult chair,

Whatever you want to call it,

Higher adult self,

Healthy adult self.

What can I do here?

What are some of my options?

Pause.

And what I say is tune into what's coming up through you instead of,

But hey,

If you're writing from your brain,

That's okay too.

Because what happens eventually is again,

When you get this process going,

It becomes more automatic and then higher wisdom starts to stream on through.

It's pretty remarkable,

I have to say,

When we get that stream going.

Another thing that happens when we're journaling is nervous system regulation.

There's an actual calming effect that can happen when we're journaling because so many of us go through life and we might not have an outlet.

And when we do share with somebody,

It might not feel better.

But oftentimes when we're writing it down and we see it in front of us,

It changes our perspective.

It is relaxing to us just to get it out and through us.

Think about a kink in the hose,

Right?

And the water's not running.

When we're able to actually write,

It unkinks the hose.

Give it a try.

The next time you feel overwhelmed or in panic,

Write about it.

I have referenced journaling to so many clients over the years because when we get in our heads and we're anxious about something,

What I have found is when we take what we're anxious about,

Which is way up here,

And bring it down through pen and paper in front of me,

It changes my perspective.

I'm like,

Oh,

Why am I so upset about that?

I had no idea.

That's interesting.

I think I'm okay.

And when we look at it in 3D reality,

Which is right here in my journal in front of me,

Suddenly I'm not that stressed anymore.

I might have a few solutions to my problem and sitting right in front of me,

I don't know that happened.

It just came through.

So watch what happens with your nervous system.

Journaling can become like a friend.

Literally,

If you feel like you want to talk to somebody and that person is not available or you don't feel like you have anyone you can talk to,

Grab a journal.

Grab a journal and start writing a journal as if it is a friend.

Something else that's beautiful is inner child journaling.

I love working with my inner child.

You can do this in so many different ways,

But when we start journaling with the intention of working with or speaking with or connecting with our inner child or one of our other parts,

But let's stick to the inner child for now,

We can actually dialogue with that part of us through journaling.

So we might ask our inner child a question and then we can switch hands with our pen.

So if I'm right-handed,

I'll start out with that and then I put my pen in my left hand and let the inner child answer.

So it's a really beautiful process.

But even if you don't switch hands,

You can still just ask yourself the question of,

I'm really wondering,

I'd like to speak to my six-year-old.

I'd like to speak with the three-year-old that feels really scared right now.

What is it that they want to say?

And then get quiet for a moment,

Pause,

Take a breath,

And then allow your pen to write knowing that you are connecting with that younger version of self.

And then you,

Again,

Go back to the dialogue within yourself as the adult you that you are today.

You answer in the journal and then let your child answer back.

So you can put the name like,

I would put like Michelle,

You know,

And then below it,

Little Michelle,

If you want,

Or however you want to do it.

This is the thing.

When you're journaling,

It's customized based on you.

There's no right or wrong.

You cannot get this wrong.

But so have fun with it.

Be loose about it.

Another thing that we do that makes journaling easy,

Because some people go,

I don't even know what to say.

And I've encouraged people to say,

Then write that at the top of the paper.

I don't know what to say.

I don't like journaling.

Write about it.

I don't like journaling.

I think it's stupid.

Whatever you want to say.

Again,

It gets that stream of consciousness going.

But for people that really feel stuck,

This is why I do the journaling challenge every year in November,

Every single day of the month of November,

To help you to really move some emotions,

Some energy through you,

To really help you to shift mentally where you might feel blocked,

To help you to gain a new awareness of who you are.

And what you're all about.

It's an incredible journey when you do this for an entire month,

Because you uncover little bits and pieces about yourself.

You start gaining awareness around things like,

Gosh,

I didn't even know that about myself.

I had no clue.

Look at this.

This is crazy.

I love it.

So it's a really,

Really beautiful transformational journey.

And it's really a sacred experience.

I love when I am,

I mean,

You can do so many different things with journaling.

I remember going out and buying a journal and I was journaling and built a relationship with money.

So many people I find have had issues around money and they want more money,

But they don't know how to create it.

And then they go,

I got to work this job,

This nine to five for the next 35 years.

And then maybe I'll have enough money in the bank to retire.

No,

Not true.

Again,

This is another podcast we can talk about.

By the way,

We can quantum leap.

We can literally start working with different aspects of self when it comes to different topics.

And one of them being money.

Okay.

So many of us are triggered around money.

So many of us have what I call misbeliefs around money.

So this is something really fun I did.

So I bought a journal and I called it my money journal.

And I would write letters to money,

The energy of money.

I would picture a pile of money out there somewhere in the world,

And I would write letters to it and I would invite it to come see me.

And I would imagine kind of like doing the inner child work that money would actually respond to me.

It was the coolest experience,

But I had this money journal.

I've had people journal to,

I remember several clients that wanted to attract a new partner.

And I said,

Why don't you start journaling to them as if they are out there and you're going to draw them in.

Oh my gosh.

I had so many people draw in partners doing this work.

They started to write down their ideal partner and they'd write it down in their journal.

And I'd say,

Talk about in your journal what you want your relationship.

What are you going to be doing in your relationship?

Oh,

So they'd write a letter either to their future partner.

They would write to themselves or to their partner or to their relationship.

You can have a relationship journal,

Journal about the relationship that you'd like to have every aspect of it.

We're going to travel to Spain.

We're going to live together in this kind of house.

We're going to live in this state.

We're going to go to football games on Sundays because we both love sports.

Journal about it.

Get your ideas out there.

This is how we craft our reality.

So journaling again can be a beautiful way to process our emotions,

A beautiful way to connect with higher wisdom,

And a beautiful way to actually create a new reality.

So I could go on and on about journaling.

It is powerful because it really brings energy that's out there outside of us into and through and into our current reality,

Which is the 3D reality.

This is where pen to paper happens.

And this is where we can really make some big changes in our lives.

So do journal.

Please experiment with it.

See what is fun for you.

The other thing is when I journal,

I create a sacred space.

You do not have to do this.

Sometimes I just sit and journal out by my lake.

I sit there,

But every time I journal,

I buy myself a beautiful journal that I like,

Something that resonates with me.

And it's a sacred container for my thoughts,

For my emotions.

And I don't put it out on the counter.

I do put it away.

I don't want people reading it.

So I put it somewhere in a closet where nobody's going to read it.

Sometimes if I'm inside,

I'll light some incense or I'll light a candle.

Sometimes I'll pull like an oracle card and then I journal.

So do you.

You do you.

Whatever feels right for you.

Sometimes you can say a prayer,

Set an intention,

All these things you can do,

But you make it this really beautiful experience for you.

Journaling is actually a form of self-care because it's all about you when you're journaling.

So it's an awesome,

Awesome experience.

Okay.

So some questions have come in around journaling.

And I'm sure that some of you out there have these similar questions.

But someone had asked,

Does journaling make emotions linger and or stuck?

I'm afraid to journal because if I start journaling around my emotions or about my emotions,

Are they going to get stuck within me?

No.

Emotions get stuck when we try to avoid them or push them away.

It's kind of like the pink elephant in the room that you don't want to look at.

It's like they're sitting right there.

What are you doing with those emotions?

It's one way to process your emotions.

So write about them.

And what happens is when you're writing about them,

You'll find a solution.

You find an outcome.

You're able to move forward when you're actually writing about how you feel.

So it's absolutely fine to journal.

Your emotions,

They will not linger and they will not get stuck.

Does consistent journaling matter?

And I'm going to say this.

I journal when I feel moved to journal.

And I feel a pull.

Like this morning,

I definitely felt a pull.

I said,

Oh gosh,

I can feel myself.

I can feel there's some part of me.

Call it my higher self,

Soul,

Whatever part you want to call it.

It felt like it wanted to just connect with me in that way.

And that happens most days of the week.

Not every single day.

I'm not going to lie.

But most days of the week,

I'm journaling on a consistent basis.

You don't have to journal for long.

You can journal for 10 minutes,

5 minutes,

30 minutes,

An hour.

You make it you.

Again,

You do you.

What feels right for you.

People love it though,

Because it really moves them through things.

So it takes about 21 days to build a new habit.

We're anchoring it in.

A lot of people ask me about,

I'm a perfectionist,

I don't know how to journal.

Nobody's reading this thing.

So you do not need to be a perfectionist.

My handwriting is horrible because sometimes I write really fast.

I can't even read what I'm writing.

You don't have to worry about punctuation.

Let it go.

Let all of that go and just let yourself go.

Let yourself be in the journal,

Whatever that means to you.

Just let it come through you and no judgment.

No judgment.

Nobody's criticizing you.

Nobody's critiquing you.

Just let it happen.

Someone said,

I hate my handwriting.

I want to type it out instead.

I think there's magic when we place pen to paper.

I really do think it taps into the unconscious mind on a different level.

However,

With that said,

If you really don't want to handwrite into your journal,

And use pen to paper,

I'm not opposed to you creating a journal in your Google doc or Microsoft Word.

I don't care.

Just do it.

Just do it because it's such a benefit.

It is so healing and healthy for us to journal.

So if it resonates more with you to type,

Go ahead and type it out.

Sometimes in the morning,

Again,

I just want to like talk and there's nobody there to talk to when I'm on my walk and I'll just do audio recordings and I'll just process through speaking.

Again,

Find your way.

Our life path is all about finding our way to reconnect to self.

And if journaling is calling to you or if you're curious about it,

This is the time to do it.

This is the time to check it out and see if it is for you.

But make it a fun thing.

Get really curious about it.

Like,

Maybe it is,

Maybe it isn't.

I don't know.

Who knows?

So that's that as far as journaling goes.

Okay,

One more thing I forgot.

Someone did ask this question the other day to me and I love this question.

She said,

What if I don't have any earlier childhood memories?

What if I actually even feel a block to tapping into those earlier childhood memories?

Which I love that question,

By the way.

Here's the thing that you can do.

Number one,

You journal around your block.

Draw on your journal.

Nothing says you have to journal and write,

Draw.

What does that block look like?

Is it a wall?

Is it a brick wall?

Is it a stone wall?

Is it a wooden wall?

What does that block look like?

Have a conversation with that block right in your journal.

Hello,

Wall.

Hello,

Block.

What do you want me to know?

What is your purpose?

And then you thank it.

There's no criticizing the block.

It's just you're getting to know one of your parts.

It's beautiful.

It falls right in line with actually with parts work.

So you can just sit and go,

Or excuse me,

With inner child work,

Which is parts work.

But you're getting to know these parts of you that are rising up because they feel safe enough to present themselves because you're actually making space and creating time to talk to yourself about these things.

You're going to be amazed at what starts to pop up for you.

Like,

Where'd that come from?

It's sort of like rising to the surface,

Right?

It's rising to the surface because it wants your attention.

It's like,

Oh,

You're going to listen to me?

I got something to say to you.

Okay,

Good.

Write about it.

So I would journal or draw and get creative in your journal around a block if you have that.

And if you come across a journaling prompt and it's asking about earlier years,

You're going to not believe this,

But I promise you when you get in the flow state of journaling,

You're going to be amazed at what comes through you that you thought you didn't have access to because again,

Pen to paper,

When we get in that flow state,

It starts to bring up unconscious memories.

So things that you go,

Oh my gosh,

I completely forgot about that.

Yeah,

You did because we don't walk around in our unconscious mind,

But the journaling experience can bring us into that unconscious state and things start coming up to the surface that you didn't know about.

So yeah,

That's the power of journaling.

It puts us when we really get going and I speak from experience on this and other people almost like we get into a trance state at times when we really get going,

When that pen is just going,

Going,

Going,

Going,

Going.

I mean,

There's so much to be said that we have.

It's like,

It's just a great way to get it out there.

You'll be amazed at what can come through when we give ourselves the opportunity to number one,

Take the time to do this.

Number two,

Get quiet long enough to tap in,

Get present and let the stuff come up through us.

It's beautiful.

And for those,

You know,

I've had this question every year,

People say to me,

What if someone reads my journal?

Here's the thing.

If you're really,

Really afraid of that,

Again,

Type it or write down on a piece of paper what your answer is to the journaling prompt or even if you're just journaling on a blank piece of paper and not using a journaling prompt,

Burn it at the end of the day.

It's a beautiful ceremony.

Make it a ritual.

I'm going to write and burn,

Write and burn,

Write and burn or burn once a week or burn once a month,

Throw it in your fireplace.

It doesn't matter.

You don't necessarily have to go back and read.

I really don't go back and read much of my old journals,

Although some people do.

Again,

You do you.

There's no right or wrong way of journaling.

There's no right or wrong way.

It is a beautiful experience though.

Again,

It can take five minutes or an hour,

Whatever you want.

They're not very long,

But they're just enough to actually get you going so you can start writing,

But they're going to take you deep enough to actually shift.

I'll see you next week right here.

Have a great week,

Everybody.