Journal to connect with yourself
Today I had a phone call with my accountability partner and one of the topics was a method I use when writing my journal. For me, a journal is a tool to reflect, see the lessons in my experiences and connect with myself. Do this every morning or evening. It’s part of your routine. Fill in the brackets and you will see how this works:
Dear [your name],
[In this paragraph, you write about your recent experiences. In most cases, picking one specific thing that sticks out to you in your recent memories is a good choice. Just write about what that thing was and how it made you feel about yourself.]
Boundaries: [Write a couple sentences on how that experience makes you aware of your boundaries. I mean boundaries that keep you safe, boundaries that represent your values, boundaries that signalize when something you are doing hurts you.]
Empathy: [Write a couple sentences on how that experience makes you aware of the empathy you have for yourself or how you can cultivate it. Relate to your past self and realize what emotions were present in that experience.]
Equals: [Write a couple sentences on how that experience makes you aware of your equality to other people, because we all go through whatever sort of experiences in our lives.]
Forgiveness: [Write a couple sentences on how that experience makes you aware of the forgiveness you can give yourself without any condition. Let go of grudges, painful experiences and forgive yourself.]
Independence: [Write a couple sentences on how that experience makes you aware of your independence and personal growth. Focus on how this experience can make you grow as an independent individual who takes ownership.]
Control: [Write a couple sentences on how that experience makes you aware of the reach of your control. You can control your reaction to your thoughts, the way you think and your behaviors but not other people.]
Coherence: [Write a couple sentences on how that experience makes you aware of the alignment of your thoughts, actions and how that fits the situation. Perhaps you wish you had reacted differently in that experience. Learn how you can be more in alignment with yourself from that experience.]
Self-Appreciation: [Write a couple sentences on how that experience makes you aware of how much you appreciate yourself. If you have little appreciation for yourself, give yourself words of appreciation and gratitude without any conditions. You are you and that’s okay.]
Take care,
[your name]
I hope this showcases that a journal can be a way to connect with yourself without any judgement but with curiosity, compassion, and empathy instead. Engaging in compulsive porn use is distancing yourself from you and others, numbing your feelings and coping with life in a destructive manner. With a journal you practice the opposite.
Take care.