Journaling Your Way to Discovery

Inspired Living, Self Care & Life Balance No Responses »
Dec 042011

Journaling is one of the best ways to connect to your inner guidance, the wisest part of yourself. With pen and paper you can share your inner most thoughts.

Why would you want to spill your guts onto a piece of paper in a book? Well…it allows various parts of yourself the opportunity to be heard – parts of yourself you may not usually pay attention to or even knew were there. There is great transformation that can take place through journaling by internally healing the past. This internal work ripples out into your day-to-day life in a positive way. It can help bring clarity to a situation and bring you insights that only can come from the wise intuitive part of yourself.

You may have a fear about journaling, that you will just feel worse afterward. In reality, you may experience intense feelings for a short time while writing, although you’ll likely gain a sense of relief once you’re done.

Here are some ideas how you can use a journal:

  • Writing personal successes
  • Gratitude
  • Analyzing dreams
  • Documenting special memories and events
  • Diary
  • A Couples Journal to communicate with your partner

Often people get stuck, not sure where to start or what to write. It’s common to try to complicate this simple and easy process by thinking it needs to be more difficult then it actually is. Before we have the chance to write anything down and tap into our inner wisdom, we start judging ourselves. You probably already know YOU are your worst critic. It’s easy to get caught up over analyzing or judging a situation instead of getting to the root of our deeper, darker feelings.

Most of us have old suppressed emotions stuffed deep inside that are waiting to come out. They are there, negatively impacting our life, because we didn’t effectively deal with the feelings in the moment we first experienced them.

After a while, the deeper parts of yourself will begin to trust you, allowing the old suppressed thoughts, feelings and beliefs flow onto the paper. This gives you the opportunity to recognize why you are repeating an old pattern in your relationships, your finances, or any other area of your life. As you acknowledge these old feelings and beliefs you begin the process of dismantling them and letting them go. This is the ultimate goal.

A great way to start your journal entry is to begin with a question. Write this question at the top of the page, take a few deep breaths, re-read the question and immediately start writing the words as they come to you. You may have random words come to mind, it may come as a flood of feelings or even a conversation that you seem to be having with someone else (your wise self, negative ego, your ex, your mother). Whatever you get, go with it. Give those parts of you a voice. Don’t judge them, they just want to be heard and acknowledged by you.

To help you get started here are a few sentences to prompt you.

  • Why am I experiencing this (feeling, situation, etc)?
  • How do I really feel about?
  • What is it I am to learn from this situation?
  • What is this (person, situation, etc) mirroring back to me?

The journaling process naturally takes you to where you need to go. Trust whatever comes to the surface and continue writing until you feel like you’re done. You will notice feeling different. You may feel more at peace, feel inspired to take action, or may feel emotionally tired depending upon what you are dealing with. Those are all completely normal experiences.

Finally, there isn’t a right or wrong way to journal. The key is just to get started!

Please share your experience with journaling or any unique tips you use in the comment section below. I would love to hear them!

xoxo

Angela, The Goddess Next Door

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Making Your Home Your Sanctuary

Inspired Living, Self Care & Life Balance No Responses »
Dec 042011

With all of the activity happening in the world today you need a place where you can relax, feel safe and secure. Your home should be your sanctuary allowing you a comfortable space to reconnect to yourself and your loved ones.

When you spend time at home do you feel at peace? Or do you feel overwhelmed and stressed?

Take a moment and look around your environment. What does it reflect back to you? What does it say to you? Is it organized and clean or is it messy and full of clutter? Most importantly, how does it make you feel?

If your home doesn’t give you positive feelings of peace, inspiration or joy take the time to recreate your space. This powerful experience can dramatically shift how you feel, affecting how well you function in all areas of your life.

Not sure where to start? Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

  1. How do I feel when I spend time here?
  2. Is there too much going on in this room (to much clutter, furniture, decoration)?
  3. What can I change that will make me feel more comfortable and enjoy spending time here?
  4. What colors do I love and make me feel good? How can I add more of those colors into this area?
  5. What tangible items do I enjoy (flowers, books, photos, etc.)?
  6. Do those items I value have a place showing their importance?

Your answers will give you a natural place to begin. Start small, changing one area to reflect what you learned from your answers. If you try to change everything at once, the experience will become overwhelming. Try a few changes, take a step back and see how you feel. Continue as long as you enjoy the process. Use this technique for any room in your home, your office or anywhere else you spend a lot of your time. Notice what happens.

If you want to take this to another level, find an area to create a sacred place where you can meditate and listen to your inner guidance. It’s important to find a place where you feel safe and calm. It should be a quiet place free of distraction such as phones, family, pets, work or anything else that can take your attention away from your quiet time.

In creating your sacred space, include anything that is of special importance or spiritual significance that represents who you are and the issues you are working with. Some items you may include are:

  • Red Cloth – Red is a spirit filled color commonly used as a foundation for a sacred area. Red is very powerful, passionate and dynamic; it brings a great deal of energy to any area.
  • Candles – Fire is transformative having the ability to change something into a new material when burned. Lighting candles helps shift energy and increases your focus.
  • Crystals – Crystals (quartz, amethyst, citrine, etc) have various properties that can assist in amplifying, supporting and manifesting your intentions. Sounds strange but it works!
  • Burn sage or cedar to clear negative energy within an area.
  • Water Fountain – Water represents the flow of emotions and is very good for positive Feng Shui
  • Affirmation or guide cards – These can bring something to your awareness to focus on, helping connect you to your intuition
  • Fresh flowers or live plants add beauty, nature, and life to your space.

If you don’t have a place where you can have a permanent alter or sacred space, find a decorative box to hold your sacred items. Take it out when you seek guidance, want to retreat, and relax. Start small and build your space over time. It’s less important about the elements used as the intention you hold while creating your space.

Have fun with it and share your experiences in the comment section below.
xoxo
Angela, The Goddess Next Door
Posted by The Goddess Next Door

Are You Taking Yourself for Granted?

Inspired Living, Self Care & Life Balance 4 Responses »
Feb 202010

“Are you taking yourself for granted?”

That may seem like an odd question, but I’d like you to ponder it for a moment.

Do you find yourself feeling indifferent towards your personal and professional accomplishments?

Do you think that others’ accomplishments are impressive, while assuming yours aren’t anything out of the ordinary and not exceptional?

This is very common. One of my coaching clients had a great session a few weeks ago when she came to the realization that she has always taken herself for granted.

Most of her life, she’s had a Type-A personality; independent, goal-oriented and highly driven; she always looked for something to strive for. Once she had achieved a goal, her focus shifted immediately to the next, bigger and better project.

During our coaching session it struck her. She realized that she’s never valued the accomplishments she’s had up to that point in her life.

It was as if she thought of her accomplishments as small tasks on her “to do list” that she had checked off one day. She didn’t feel successful or that her accomplishments were really that important. Through coaching, she was able to realize she had the tendency to compare herself to what others were doing, and she never felt like what she did was good enough.

Together we identified how this feeling of not being good enough was being reflected in her career. Always having the entrepreneurial spirit, she tried her hand at various businesses: professional caterer, franchise owner, therapist, and direct sales consultant. Taking herself and her accomplishments for granted severely impeded her marketing and business building abilities. With each business she was able to achieve a certain level of success but ultimately sabotaged and limited herself beyond that. Self imposing as it was, it showed up over and over because she depreciated her own self-worth.

After coaching her through the TransCovery process – developed by Dale Halaway of Seminars that Inspire, I had her begin listing all of her personal and professional successes up to that point. She was very surprised by what she saw. Not only the number of accomplishments she was able to identify, but also the significance of each success surprised her. Taking a step back and thinking about her list more objectively she found herself really impressed.

At that point she realized how much she had taken for granted the time, energy and work she put forth to achieve the small and the large successes that made up her life. She was able to recognize the significance of those triumphs and challenges.

Only once you are able to recognize your own value and appreciate what you have to offer can others do the same. Until then, you will attract people and create circumstances that will reinforce the lowered value you’ve placed on yourself.

You may begin noticing:

  • You accept from others less than you truly deserve.
  • You limit yourself in building a successful business.
  • You over-work yourself.
  • You under charge for your products or services or give too much of your work away.
  • You do not show yourself appreciation through positive self-care by taking care of your physical, emotional, mental, and social needs.

I invite you to take a few minutes for some self recognition and start your own list of accomplishments and successes, both large and small. It may be a bit challenging at first, although once you get on a roll, just like my client, you may be pleasantly surprised by all that you are and all that you’ve done.

If you find this exercise to be helpful, consider creating a Success Journal. A Success Journal is a place to write about or simply note anytime you have a personal success. We sometimes habitually slip into taking ourselves for granted. A success journal can help remind us of the positive things we have accomplished and what we have to be grateful for. It’s a wonderful reminder of the value we bring to both our personal and professional lives.

Have you been taking yourself for granted? How has your life been affected? Leave a comment and share your story!

xoxo

Angela, The Goddess Next Door

PS. If this article resonated with you, consider Transformational Life Coaching. You could see life changing results (increased income, better relationships, more confidence and greater overall happiness) once you stop taking yourself for granted.

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