Mindfulness Journaling
I have been keeping a journal for ten years now. Only recently I moved to digital journaling — for the better for sure.
In my journal entries I always liked to pull apart my ideas and emotions, and dig into what really happened underneath the surface.
As I was discovering the advantages of digital journaling, I realised I can have as many journals as I want. So I can have one for whatever happened to me that day, and another in which I can pull apart my thoughts and behaviour.
Diarly enabled me to set up a journal with preset questions for myself. I clarified which areas of my life I want to improve and came up with questions for myself. The general idea was to better myself drawing from the happenings of each day. As I was reading from authors like Ken Wilber, and Jordan Peterson, my questions for myself expanded. Soon I was logging into “my mindfulness journal”.
Doing this for a few months now, I can say it helps just by writing my realisations down.
Looking at the actions I make, and the situations my actions create, directs me to better understand my underlying motives.
I look at it as a way of programming my unconscious - looking back at my day and telling myself, what didn’t work, and what did; eventually sinks in. The next time something alike pops up in my life, there will be a voice, reminding me what happened last time - giving me a chance to be more conscious this time.
Mindfulness might have a different meaning for everyone.
Mindfulness for me is making my persona a true expression of my soul. To do that I need to know what I do as a person, and why I do it. If I can understand my personal motives, I have a way better chance to change them for the better, or transcend them to something more beneficial. Or I can choose to stick with my attitude - but this time I am more aware of why I have it, what the intention behind it is, and where it leads me.
One quote I got from Jay Hedley is “to put your mind aside”. And that is what I am trying to do - I let myself be “mindless” - letting my actions speak and show me my pure attitude toward things. The main idea is that my mind would put all kinds of twists on my actions, which would make my job of getting to the bottom of my intentions just harder. So I rather act from heart, then evaluate my actions at the end of my day.
When evaluating I can give values to my actions. Some might be important - pointing me to something I’m avoiding consciously or unconsciously, and some might just be honest mistakes.
Some of my questions help me to hold myself accountable for my bigger goals, and some help me realise what factors make my every-days enjoyable for myself.
Here is some of my most beneficial questions:
How did I become a better person today?
Where was I less than the ideal me?
When did I feel whole?
What contributed to me having a good day today?
What derailed me from happiness?
What did I learn today?
What are the things that I still need to work on?
I have found these questions of paramount help in navigating through the journey of bettering myself. I hope there is something for you in my ideas that can help you on your way of becoming the person you need to be!
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Gábor Schandl
Gábor Schandl is a Hungarian strength and conditioning coach and psychology student, whose mission is to unfold hotspots where the body, the mind, and the emotions interconnect. As an S&C coach, he has deep insight into human physiology and he also dug deep into psychology in which he is doing his current studies.