Let's consider a task that nearly everyone has gone through, and doesn't notice the skill they gained anymore.
Walking. Do you consider yourself a master of walking? Do you have the same ability as a tightrope walker? When was the last time you gave thought to your skill of walking?
Hardly even seen as a skill, but at one point (infancy) you couldn't walk. You had to first learn to crawl. And you kept progressing day by day until you acquired your new skills. Since most have accomplished this skill, and are now faced with much bigger obstacles, they don't recognize what they can learn from 'learning how to walk'.
The truth for any development into your potential is this: it requires work every day.
And as you do something every day, it becomes easier. To the point where it takes little physical or mental effort to get it done. Then after you see progress, doing the work becomes enjoyable.
To expose myself to my real thoughts, emotions and limiting belief systems, every night I journal using question prompts I come up with.
The significance I've found with journaling is to express your true thoughts, not in dialogue with another, and progress from there; instead of repeating the same thoughts. And doing this daily compounds your progress.
More on dealing with the reoccurring thoughts; I believe most people's evening go something like this (give or take the responsibilities they are or aren't avoiding):
- Home by 6:00
- Spends less than 30 minutes preparing food
- TV programming for ~2 hours
- Not journaling or even reading
- Falling asleep staring at a screen in a dark room (phone or TV)
Now this is less likely you, if you're on my email list because you recognize the avoidance used throughout this routine. But if your night-time schedule resembles the one above, my tip for you today is (obviously) to incorporate nightly journaling.
Why specifically at night? Well, the benefits I've found are:
- To clear your mind from the day
- For better sleep
- And to prepare for what you want to do tomorrow
- I'll preface this task by saying that it is difficult to be fully-open with yourself. But the deeper you go, the greater the rewards.
You will earn in direct proportion to what you give. Do you journal more at night or in the morning? Try journaling nightly for the next week and let me know how you feel!