Discover how journaling can help you begin again at any time.
It’s not too late to start the New Year.
In fact, it’s never too late.
Consider that January 1st is an arbitrary date, so why not create your line in the sand and start fresh?
NOW.
There is only ever NOW, and now is always the perfect time to start.
Besides, the Ukrainian New Year just started and the Chinese New Year is still days away.
Around this time of year I take time to consider, complete and create the past and future in my journal.
What does that mean?
If you don’t want to drag all your baggage from the previous period with you, you’ll want to spend a bit of time reviewing your year.
Consider what has happened.
I use my journal to explore what might be unsaid or even unconsidered, and certainly unfinished.
I have found no better way to stop the swirl of thoughts in my mind and let go of past expectations and disappointments.
I start by clarifying not only what happened, but what I made it mean, and what lessons I can learn from the experience.
“Everything happens for you, not to you.”
— Byron Katie
That doesn’t mean that we will like everything that happens or even find it easy.
Birth is painful.
But letting go of our judgment about what happened opens up opportunity and becomes a catalyst to grow and expand who we are.
In order to move on from the painful parts of our experience, we need to complete the past.
Completion is not necessarily an ending to the situation, but rather an ending to our suffering about the situation.
It is a conscious choice not to ignore the upset, the hurt, the anger or any other emotional reaction we’ve had, but to recognize that we can declare that the suffering is over.
We can even set a timer or number of pages and write whatever we need to express in our journals.
We cannot change what happened, and we don’t need to approve of what happened but holding on to our disempowering thoughts and emotions about what happened is no longer serving us.
It’s time to let go.
If you like ceremony, letting go can even include burning those pages.
Essentially, completion is acknowledging, rather than resisting, what happened, without adding any meaning to it.
From here, we find peace with the issue and our energy is freed up to create newly.
Creation from this clean slate allows us to open ourselves up again, to imagine with renewed wonder, and perchance to dream beyond our previous boundaries.
Unburdened from the past, all things are possible.
In a time when people are experiencing an ever-increasing barrage of information, fear, stress, anger and anxiety, we will need accessible and effective ways to manage our thoughts, discern what matters, and take effective action.
With practice, we can even learn to thrive in the face of whatever may come.
“The best time to begin keeping a journal is whenever you decide to.”
— Hannah Hinchman
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At the beginning of the Covid years, I stopped leading guided journaling classes.
It’s time to begin again.
It’s time to write your own story.
The Power of Journaling is a 10-week course that will transform how you think about and experience your own agency.
The journey begins Saturday, March 1,2025
Love this blog.