Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
JOURNALING
I have notebooks filled with everything from profound revelations to plain gibberish. There is an old saying "the faintest ink is more powerful than the strongest memory." I read back through my journal and think "wow, what kind of an emotional state was I in when I wrote that."
Every night I make an effort to write down what I learned that day. I also write down my plans for the next day. I may not follow them to a "T" but I have cleared my mind of all the clutter and I sleep better knowing I have made some attempt at a plan of action.
Some of my scribbling is just numbers, names, goals, affirmations, and incantations. I even have a fine selection of cornball slogans (that have saved my life on more than one occasion). The most important thing is I am taking positive action. Remember when I write these down they burn into my subconscious. The subconscious as I have said before cannot distinguish between what is real or imagined. That last statement has helped me more than I would have ever imagined. I changed my beliefs and values about past situations. This allowed my healing to shift into autopilot.
Writing has made me push through different thresholds of stagnation. It allowed me to gain control of my emotional state. It is a MUST to be in charge of this wonderful mechanism called the subconscious mind. I have taken tragic events from the wars and turned them into positive living experiences. Willie Nelson said, "Everyone has their own snakes to kill." What may have destroyed me might not have even fazed you. This is why putting it on paper takes the fear out of it and puts it into a different perspective.
Remember if we keep doing what we have always done, we will get what we always got (pain).
You can act your way into right thinking but one can never think their way into right acting. Look at the first three letters of the word ACTion? There is a story about two old crows sitting on a fence and one of them says to the other "I think I'm going to fly over and get some corn." How many crows are on the fence now? Two, because the one said, "I think." He never took action.
Action is the thing that makes your life plan become a reality. The crow had a plan, flying to get some corn but he never left the fence. Make a plan for the actions you want for the next day every night before you go to bed. This does two things, one it clears your head of an awful lot of what I call "Grand Central Station" thinking. Two, it gives you a plan of action to follow.
The next day you may not get to every item you have on your list but this will keep you from sitting around all day like the crows on the fence and going insane.
Sanity is defined as soundness of mind. With PTSD when we are alone we are not in very good company unless we are meditating or putting something positive into our subconscious, TAKE ACTION!
It doesn't get any easier later it just gets later...
Peace be with you
