October 26, 2023 • 22 mins
📖 Unlock the Power of Focus and Journaling 🖋️
Are you seeking a simple yet transformative tool to boost your mental wellbeing and conquer life's challenges? Join us as we unravel the magic of journaling and its profound impact on mental health and personal growth.
📚 Expressive Writing for Mental Health 📚
Discover the fascinating findings from a Psychology Science study that highlights the role of expressive writing in curbing anxiety and enhancing mental health. We'll show you how journaling can become your own emotional health advocate, one page at a time.
🌟 Journaling for Creativity and Self-Compassion 🌟
Learn how journaling can stimulate your creative juices and cultivate self-compassion. Drawing from research in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, we'll explore how this practice can trigger cognitive resilience and superior problem-solving skills, all while replacing self-criticism with a nurturing narrative.
🔍 The Art of Self-Reflection 🔍
Uncover the potency of journaling in sparking self-reflection and helping you distinguish feelings from facts. We'll provide practical tips on how to make journaling a regular habit, the benefits of a bedside journal, and why it's essential to approach this practice without expectations.
🌱 Writing Your Path to Mental Wellness 🌱
Learn how this simple yet powerful practice can lead to a life lived with intention and purpose, fostering a positive habit of self-reflection. Join us for an inspiring discussion, and start writing your journey to a healthier mental state today. 🖋️🌞 #Focus #Journaling #MentalWellness #SelfReflection
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Jonathan Brian Noel.
I believe that habits thatdrive introspection can be some
of the greatest habits you canform to increase focus and
reduce mental health issues.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I think that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
So you're not walking through like a forest in the
dark, running into trees, blindyeah.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Like in word.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Maybe you can actually learn about yourself.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Yeah, and what's one habit that helps drive
introspection the most?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I think journaling does pretty good.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And in fact I think it's so effective we should talk
about it, because we've gotfour, four Amazing, that's right
.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Reasons Journaling will change your life.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And what I love about journaling is it's probably one
of the most accessible forms ofclarity and helping with mental
health.
All you need is a pencil and apiece of paper.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
You mean pen and paper is cheaper than pill and
therapist.
Yes, very much so I dig thatfor sure.
Yeah, Sweet let's hop in.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I'm Jonathan Noel.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
And I'm Brian Noel.
This is the Focus Cast, wherewe help you remove distractions,
increase focus so you can livea life with intention.
Bro, today we're covering fourways journaling will change your
life.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So let's jump in.
What's the first?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Journaling provides a structured way to release pent
up emotions.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
You mean, we got pent up emotions?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I mean, you know, maybe you know a couple of
enlightened gurus.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
That have no stress.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
No emotion because they have no attachments to
anything but most people do haveattachments.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
And they have emotions.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
People typically can grapple with stress, anxiety and
emotional turmoil.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, from whatever work, life, family relationships
, circumstances illnesses andall the above.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yep, it's usually a combination of quite a few
factors, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And what we can conclude is that life is no walk
in the park.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Right?
Well, at least not right now.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
No, I don't know if it ever has been.
I don't know either.
I think the struggles are justalways pretty different but yeah
, depending on the time period.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, I don't know.
Though you see, on those travelchannels were like the old
dudes in the highlands of Greeceor something, or Sardinia.
They're just out there pickingtheir wild grapes and olives,
chilling, eating goat sheep.
I mean goat sheep, goat cheese.
Yeah, fuck, man, that lookslike a nice life.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, but do they prune the vines and get up early
and tend to the goats?
Oh yeah, goats are pretty lowmaintenance.
That's different, though.
Grass is always greener, bro.
That farm life is no joke.
The fence is always breaking,that's true.
The goats are always.
Yeah, I don't know what thefuck goats do, but whatever, the
(03:33):
goats are always Bleeding.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
What are they Anyway?
Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I've never done it so I can't say, if it's easier,
yeah, solution.
Yeah, I mean we've got stress,anxiety, emotional turmoil Yep,
let's write it down.
Write it down, release it, getit out Yep, you know, journaling
provides a structured way torelease pent up emotions and
reduce stress, stress.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, I love this.
A study published in psychologyscience found that expressive
writing, such as journaling, canreduce anxiety, improve overall
mental health, well-being right, so it's like physically
Writing it down.
The same thing is writing downyour goals right.
I mean, we talked about in thatepisode of goals that writing
down your goals increases thelikelihood that you'll
(04:18):
accomplish those goals by like.
It was something crazy.
I think it was like 80%, Idon't know something wild if you
write it down every day.
But just imagine, like, if youwrite down your stress every day
I didn't find this in this, inthe research and but what
percentage does your anxiety godown if you write down those
anxieties every day?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I don't know, and how do you quantify that?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
but?
But according to this study, itdoes say that it reduces
anxiety, improves overall mentalhealth.
That's what they found.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Well, I think that's enough reason to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, I mean, I think one of the biggest components
there is just you take all thisabstract, random Anxiety and you
take the time to articulate it.
Yeah why are you anxious, whyare you stressed?
I think just that alone beingable to articulate it and then,
obviously, writing it down.
But that forces you to be ableto put it in sentence form
(05:10):
exactly because when you'rejournaling, let's say you're
feeling, whatever it may be.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah a concoction of emotions.
Yeah, and you're sitting there.
I'm not just gonna open up myjournal and write I feel like,
and start making squiggles.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, you know, even that's, even if that's what you
feel.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Like yeah, it makes you.
Yeah, put it down in sentences,yeah, you know, in a way that
you can understand it.
Yeah, because you're not justgonna write.
I feel like blah, fuck it andthen close it when you're done.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Right, I mean, I don't do that.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
No, like, I feel like this I think it's because of
this, maybe it's not, but yeah,you get it out.
It makes you articulate it.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, I think it's pretty neat release those pin-up
emotions.
How long have you beenjournaling?
You know I've journaled off andon.
I can't sit here and say I'vejournaled religiously
religiously every day for adecade.
I was, um, I Was reading a bookby Tim Ferriss, mm-hmm.
(06:14):
And he said this is amazing.
Now he also is like a goat.
But he said I've journaled howI feel physically every day for
decades, Wow.
And he can go back and and seehow did I feel when I was 27 and
see exactly what he was eatingand his sleep habits and his
exercise habits.
It's pretty wild.
But yeah, I've journaled offand on for for years years and
(06:38):
years.
Sometimes I go hardcore into itand then out.
You know a couple months willgo by, but yeah, so I would say
off and on for 10 years.
Hmm, nice, I mean, I journaleda lot when I was in middle
school and I was super depressedin the form of, uh, anger
poetry.
Nice, those are great lyrics.
I have like 300 of those.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I really do.
You should sell them as, like,a ghost writer for punk bands.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I mean, they're pretty.
I'm not still great at grammar,but the grammar is just like.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, you'll prove freedom Anyway, all right.
So number one we provided itprovides a structured way to
release pent-up energy.
What's number two?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
bro, journaling encourages self-reflection.
So, like I said in the intro, Ibelieve habits that drive
introspection, so just thinkingabout who we are right.
So the problem is it's commonto feel overwhelmed and like
clarity about one's emotions andthoughts, like sometimes we're
just so overwhelmed we don'teven know why you know there's
so much happening.
It's like we're just blamingone thing.
(07:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It's like my boss sucks or my spouse is obnoxious,
and a lot of times you end upfrustrated or angry about
something that's not actuallywhat it's about.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Right, you know we've talked about this.
Yeah, it's something way deeper, it's?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
like we're going to go that way back when you know
one of your siblings pushed youdown the stairs and you felt
betrayed.
Yes, some shit like that.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Some shit like that.
When your spouse is like, hey,you forgot to take out the trash
again and you punch a hole inthe wall, it might be something
deeper Right, and if you writeit down enough times and you
might realize, oh, I'm notactually mad that you know my
order came out wrong at the tacorestaurant.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, or you know, Right.
And if you stubbed your toe andyou smashed your whole garage,
it might be something else.
But if you sit down and writeit enough times, it hopefully
will become clear to you thatit's something deeper.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
And that's the goal right, because journaling
encourages self-reflection andhelps individuals gain clarity
about who they are.
Those experiences and thoseemotions, and it's like, it's
funny, you know we talk aboutlike.
You know it's classic in ourculture, like men are sad or mad
or glad, you know.
But if you kind of think aboutlike there's a difference
(09:00):
between like hopelessness andwhat's it called when someone
dies, you grieve.
There's a difference betweenhopelessness and grieving?
Yeah, for sure there's a verytwo different forms of sad.
You're like understanding, youknow, maybe you, you know a
(09:21):
parent died last year and you,just, you were busy and you had
to, you know, clear their estateand sell their house and sell
their car and argue with thesiblings, and a year goes by and
you just didn't even get to be,you didn't even get to grieve.
And so all of a sudden you'rejust like why am I so?
Quote sad and it's like, well,you're finally just getting to
(09:41):
grieve.
You know 100%, but sitting down, that's a very real world
example.
Exactly Writing that.
Or another example is you had areally promising job, you love
that job, and you got fired andthen you had to go get a new job
and new environment and you hadto work through that with your
family and it was very stressfuland you weren't sure.
And then a year goes by and thisnew job, and you never really
(10:03):
got to grieve, you know, or justprocess the emotions of being
fired, yeah, and your body'slike finally like you're at a
place of safety.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So then you're out of fighter flight Yep.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So then you can actually start releasing.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, and a lot of times that never it usually
doesn't occur, because a lot oftimes traumatic events cause
action which then put us in afight or flight state that can
last months.
So generally just allows us toprocess those things, articulate
those things, beself-reflective and write that
(10:44):
shit down.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah, I've had a couple of journals.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
We're here to talk, boss, that's gone.
That's just an old laptop thatgot stolen, actually.
And then I started another one.
That one's gone because it wasdigital, and now I have my first
hard copy, one where Iphysically write it, and it's
only been a couple months andit's funny we're doing this
(11:09):
episode.
I didn't know we were doingthis episode a couple months ago
when I started it.
But yes, you get thechronological things too.
You can see where you werewhere you're at and you just get
to write it down.
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, I love it.
What's number three, bro, ofour four ways?
Journaling can change your life.
Oh my gosh, what's the?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
third, four journaling hacks.
Journaling can stimulatecreative thinking.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
All right, all right.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
So when facing challenges, people often
struggle to find effectivesolutions.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, because it's so funny Stress puts you in the
amygdala, not the prefrontalcortex, which then makes you not
as creative.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, so regular journaling can stimulate
creative thinking and problemsolving by allowing individuals
to brainstorm and analyze issues.
Oh yeah, and here's thereference A study from a study
in the journal, a study fromJournal of Experimental
(12:12):
Psychology suggests that writingabout problems can lead to
increased cognitive flexibilityand improved problem solving
skills.
Well, klein and Bowles, nice,2001.
Which makes sense all right,yeah.
You've got a bunch of shitswirling around in your head,
it's hard to be creative.
Yeah, you know if you're superstressed out and I say, bro,
(12:35):
write a song, write a song.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I'm so stressed out On guitar.
Yeah, it might be the song.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Was that Jack Black yeah?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I'm really pissed off .
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I don't pay my rent today.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
And now I'm really pissed off.
So you know it's hard to becreative when all the shit's
swirling around your head.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, you know it's different sections of the brain
too.
Right, because you've got partof the brain stores memories.
Other parts of the brain islike logical and processing.
That's why I love, as astrategist, what I'm in sessions
.
The first thing we do is wejust extract and put it on
different color sticky notes andput it in categories and then
(13:18):
we start looking at processes,because then Then you can look
at it all on the wall and youcan be like, oh okay, I Can see
how these things relate.
So you start looking forpatterns and then you can be
creative around those veryspecific categories.
So I think journaling is thesame way.
Right?
(13:38):
Yeah, you have all thisinformation, even if you're
trying to start a business andyou're just, you just got ideas.
You know I can do this, I cando this, I can do this.
You just start writing it down.
Yeah write it all out and thenin your journal you say, okay,
cool, let me cluster thesethings.
And then you look at them andyou say what should I do first?
Well, these things I'm reallygood at.
Why should probably do thosethings first?
(14:00):
Yeah, right, but all that'sgonna happen.
It's really hard to do all thatin your head.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Yeah, that's the thing and keep track of your
bills and your day job and youreverything else going on.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So that's why it's nice to write it down.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
It is so nice to write it down.
Journaling increases creativity.
Fourth but not last andimportance, journaling can
interrupt the internal critical.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Internal critic yes it can in.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
It can interrupt the internal critic and increase
self compassion.
So the problem is negativethought patterns and room
rumination can contribute tomental health issues.
Many individuals struggle withself criticism and lack
self-compassion.
So Journaling helps because youcan get that shit out of your
head.
You can get the critical criticout of your head and write that
(14:50):
bitch down, submitting thatcritic to the paper.
You're literally forcing thatcritics mouth.
Onto the paper onto the paperand then your brain has space
for the self-compassion,compassion voice to come in and
say you know what?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
you ain't that bad, you know.
You ain't too bad for a honky.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
So the solution is journaling can interrupt
negative thought cycles andreduce rumination right,
obviously, but that's beenresearched.
This this article, adams 2008.
Journaling with non-judgmentalattitudes foster self compassion
and self esteem.
So Pretty interesting Routinehere.
(15:36):
Yeah, as it relates tojournaling, there's obviously a
lot of different journal systemsand you can look them up and
follow Whatever systems you want.
Yeah, you can try your own.
Sometimes it is nice, literallyjust a vomit.
Yeah, just whatever's in yourhead, write it out.
I know for me, especiallybefore I went through my major
(16:01):
rounds of therapy and struggledwith disassociation and the
manager screaming at me all thetime in my disassociation which
I did, a whole episode ondisassociation.
So if that made no sense, yougo listen to that episode.
But, um, if I Needed to take afucking mental break or if I
needed to go to sleep, there wasa Period of time where the only
(16:24):
way I could really rest themind was just to write out every
single thought, phrase, idea,voice, statement down.
Just write it down was it evencoherent?
Speaker 2 (16:38):
just one after the other, and it didn't even matter
.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
It didn't even matter .
It didn't even matter what yeahlike, and I Started keeping a
piece of paper and a pencil bythe bed.
Hmm, because if I sit down andI forgot about it, I forgot
something that I was supposed todo, or Just something popped to
my head.
I just write it down and itmakes my sleep a million times
(17:01):
better.
Nice, so, just always havingthat right next to the bed, and
sometimes I don't write anythingdown, I just go to sleep.
But other times it's like ohman, I forgot to do that.
You know, instead of opening myphone and Set in a task, or
getting blasted by the bluelight and waking up again.
Yeah, and then go on toInstagram.
Yeah, 45 minutes Looking atstupid shit.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
I just roll over, write it down and then bam, it's
out, bro, it's gone.
So nice.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
I Think I've never like the self-compassion piece.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Maybe some people write negative things about
themselves in their journal.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I ever have, because that's like almost solidifying
it even more.
That sounds difficult to dofrom like if I you know what,
does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, yeah so I think I'm Writing a statement like I
feel Like I'm not good enoughright is different than writing
down like in your head.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
You are not good enough.
In your head you might besaying I'm a piece of shit, yeah
, but are you actually gonnawrite that in the journal?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Maybe some people are when I was in middle school, I
would write things like thatdown.
Hmm, I'm just thinking out loud, no, I agree with you but as an
adult I think being intentionalaround Again that difference
between I feel like shit.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Not, I am a piece of shit.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I feel like I'm not good enough versus.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I'm not good enough.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Because then you can.
You can, you can write down.
Why do I not feel good enough?
Exactly why do I feel like I'mnot enough?
Who am I not enough to?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
How long have I felt like I'm not good enough?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
exactly when did this start?
Yeah, what did this come from?
Yeah, what happened why?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And I think with anything else right.
It's our intention, if yourintention of journaling is to
solidify the critic and Be asdepressed as possible.
That's true too, Then you canwrite down I'm a piece of shit,
yeah.
Over and over again.
You can.
You can spray paint it on thewalls and read it every morning
when you wake up.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, I guess I was just legitimately thinking out
loud.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Yeah, no, I agree with like like, but if your
intention is, you want to right.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Your intention is why do I feel this way?
Not, I am this.
Where did this come from?
Why, basically, why, why, why.
But I think it's great.
I've had a couple of In myentries you know it's only been
a couple months but that werejust like you said.
(19:41):
You just kind of start going,yeah, she got, get it out in.
Some are more intentional, yeah, and.
But it's great to go back andlook yeah, okay, I've already
grown.
You know I've already learnedthis.
I've already Mm-hmm.
My perspective has alreadychanged this much.
I've already grown this much inclarity.
When you're in it, it mightfeel like nothing's happening.
(20:05):
That's the thing about it getsyour life.
It feels slow.
It feels like nothing's going on.
But then you go look at yourjournal and you're like oh, it's
only four months ago that I waswhatever, I hated my job or I
didn't do this.
And now I'm over here.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So you need a little reminder.
Yeah, it's good, it's nice tohave reminders that you're
moving forward.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah, having smart goals and then celebrating the
wins.
So we don't celebrate the wins?
Yeah, and I think, last but notleast, just we talked about
reducing procrastination, thelast episode, and you brought up
the quote from the podcast.
We heard, like, just start withfloss and one tooth, even if
(20:46):
it's literally just writing downa phrase today I learned this,
or I'm going to start journalingtoday.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Today I felt pretty good yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
I'm going to start journaling, even if the next day
is I'm still going to journal.
I'm still going to journalBecause, back to that point,
you're just creating that habitof at some point during the day
you're going to write somethingdown.
So it's just, you don't have to.
You know the times that I firststarted journaling and I would
start and stop.
You know it'd be like all right, I'm going to have a journal
system and I'm going to writedown my mood and the weather and
(21:19):
all this kind of stuff and wedo a goal progress check and all
that kind of stuff is likeseven pages.
Yeah, like two weeks later Istopped doing it, versus, just
like I'm going to write whateverthe fuck I want to write and if
it's two sentences or if it'sthree pages, it doesn't matter.
I'm just going to write today.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
I do like, though, every day hopping in and just
writing.
I'm going to journal today,yeah, Because maybe some stuff
will come out of you that youweren't expecting.
Maybe not no expectations.
It doesn't have to be.
Some amazing people are goingto write books about me when
they find my journal and theashes kind of journal.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
You know, that's not really.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
But giving yourself more opportunities to get it out
.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, I think that's good.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
It's easy to same thing like before with
procrastinating or just notmaking it a habit.
It's easy for like three monthsto go by.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
So there you go.
Tonight I'm going to write myjournal.
I'm journaling today.
Maybe I'll write more, maybe Iwon't, depends on how I'm
feeling.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Boom, boom, sweet bro .
I think that's it, let's roll.
So go to our link and buy ourpatented journal experience.
The FocusCash Journal.
The Focus Journal.
My name is.
Jonathan Brian Noel.
I believe that habits thatdrive introspection can be some
of the greatest habits you canform to increase focus and
reduce mental health issues.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
I think that makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:20):
So you're not walking through like a forest in the
dark, running into trees, blindyeah.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
Like in word.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Maybe you can actually learn about yourself.
Speaker 1 (00:30):
Yeah, and what's one habit that helps drive
introspection the most?
Speaker 2 (00:36):
I think journaling does pretty good.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And in fact I think it's so effective we should talk
about it, because we've gotfour, four Amazing, that's right
.
Speaker 1 (00:46):
Reasons Journaling will change your life.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (00:51):
And what I love about journaling is it's probably one
of the most accessible forms ofclarity and helping with mental
health.
All you need is a pencil and apiece of paper.
Speaker 2 (01:01):
You mean pen and paper is cheaper than pill and
therapist.
Yes, very much so I dig thatfor sure.
Yeah, Sweet let's hop in.
Speaker 1 (01:10):
Let's do it.
Speaker 2 (01:32):
I'm Jonathan Noel.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
And I'm Brian Noel.
This is the Focus Cast, wherewe help you remove distractions,
increase focus so you can livea life with intention.
Bro, today we're covering fourways journaling will change your
life.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Okay.
Speaker 1 (01:46):
So let's jump in.
What's the first?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
Journaling provides a structured way to release pent
up emotions.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
You mean, we got pent up emotions?
Speaker 2 (02:00):
I mean, you know, maybe you know a couple of
enlightened gurus.
Speaker 1 (02:07):
That have no stress.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
No emotion because they have no attachments to
anything but most people do haveattachments.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
And they have emotions.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (02:17):
People typically can grapple with stress, anxiety and
emotional turmoil.
Speaker 1 (02:22):
Yeah, from whatever work, life, family relationships
, circumstances illnesses andall the above.
Speaker 2 (02:31):
Yep, it's usually a combination of quite a few
factors, yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And what we can conclude is that life is no walk
in the park.
Speaker 2 (02:39):
Right?
Well, at least not right now.
Speaker 1 (02:42):
No, I don't know if it ever has been.
I don't know either.
I think the struggles are justalways pretty different but yeah
, depending on the time period.
Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yeah, I don't know.
Though you see, on those travelchannels were like the old
dudes in the highlands of Greeceor something, or Sardinia.
They're just out there pickingtheir wild grapes and olives,
chilling, eating goat sheep.
I mean goat sheep, goat cheese.
Yeah, fuck, man, that lookslike a nice life.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Yeah, but do they prune the vines and get up early
and tend to the goats?
Oh yeah, goats are pretty lowmaintenance.
That's different, though.
Grass is always greener, bro.
That farm life is no joke.
The fence is always breaking,that's true.
The goats are always.
Yeah, I don't know what thefuck goats do, but whatever, the
(03:33):
goats are always Bleeding.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
What are they Anyway?
Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 1 (03:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:39):
I've never done it so I can't say, if it's easier,
yeah, solution.
Yeah, I mean we've got stress,anxiety, emotional turmoil Yep,
let's write it down.
Write it down, release it, getit out Yep, you know, journaling
provides a structured way torelease pent up emotions and
reduce stress, stress.
Speaker 1 (03:57):
Yeah, I love this.
A study published in psychologyscience found that expressive
writing, such as journaling, canreduce anxiety, improve overall
mental health, well-being right, so it's like physically
Writing it down.
The same thing is writing downyour goals right.
I mean, we talked about in thatepisode of goals that writing
down your goals increases thelikelihood that you'll
(04:18):
accomplish those goals by like.
It was something crazy.
I think it was like 80%, Idon't know something wild if you
write it down every day.
But just imagine, like, if youwrite down your stress every day
I didn't find this in this, inthe research and but what
percentage does your anxiety godown if you write down those
anxieties every day?
Speaker 2 (04:35):
I don't know, and how do you quantify that?
Speaker 1 (04:36):
but?
But according to this study, itdoes say that it reduces
anxiety, improves overall mentalhealth.
That's what they found.
Speaker 2 (04:45):
Well, I think that's enough reason to do it.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Yeah, I mean, I think one of the biggest components
there is just you take all thisabstract, random Anxiety and you
take the time to articulate it.
Yeah why are you anxious, whyare you stressed?
I think just that alone beingable to articulate it and then,
obviously, writing it down.
But that forces you to be ableto put it in sentence form
(05:10):
exactly because when you'rejournaling, let's say you're
feeling, whatever it may be.
Speaker 2 (05:17):
Yeah a concoction of emotions.
Yeah, and you're sitting there.
I'm not just gonna open up myjournal and write I feel like,
and start making squiggles.
Speaker 1 (05:27):
Yeah, you know, even that's, even if that's what you
feel.
Speaker 2 (05:29):
Like yeah, it makes you.
Yeah, put it down in sentences,yeah, you know, in a way that
you can understand it.
Yeah, because you're not justgonna write.
I feel like blah, fuck it andthen close it when you're done.
Speaker 1 (05:42):
Right, I mean, I don't do that.
Speaker 2 (05:43):
No, like, I feel like this I think it's because of
this, maybe it's not, but yeah,you get it out.
It makes you articulate it.
Speaker 1 (05:52):
Yeah, I think it's pretty neat release those pin-up
emotions.
How long have you beenjournaling?
You know I've journaled off andon.
I can't sit here and say I'vejournaled religiously
religiously every day for adecade.
I was, um, I Was reading a bookby Tim Ferriss, mm-hmm.
(06:14):
And he said this is amazing.
Now he also is like a goat.
But he said I've journaled howI feel physically every day for
decades, Wow.
And he can go back and and seehow did I feel when I was 27 and
see exactly what he was eatingand his sleep habits and his
exercise habits.
It's pretty wild.
But yeah, I've journaled offand on for for years years and
(06:38):
years.
Sometimes I go hardcore into itand then out.
You know a couple months willgo by, but yeah, so I would say
off and on for 10 years.
Hmm, nice, I mean, I journaleda lot when I was in middle
school and I was super depressedin the form of, uh, anger
poetry.
Nice, those are great lyrics.
I have like 300 of those.
Speaker 2 (06:58):
I really do.
You should sell them as, like,a ghost writer for punk bands.
Speaker 1 (07:03):
I mean, they're pretty.
I'm not still great at grammar,but the grammar is just like.
Speaker 2 (07:09):
Well, you'll prove freedom Anyway, all right.
So number one we provided itprovides a structured way to
release pent-up energy.
What's number two?
Speaker 1 (07:18):
bro, journaling encourages self-reflection.
So, like I said in the intro, Ibelieve habits that drive
introspection, so just thinkingabout who we are right.
So the problem is it's commonto feel overwhelmed and like
clarity about one's emotions andthoughts, like sometimes we're
just so overwhelmed we don'teven know why you know there's
so much happening.
It's like we're just blamingone thing.
(07:40):
You know.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
It's like my boss sucks or my spouse is obnoxious,
and a lot of times you end upfrustrated or angry about
something that's not actuallywhat it's about.
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Right, you know we've talked about this.
Yeah, it's something way deeper, it's?
Speaker 2 (07:53):
like we're going to go that way back when you know
one of your siblings pushed youdown the stairs and you felt
betrayed.
Yes, some shit like that.
Speaker 1 (08:01):
Some shit like that.
When your spouse is like, hey,you forgot to take out the trash
again and you punch a hole inthe wall, it might be something
deeper Right, and if you writeit down enough times and you
might realize, oh, I'm notactually mad that you know my
order came out wrong at the tacorestaurant.
Speaker 2 (08:20):
Yeah, or you know, Right.
And if you stubbed your toe andyou smashed your whole garage,
it might be something else.
But if you sit down and writeit enough times, it hopefully
will become clear to you thatit's something deeper.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
And that's the goal right, because journaling
encourages self-reflection andhelps individuals gain clarity
about who they are.
Those experiences and thoseemotions, and it's like, it's
funny, you know we talk aboutlike.
You know it's classic in ourculture, like men are sad or mad
or glad, you know.
But if you kind of think aboutlike there's a difference
(09:00):
between like hopelessness andwhat's it called when someone
dies, you grieve.
There's a difference betweenhopelessness and grieving?
Yeah, for sure there's a verytwo different forms of sad.
You're like understanding, youknow, maybe you, you know a
(09:21):
parent died last year and you,just, you were busy and you had
to, you know, clear their estateand sell their house and sell
their car and argue with thesiblings, and a year goes by and
you just didn't even get to be,you didn't even get to grieve.
And so all of a sudden you'rejust like why am I so?
Quote sad and it's like, well,you're finally just getting to
(09:41):
grieve.
You know 100%, but sitting down, that's a very real world
example.
Exactly Writing that.
Or another example is you had areally promising job, you love
that job, and you got fired andthen you had to go get a new job
and new environment and you hadto work through that with your
family and it was very stressfuland you weren't sure.
And then a year goes by and thisnew job, and you never really
(10:03):
got to grieve, you know, or justprocess the emotions of being
fired, yeah, and your body'slike finally like you're at a
place of safety.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
So then you're out of fighter flight Yep.
Speaker 2 (10:17):
So then you can actually start releasing.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
Yeah, and a lot of times that never it usually
doesn't occur, because a lot oftimes traumatic events cause
action which then put us in afight or flight state that can
last months.
So generally just allows us toprocess those things, articulate
those things, beself-reflective and write that
(10:44):
shit down.
Speaker 2 (10:45):
Yeah, I've had a couple of journals.
Speaker 1 (10:48):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
We're here to talk, boss, that's gone.
That's just an old laptop thatgot stolen, actually.
And then I started another one.
That one's gone because it wasdigital, and now I have my first
hard copy, one where Iphysically write it, and it's
only been a couple months andit's funny we're doing this
(11:09):
episode.
I didn't know we were doingthis episode a couple months ago
when I started it.
But yes, you get thechronological things too.
You can see where you werewhere you're at and you just get
to write it down.
It's amazing.
Speaker 1 (11:26):
Yeah, I love it.
What's number three, bro, ofour four ways?
Journaling can change your life.
Oh my gosh, what's the?
Speaker 2 (11:33):
third, four journaling hacks.
Journaling can stimulatecreative thinking.
Speaker 1 (11:39):
All right, all right.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
So when facing challenges, people often
struggle to find effectivesolutions.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Yeah, because it's so funny Stress puts you in the
amygdala, not the prefrontalcortex, which then makes you not
as creative.
Speaker 2 (11:52):
Yeah, so regular journaling can stimulate
creative thinking and problemsolving by allowing individuals
to brainstorm and analyze issues.
Oh yeah, and here's thereference A study from a study
in the journal, a study fromJournal of Experimental
(12:12):
Psychology suggests that writingabout problems can lead to
increased cognitive flexibilityand improved problem solving
skills.
Well, klein and Bowles, nice,2001.
Which makes sense all right,yeah.
You've got a bunch of shitswirling around in your head,
it's hard to be creative.
Yeah, you know if you're superstressed out and I say, bro,
(12:35):
write a song, write a song.
Speaker 1 (12:39):
I'm so stressed out On guitar.
Yeah, it might be the song.
Speaker 2 (12:44):
Was that Jack Black yeah?
Speaker 1 (12:45):
I'm really pissed off .
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:48):
I don't pay my rent today.
Speaker 2 (12:51):
And now I'm really pissed off.
So you know it's hard to becreative when all the shit's
swirling around your head.
Speaker 1 (12:57):
Yeah, you know it's different sections of the brain
too.
Right, because you've got partof the brain stores memories.
Other parts of the brain islike logical and processing.
That's why I love, as astrategist, what I'm in sessions
.
The first thing we do is wejust extract and put it on
different color sticky notes andput it in categories and then
(13:18):
we start looking at processes,because then Then you can look
at it all on the wall and youcan be like, oh okay, I Can see
how these things relate.
So you start looking forpatterns and then you can be
creative around those veryspecific categories.
So I think journaling is thesame way.
Right?
(13:38):
Yeah, you have all thisinformation, even if you're
trying to start a business andyou're just, you just got ideas.
You know I can do this, I cando this, I can do this.
You just start writing it down.
Yeah write it all out and thenin your journal you say, okay,
cool, let me cluster thesethings.
And then you look at them andyou say what should I do first?
Well, these things I'm reallygood at.
Why should probably do thosethings first?
(14:00):
Yeah, right, but all that'sgonna happen.
It's really hard to do all thatin your head.
Speaker 2 (14:04):
Yeah, that's the thing and keep track of your
bills and your day job and youreverything else going on.
Speaker 1 (14:09):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
So that's why it's nice to write it down.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
It is so nice to write it down.
Journaling increases creativity.
Fourth but not last andimportance, journaling can
interrupt the internal critical.
Speaker 2 (14:25):
Internal critic yes it can in.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
It can interrupt the internal critic and increase
self compassion.
So the problem is negativethought patterns and room
rumination can contribute tomental health issues.
Many individuals struggle withself criticism and lack
self-compassion.
So Journaling helps because youcan get that shit out of your
head.
You can get the critical criticout of your head and write that
(14:50):
bitch down, submitting thatcritic to the paper.
You're literally forcing thatcritics mouth.
Onto the paper onto the paperand then your brain has space
for the self-compassion,compassion voice to come in and
say you know what?
Speaker 2 (15:07):
you ain't that bad, you know.
You ain't too bad for a honky.
Speaker 1 (15:15):
So the solution is journaling can interrupt
negative thought cycles andreduce rumination right,
obviously, but that's beenresearched.
This this article, adams 2008.
Journaling with non-judgmentalattitudes foster self compassion
and self esteem.
So Pretty interesting Routinehere.
(15:36):
Yeah, as it relates tojournaling, there's obviously a
lot of different journal systemsand you can look them up and
follow Whatever systems you want.
Yeah, you can try your own.
Sometimes it is nice, literallyjust a vomit.
Yeah, just whatever's in yourhead, write it out.
I know for me, especiallybefore I went through my major
(16:01):
rounds of therapy and struggledwith disassociation and the
manager screaming at me all thetime in my disassociation which
I did, a whole episode ondisassociation.
So if that made no sense, yougo listen to that episode.
But, um, if I Needed to take afucking mental break or if I
needed to go to sleep, there wasa Period of time where the only
(16:24):
way I could really rest themind was just to write out every
single thought, phrase, idea,voice, statement down.
Just write it down was it evencoherent?
Speaker 2 (16:38):
just one after the other, and it didn't even matter
.
Speaker 1 (16:40):
It didn't even matter .
It didn't even matter what yeahlike, and I Started keeping a
piece of paper and a pencil bythe bed.
Hmm, because if I sit down andI forgot about it, I forgot
something that I was supposed todo, or Just something popped to
my head.
I just write it down and itmakes my sleep a million times
(17:01):
better.
Nice, so, just always havingthat right next to the bed, and
sometimes I don't write anythingdown, I just go to sleep.
But other times it's like ohman, I forgot to do that.
You know, instead of opening myphone and Set in a task, or
getting blasted by the bluelight and waking up again.
Yeah, and then go on toInstagram.
Yeah, 45 minutes Looking atstupid shit.
Speaker 2 (17:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (17:24):
I just roll over, write it down and then bam, it's
out, bro, it's gone.
So nice.
Speaker 2 (17:34):
I Think I've never like the self-compassion piece.
Speaker 1 (17:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Maybe some people write negative things about
themselves in their journal.
Speaker 1 (17:45):
Yeah, I don't, yeah, I don't think.
Speaker 2 (17:47):
I ever have, because that's like almost solidifying
it even more.
That sounds difficult to dofrom like if I you know what,
does that make sense?
Speaker 1 (17:55):
Yeah, yeah so I think I'm Writing a statement like I
feel Like I'm not good enoughright is different than writing
down like in your head.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
You are not good enough.
In your head you might besaying I'm a piece of shit, yeah
, but are you actually gonnawrite that in the journal?
Speaker 1 (18:15):
Maybe some people are when I was in middle school, I
would write things like thatdown.
Hmm, I'm just thinking out loud, no, I agree with you but as an
adult I think being intentionalaround Again that difference
between I feel like shit.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Not, I am a piece of shit.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
I feel like I'm not good enough versus.
Speaker 2 (18:33):
I'm not good enough.
Yes.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
Because then you can.
You can, you can write down.
Why do I not feel good enough?
Exactly why do I feel like I'mnot enough?
Who am I not enough to?
Speaker 2 (18:46):
yeah.
Speaker 1 (18:47):
How long have I felt like I'm not good enough?
Speaker 2 (18:49):
exactly when did this start?
Yeah, what did this come from?
Yeah, what happened why?
Speaker 1 (18:58):
And I think with anything else right.
It's our intention, if yourintention of journaling is to
solidify the critic and Be asdepressed as possible.
That's true too, Then you canwrite down I'm a piece of shit,
yeah.
Over and over again.
You can.
You can spray paint it on thewalls and read it every morning
when you wake up.
Speaker 2 (19:13):
Yeah, I guess I was just legitimately thinking out
loud.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Yeah, no, I agree with like like, but if your
intention is, you want to right.
Speaker 2 (19:21):
Your intention is why do I feel this way?
Not, I am this.
Where did this come from?
Why, basically, why, why, why.
But I think it's great.
I've had a couple of In myentries you know it's only been
a couple months but that werejust like you said.
(19:41):
You just kind of start going,yeah, she got, get it out in.
Some are more intentional, yeah, and.
But it's great to go back andlook yeah, okay, I've already
grown.
You know I've already learnedthis.
I've already Mm-hmm.
My perspective has alreadychanged this much.
I've already grown this much inclarity.
When you're in it, it mightfeel like nothing's happening.
(20:05):
That's the thing about it getsyour life.
It feels slow.
It feels like nothing's going on.
But then you go look at yourjournal and you're like oh, it's
only four months ago that I waswhatever, I hated my job or I
didn't do this.
And now I'm over here.
Speaker 1 (20:18):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (20:19):
So you need a little reminder.
Yeah, it's good, it's nice tohave reminders that you're
moving forward.
Speaker 1 (20:26):
Yeah, having smart goals and then celebrating the
wins.
So we don't celebrate the wins?
Yeah, and I think, last but notleast, just we talked about
reducing procrastination, thelast episode, and you brought up
the quote from the podcast.
We heard, like, just start withfloss and one tooth, even if
(20:46):
it's literally just writing downa phrase today I learned this,
or I'm going to start journalingtoday.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
Today I felt pretty good yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:56):
I'm going to start journaling, even if the next day
is I'm still going to journal.
I'm still going to journalBecause, back to that point,
you're just creating that habitof at some point during the day
you're going to write somethingdown.
So it's just, you don't have to.
You know the times that I firststarted journaling and I would
start and stop.
You know it'd be like all right, I'm going to have a journal
system and I'm going to writedown my mood and the weather and
(21:19):
all this kind of stuff and wedo a goal progress check and all
that kind of stuff is likeseven pages.
Yeah, like two weeks later Istopped doing it, versus, just
like I'm going to write whateverthe fuck I want to write and if
it's two sentences or if it'sthree pages, it doesn't matter.
I'm just going to write today.
Speaker 2 (21:36):
I do like, though, every day hopping in and just
writing.
I'm going to journal today,yeah, Because maybe some stuff
will come out of you that youweren't expecting.
Maybe not no expectations.
It doesn't have to be.
Some amazing people are goingto write books about me when
they find my journal and theashes kind of journal.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (21:59):
You know, that's not really.
Speaker 1 (22:00):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
But giving yourself more opportunities to get it out
.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Yeah, I think that's good.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
It's easy to same thing like before with
procrastinating or just notmaking it a habit.
It's easy for like three monthsto go by.
Speaker 1 (22:15):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
So there you go.
Tonight I'm going to write myjournal.
I'm journaling today.
Maybe I'll write more, maybe Iwon't, depends on how I'm
feeling.
Speaker 1 (22:25):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:25):
Boom, boom, sweet bro .
I think that's it, let's roll.
So go to our link and buy ourpatented journal experience.
The FocusCash Journal.
The Focus Journal.
My name is.
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