A Starter Workbook by Katie Scoggins
Katie here. I feel like the journal is such an underutilized tool in our lives. Throughout my life, I ve used my journal in many different ways. It s been there let me document, to vent, and to just have someone (something) to talk to when I needed it. I m sure you have some sort of journaling history of your own too. My mom gave me a journal when I was young and it was the first time she let my younger brother and I stay home alone. She wanted us to occupy our time well, so she told me to start writing about my days. From there, I would go through phases of writing every day, skipping it for months, and finding it to re-read what I had been up to in the recent past. Then I would always lose it again for a year or two before going to unbury it from a box so I could write my heart out when I was really mad or sad. For most of my life, a journal was just a place for me to write what I had done, so I could look back at the memories. But it would also often turn into the verbal venting therapy I needed. I wanted to be heard, unfiltered and completely me. It was a perfect place for the most authentic version of me and my secrets. A few years ago, I took a training that often had us do free writing exercises to make us get really honest with ourselves. The questions were deep and specific. They asked about our true feelings: dreams and desires, hates and fears, blocks and doubts. Each question dove deeper and got more specific. What I took away from this part of the training was clarity I never even dreamed I would ever have. We meditated and wrote from the heart. We took it step by step to discover WHY it is we do what we do and what IS it that we actually want to do in this life. What s that fire in our bellies saying? Since then, I ve explored the healing art of journaling and free writing from as many teachers as I could find. Friends, professionals, and mentors. It s helped me to heal old wounds that I d previously refused to acknowledge. It s held me accountable to affirmations and beliefs I hold for myself. It s surprised me every. single. time. when I manifest something of my dreams, only because I was willing to get specific while being true to my heart. Within the past few years, I ve learned and realized the great benefit to consciously journaling, or mindful journaling. I think writing and free writing are important tools to help shift us out of our heads and into our hearts and souls. It takes consistency and practice. So, allow yourself to start as you are. You are perfect. Give yourself permission to be really honest as you let your pen flow across the paper. And don t question anything as it comes out. Just let it be and see where it goes.
I like to do a little brain dump when I wanna write but I just feel blocked and I don t know what to say. Sometimes I start with what s the first thing on my mind, like I don t know what to write, but I feel like I want to write and. Usually something flows from there. But because I use journalling as a tool to get out of my head and into my heart, I ve chosen some questions that help cut right in. What are you thinking now? What are you feeling now? What are you experiencing?
A teacher of mine uses something similar to this when she s having a bad day or notices she s complaining and getting into conflict and wants it to stop. She uses the acronym, WAIT: Why Am I Talking? I love this tool for getting honest about how much negative inner talk we have versus positive. We ALL do it, and it is constant and daily work to keep it in check. So, a question to ask after these prompts is how are your thoughts affecting the way you feel and how you are experiencing you day? If it doesn t feel good, are you willing to change? Sometimes the answer is no! Sometimes we need more space to vent and let it all out, unfiltered. If that s the case, I encourage you to write it out or call a trusted friend to hear you out and then write about it. But I think it s also important to keep boundaries. Maybe you know you want to complain, but you also know if no one stops you, you could ruin your own day with whining. Maybe give it 20 minutes of writing or 5 minutes of a phone chat and then decide to STOP to reframe your mind. Bring it back to the positive. Starting with even a crumb of something you appreciate or are grateful for. And go from there. You can dig yourself out of the hole of complaints, whenever you re ready. Rant it out. Unfiltered: Something I appreciate today is:
I feel like a lot of us know exactly what's on our long list of things we want. What we don t realize is how our minds go about thinking of these things we dream of. Many of us focus more on what we DON T have rather than dreaming of how nice it would be to have the things we really wish for and think about daily. We don t often take time to get detailed about what we want. We don t spend time living in the mentality of how it would feel to already have these things in our lives. If we don t study our own dreams and desires, we are blocking them. If we focus more time on lack than abundance, then lack is exactly how we will see. What do you want? So, let s take some time to get really clear about what it is we DO want. How do you want to feel? How do you want to live?
I know it s frustrating. To feel like you really know exactly what you want and how you envision your life to be, but you re working so hard towards your goals and continuously feel beaten smack down to the floor. I get it. I live in that world too. What s hard about this is we ve lived our entire life learning from society that we are less than. We compare ourselves and find the smallest of ways to feel like everyone and everything is better than us. These small things add up. Deep down inside of us, we all have deeply rooted fears of inadequacy or failure or rejection or something else. These fears are what block us from focusing more of our energy on our dreams and goals that make us feel GOOD. So, what can we do to resist these blocks? First step, we identify them. We call them out. This requires some real and radical honesty with ourselves, which can be challenging. Be patient with yourself. Give yourself permission to take your time and come back to these questions as often as you need to. Chipping away at our fears, doubts and blocks can take time. But I know there is some gold hidden under all that fear! How do you doubt yourself? What are some things you do to play small? In what ways do you think you are not good enough?
First, look back over your responses to the questions on the last page. Amongst all these things, there may be a common theme (an underlying fear, doubt, block) that resonates with many of your answers. This thing could come up in many corners of your life. What is the underlying fear blocking you from feeling & being great? With fear, can come layers of other complex emotions. Identifying a fear can send you down the rabbit hole of remembering past stories, which can sometimes feel like A LOT to process. Again, I think it s important to give yourself time and patience with this. Sometimes, it feels good to feel all the things with these realizations. Sometimes it s exhausting. Know that whatever feelings arise with this are valid. But take care of yourself first. Something that helps me process is an unfiltered letter to the person, place, thing that is making me mad, sad, afraid. You can write the letter directly to the subject, as if you were going to give it to them. What s nice about unfiltered is it s just a rough draft with everything you re feeling. The things you WANT to say, but don t because maybe it s too harsh or maybe you re scared to share. I often find myself surprised about how good I feel after. I either have more clarity to write a new letter to the person (or thing) about how I feel in a more acceptable way, OR I just feel good enough and decide sharing my thoughts with others isn t necessarily needed anymore. Write that letter:
There comes a point when we just get TIRED of being mad/sad/afraid and we re ready to move on. Sometimes, the first spark we need to let go of parts of our mental and emotional baggage is just being WILLING. I want to be clear though, it is OKAY to stay in the muck for a while. It s okay to not feel okay. It is okay to wallow. I think that is an important process we must go through for our own emotional growth and learning. But, once you ve had your fill (maybe you feel empty or complete with that phase), the first step is being willing to let go of what is no longer serving you. What are the negative thoughts & feelings you are still holding on to? How would you feel if you were willing to let them go? How would you live if you knew you were unlimited?
A good friend of mine once shared with me a visualization meditation that rocks my world every time. In it, is a discussion about how we create our own reality. What we believe is what we see. If we wish to make big strides towards our goals and dreams of the future, it s our responsibility to get clear on what we want and how we want to feel. Then, we can start to get creative on what that may look like visualized. You can check out my Dream Visualization Meditation at www.katiescoggins.com/meditations or follow along below: Get into a comfortable position, close your eyes and take 3 full, deep breaths. With every breath, let go of the reality you re sitting in now. Slowly allow the sounds, smells, thoughts and feelings of the space you are in now to slip away. Imagine a thick, white cloud drop over you like a blank slate. In this vast and white blankness in your mind, begin to create the world you want to live in. What are your biggest dreams and aspirations? How do you want to be living right in this very moment? What does your ideal life in the future look like? As you breathe, start mentally adding in the details of your ideal reality. Where are you? What are you doing? Who are you with? How do you feel? What are the colors, sounds and smells of the things surrounding you? Allow yourself to explore your dream for several minutes. Staying connected to the breath, let your mind wander. Free write about your dream world below: Use this free write as your tool to lift you up when you re feeling stuck. Allow it to bring you back into that mindset of living your dreams to remind you of all the things you love and believe you can do. Getting clarity of mind by being deeply honest with yourself can help you take the small steps towards breaking down your blocks and take action toward your goals. Take you time, be patient with yourself, and remember this guide will always be here when you find something new you want to dig into.
You did it. Writing can feel like a lot of heavy lifting when digging into buried beliefs, underlying emotions, and raw truths. It s not easy. Give yourself some love for being willing to show up to these prompts and get really down and dirty honest with yourself. These questions can be used over and over again when looking for clarity for different areas of your life. You can use this workbook to go through the 10-pages again and again or just simply cherry pick questions and use them as a catalyst to free write in your journal. This is just the beginning. I know it may be hard to notice now, but these questions will be the start of cracking you open to many new layers of you. I really believe that if we are willing to be vulnerably honest, with ourselves and others, that we WILL find clarity, healing and connection. Remember this is YOUR work. It doesn t have to look like any one else s. There may be some parts of this that you modified, and if so, that s great! Only you know what is best for you. You can trust your gut and your heart. These questions are only here to jump start you into an exploration of yourself and your thoughts. Next, join the community! I love hearing your stories and experiences. Connect with me on social media or explore my website for more tools and guides. I m so happy you re here. Thanks so much for writing with me. Katie Scoggins