Record Growth

Now depending on your mindset you read that title one of two ways.  Most likely, I'm boasting about my own or some other entity's financial or sales hitting new levels of profit.  The thought would amazing, however, that is not what my title is inciting.  I'm talking about a methodology of historically seeing, feeling, your own personal change.  Recently, I've had cause to dig out my "old" journals and personal notes and what I found stunned me.

I began a writing practice in earnest in late 2019.  The impetus for this daily ritual likely lies in the crinkled and folded photocopy excerpt from a former therapist's office, entitled: Therapeutic Journaling.  While I don't know the text this came from to accurately cite, I want to share just three of the bullet list that I highlighted:
1. As you write, shift your focus from external events to the thoughts and feelings you experience in relation to those events. (In other words, it's NOT Dear Diary 2.0)
2. Write in long-hand vs. word-processing (boy how old must this be?!!)According to the author this facilitates greater awareness of unconscious feelings and drives.  And while I'm too lazy to check for sure, I'm pretty certain this is based on scientific research as I remember a similar theory in Ryder Carroll's The Bullet Journal Method.
3. Write in complete sentences; research indicates that this is helpful in generating deeper insight.

Five years doesn't seem that long in the span of a life but, there is no denying the ink-paper-life-changing records I hold.  I have grown in ways my brain still has trouble articulating.  When I read through my experiences, sometimes it's plain to see the external events that were occurring and at other points it's just as easy to see how my internal state took an active role in producing my external circumstances.  The pain held in my messy scripts can still take my breath away and yet remains the lifeblood that motivates me to keep putting it down on the page.  Recording my growth has skyrocketed my self-curiosity, driven my awareness and the yields have proven the most important of my life.   

Record your growth.  Profit big.  I think it no coincidence that the first published words I put out into the world were in journal format.  Maybe they could be of use to you, available on Amazon and full descriptions here 

To conclude, I'll share just a snippet of the treasure of self I found in my personal history:
I know who I am and it is NOT validated by, controlled by, in contrast to, because of, by role, or worthy in comparison to, - anyone else on this planet.