“Never go to sleep, without a request to your subconscious” – Thomas Edison
You can direct your subconscious mind before you go to sleep – how?
Take a few moments before you got to sleep to think about what you are trying to accomplish. Ask yourself some questions. Write those down in a form of journaling. Then while you are sleeping your subconscious brain can work on those questions. Then after waking up do a thought dump for several minutes.
First thing in the morning your creative brain is at its peak after the subconscious was rolling while you were asleep. Start writing whatever comes to mind. You get ideas for writing, quilting, being a better person, about your goals, work issues etc.
Journaling becomes a way to detach at the end of the day. Then to fire up and refuel at the beginning of the new day.
By journaling, you can
- Increase focus
- Deepen levels of concentration on a task
- Memorise thoughts and tasks
- Release thoughts and emotions
- Detach and let go of the past
Journaling can help you to fully experience and understand emotional moods. You can vent on paper and find that release you need without fear of judgement. Without release emotions, you can be crippled for long periods of time even for years.
Writing something ingrains it into your brain. When you listen to something the brain records it all – important or not. By writing it down the brain categorises it in different special categories so you can remember what is important. By writing it down, the subconscious mind can problem solve.
If you want to spark creativity work through your thoughts journaling can help. A journal can play the role of a good therapist, a good friend by creating that space to simply be.
Get a pen and a notebook specifically for this purpose. Remember there are no rules. There are many blog posts out there about journaling and changing your life. The only reason to keep a journal is to manage and help yourself and you can do that in any way that helps you.
A journal is your testing ground. It is the blank page to vent and whine about your day and about the people in it. You can write lists, you can write distracting thoughts – just write. It is space to unravel those thoughts that can help you to clarify you thoughts, feelings, wants and needs. It is always available 24/7. No one judges you about how you write or what you write. Just be honest.
You can also use that journal to do a full mind dump or brain dump it only takes around 10 minutes
Open your notebook to a new page. You can write in long hand, dot points – just let it all flow out. Don’t stop it. Write anything and everything. You will find that once you start it will be hard to stop. If you get to 10 minutes and there is still more to go, then keep going until you feel that you have dumped and you feel better. The more you do it the quicker it will be because there will be less pent up.
Have a quick look over your mind dump – are there things that you can do? Are they quick tasks (less than a few minutes??) Do them and tick them off. If you can delegate a task to do that and tick it off. Are there feelings that are non-actionable? Be aware and let yourself continue to dump these thoughts and let you mind work on them. Usually, after doing this you will feel less stressed and more organised.
Think of your journal as a post work reflection time. Account to yourself what you have done that day and what you need to do tomorrow. What have you learned and experienced. Direct your subconscious by focusing on what you want to achieve. As you settle into you work free evening, your subconscious is already preparing for your session the next day. By making these notes you are tuning off work mode. You can now detach and unplug from work and be more present with your loved ones. Remember there is more to life than work. The better your recovery the better yourself will be.
On your pages, there will be you present and your future that you are creating for yourself. You become the author for yourself – you take control. You can create whatever you want to.
You can become the person that you want to be.
You can design the life you want
Your relationships will be happier and healthier
You can be more productive and powerful
Try it and let me know how you go