Success Journaling - Part 2

Wait. That’s too negative.

Instead, wouldn’t you rather have:

What kind of days would you rather have?

Wouldn’t it be great if you could wake up every day feeling wonderful? Or at least feeling better than yesterday?

You can!

It’s all about your frame of mind.

You probably know people who are always cheerful, even in negative situations, they appear calm and don’t let the stinkin’ thinkin’ get to them. You might be wondering, how?

Since Covid-19, I experienced family deaths, financial loss, and a crash that killed my career where I just got promoted, getting my MFA in Educational Leadership, and no hope for a shiny future. I spent an entire summer huddled in a hammock in my backyard, feeling miserable, and with no future to look forward to

A totally unhealthy way to deal with the crap that was thrown at me. It was easy to compare myself to successful people, and whine, “Why do I always get the shit end of the stick?”

Studies prove that happier people are healthier people. They get all the luck. They have better relationships; their positive attitude gets them promoted. It’s like they were born under a shining star.

Like anyone, I want the pot at the end of the rainbow. I want to be financially content, surrounded by loving people, and living my best life. So I started what I call Success Journaling. My goal is to change my habits, especially my negative thinking habits. Of course, success journaling was a new habit that I had to get used to doing every day. It has changed my life for the better. I’m joyful, my emotional intelligence has improved, I’m attracting positive people, I’m loving life!

How to start success journaling:

First – Get yourself a nice new journal.

Second – Slot a time of day that will be your success journaling time This is important to help develop any positive thinking habits.

Formatting your success journal:

First page – I write my name and contact information in case I lose my journal.

Second page – I write a bucket list with everything that I want to happen for the upcoming year.

Success journaling is a great way to keep track of the steps that it takes to get to making

those goals happen. Fill that page!

For example: Travel to Holland, Belgium, France, Finland, Panama, New Zealand, Antarctica, Japan. Drive the Dempster Highway. Get my teeth whitened. Start a blog. Write a book. But a new vehicle. Learn how to paint. Learn how to play the piano. Join Toastmasters. Get a TikTok account. Plant a garden. Do a hundred sits-ups a day. Listen to a positive podcast every day. Read one fifty novels this year. Hike to A Valley of a Thousand Falls with friends. Start an e-commerce store. Start a band.

Fill that page with all that you want to do!

Success journaling page format:

I like to think about my bucket list goals while I complete my daily success journal page. The

formatting is like this:

Date: I start with the date.

For example: Friday, June 28, 2024

Exercise regimen: Part of developing a positive mindset is keeping track of your daily physical

activities. Exercise improves your positive attitude as well as your muscles, and it boosts

your endurance. Need more daily energy? Exercise! Need to get over a snit? Exercise! Need to do some problem-solving or some creative thinking? Exercise!

For example: I’ll write how many steps I walked, or how many laps I did at the pool, and

other physical activities.

Medicine Wheel: In the top right corner, I draw a medicine wheel. This is a circle with an X inside.

The Medicine Wheel is part of the North American Indigenous Nation's culture, and it is used symbolically in various way. In my daily success journal entry, Each section represents four basic elements:

- East: Mental

- South: Physical

- West: Emotional

- North: Spiritual (whatever your definition of spiritual is)

To live a balanced life, we should be mindful of these four elements.

After drawing the medicine wheel, decide how fulfilled you were with each section, throughout the day. For each section, colour in a percentage that matches how much you did for each section.

For example:

Mental: I learned a lot today and aced my exam. [I might colour in this entire section].

Physical: I met my steps goal, but I didn’t go swimming. [I might colour in half of this

Section.

Emotional: I felt positive all day except for two hours when my co-worker irritated me.

We argued, and I was mad for four hours. [I might colour in maybe a quarter of this section].

Spiritual: I got up an hour early and meditated. In the afternoon, I napped while listening to relaxing subliminal music. Before my meals, I prayed. I felt elated when I got a new job.

Later, I listened to a mindfulness podcast.

The medicine wheel will look something like this:

I gave lots of examples because spirituality is defined differently for different people.

I am grateful/I appreciate: Think of three things that you are grateful for or appreciate.

For example: - I am grateful for being able to share my thoughts via social media. - libraries

- swimming 24 laps

I am: This is the self-affirmation section. Always strive to be the best person you can be. For fun, sometimes I’ll pick letters to start with like A, B, C. Give three positive affirmations about yourself.

For example: I am an achiever, brave, and charismatic.

This week, I will: I like to think about what’s on my bucket list and pick a goal to strive for

throughout the week. Remember gals are accomplished by taking one step at a time towards it.

For example: Buy a plane ticket to Europe.

Today I will: This one coincides with my weekly goal. I give myself three daily goals. If I get all three done by the end of the day, I give myself three checkmarks. If not, I add the missed goals to the next day’s plan.

For example: - Research airplane ticket prices.

- Plan an itinerary

- Arrange places to stay.

Setting goals, and a step-by-step plan gives you a better chance at accomplishing those goals.

Nice Moment: It’s too easy to brood about all the negative crap that happened to you in one day, but why focus on the one minute that someone yelled at you, or cut you off on the road, or worse. To get away from stinkin’ thinkin’, I gave myself time limits on how long I was allowed to brood over a miserable moment; just long enough to have a good cry or rant, and then start problem-solving. Most of the time, I realized that I didn’t have to Sweat the Small Stuff (A worthy book to read). Doing this is a huge life-changer habit. Instead, focus on the nice moments that you’ve experienced and write it down.

For example: A teen boy entered my class and said, “You have a more positive vibe than

the other instructors.”

Lesson Learned: Negative experiences are needed for two reasons:

1.“When we know what we don’t want, we can focus on what we do want.” (Abraham Hicks)

2.To learn a lesson.

These reasons are why I think it’s important to reflect on daily experiences that we can learn from.

For example: I was rescheduled to work on Wednesday instead of my usual Thursday. I forgot and didn’t show up. LESSON: Write my work schedule into my calendar. If on a cell phone, make sure that I get a reminder, like a ping or text.

Good Deed: If you know about Boy Scouts, you know about one of their mottos to do a good Deed every day. If you do a good deed, you won’t get a merit badge, like a scout, but you will increase your dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin (a neurotransmitter that helps regulate mood (The Science oof Kindness.com). That’s right, random acts of kindness are good for your health. You can keep track of your good deeds in this section.

For example: Today, I donated toys to a struggling family, held a door for the next person, let an elderly person in front of me in line.

Quotes: Spend your day on a scavenger hunt for positive quotes. Why? Positive quotes keep you mindful of seeking positives throughout your day. You can find positive quotes everywhere: community newspapers, posters, blogs, books, TV and movies, and even overheard.

Write the positive quotes down. Before you know it, you’ll be coming up with your own.

There you go. This is my daily exercise for building a more positive mindset It works! After two years, I’m still practicing improving my holistic well-being. Remember results won’t happen overnight. How much your positive improvement improves depends on your current mindset, and how much you want to commit to living a happier, healthier lifestyle.

There are perks!

Success Journaling can do the following:

-Improve your positive mindset.

-Increase your positive experiences.

-Attract positive people.

-Give yourself better luck.

-Manifest abundance.

Try it. Please comment below your tips for living a more positive mindset. I’m also interested in hearing from people who trying my success journaling, or other success journaling.

Live your best life.