#PositivityJournaling To Change Your Life (#LOA)

Are you #POSITIVITYJOURNALING?

I’m sure you are wondering what exactly is #PositivityJournaling, aren’t you?  For those that don’t know, I am taking part in a Periscope Challenge and you can find all of those participating using the hashtag #SeptemberScopers.  I wrote about it here too so you can learn more about it and join in if you’d like!

The one prompt that we had was Travel.  I didn’t want to share any vacation stories or where I’d love to travel to, but instead I took a different twist on the word “Travel”.  I related my travel experience to my own weight loss and spiritual journey.  You see, I did my own social experiment on myself.  What I did was take three weeks and journal.  Then see how just the simple act of journaling would change my way of thinking.  How would it make me feel about myself, about my weight loss, about my life in general?  What I discovered was amazing!  Then one day, I stopped writing in my journal and I saw what happened to the way I thought, the  way I felt and how it changed my weight.

When I was writing daily in my journal, over the course of three weeks, I lost 12 pounds.  I don’t know how, I don’t know what I did differently, I just know I was 12 pounds lighter.  My attitude was better.  I didn’t let things get me down.  I didn’t panic or freak out when something went wrong.  I always saw the “bright” side of the situation.  I was nicer to my family and kids.  I felt good about myself and everything I was doing.

When I stopped, I gained 9.5 pounds back.  I started feeling badly about myself and was beating myself up.  I was not a nice person.  I hated everything around me and didn’t want to go to work.  I didn’t want to see anything other than for what it was….crap!  It brought me down and that’s no exaggeration.  I was feeling so badly that yesterday I decided that I was done feeling badly and I was just going to pick up that journal and start writing.  On Periscope I decided to challenge those around me to join me in a #PositivityJournaling challenge.  This is what we are doing:

Get a pretty journal.  If you don’t have one, a nice notebook will do. 

1.  First thing in the morning, before you even get out of bed {yes, wake up 5 minutes earlier if you have to}, and get your journal out.  I keep mine right next to my bed so I don’t even have to get out of bed.
2.   Briefly write about the previous day.  You don’t have to go into huge details, just jot down a few things that happened to you during the day.  You can write as much as you’d like, but I like to keep things simple so I just write brief descriptions, maybe 3-4 sentences.
3.   Write at least 3 things that you were grateful for that day.  If you have more, write them, but really, focus on at least three.
4.   Write what you would like to see happen in your day.  Would you like to exercise, or eat a salad?  Share what you will be making for dinner, or somewhere you will go during the day.  Just anything you’d like to have happen during the present day.
5.   Be sure to say THANK YOU!!!  I always end my journal entry with something like, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to make someone happy today”, or “Thank you for the blessings you continue to provide me with”.  Being thankful and expressing it is a great way to give back to the universe.
6.   And…you’re done.  Close up your journal and put it away until tomorrow.  Now go about your day and see how your attitude has changed just by starting your day out positively!  
7.   Rinse and repeat for 14 full days.  If you like it…keep going.  If you find it isn’t for you, hey, at least you tried!

So that’s it!  All you have to do is commit 5 minutes, first thing in the morning, for fourteen days.  I will be checking in on all my #PositivityJournaling peeps daily to see how things went.  I will probably scope about it daily around 5pm CST so be sure to follow me on Twitter and Periscope to catch those updates!  I also want to hear from you too.  If you can’t make a scope either live or reply, check in here on the blog…just leave me a comment!  I’m here to cheer you on!  Now get your journal ready for tomorrow!