Hello,
My name is Corrie and let's do some journaling together today.
The whole point of this journal exercise is so that you can start to unburden yourself from past wounds,
Traumas,
Beliefs that might be holding you back.
Metaphorically we're going to look at all of our past as if we're carrying it on our backs in a backpack.
Because even though I said metaphorically,
Literally that's what most of us do.
Everything from our past is brought forward on a daily basis in the way that we think,
In the way that we respond or react to others.
Our past is affecting our now all the time.
The only way that you can change the way that you behave in the now is become aware of what it is that you're holding onto from the past that gives you excuses to stay in the same place.
From the human perspective we look at time in three different ways.
We look at time from our past,
The present and the future.
This is what makes time linear here on earth.
When you start to become more aware spiritually you start to open your mind to the perspective that the past and the future are really just illusions of sorts.
That all we really have is the here and now,
This moment.
That's the only thing that's real in our reality.
From a learning perspective the past is something that can just slow us down.
It keeps our evolution,
Our spiritual growth at a very slow pace.
And the future is something that just wastes time.
It's always unknown and yet we worry and spend so much energy about what ifs.
So you could really say that the past and the future are distractions on our spiritual path.
And the more that we can release from our past the more clearly we can see our present moment without all the layers and the beliefs and the perceptions our past allows us to see things through.
For example if you wrote down in your journal,
What hurts am I holding onto from the past?
That's the prompt in your journal.
What hurts?
What wounds am I holding onto from the past?
Let yourself just sit with that and allow your mind to start to bring forward different events that you know hurt you or upset you.
They can be really small or they can be things that were very big and very tragic.
But let your mind just start to pop things up,
Bring things forward.
And as it does write them down.
They can be as little as a comment that someone said at school when you were small but you know that that comment changed your life direction.
It changed your life direction because it changed the way that you saw your world or you saw yourself.
It was impactful.
Now once you've wrote down as many things that you can think of,
Please know that more and more things will come to you and you can just keep adding to the list when you think of something.
But once you've wrote down everything that you can think of,
Then the object of this exercise is to look at each thing and say to yourself,
Am I using this memory productively?
Am I using this memory to be a victim?
Am I using the memory of an old relationship with a man that was physically abusive?
Am I using that memory as an excuse to never get into a healthy relationship again?
Or am I using that memory to hate all men,
For example?
What are the hurtful events that you have that you carry around in your backpack all the time?
What are those events and how are you allowing them to affect who you are today?
If you start to figure out that most of the time the events from your past that you carry in your backpack,
You're using it to keep you stuck in a certain mindset or you're using it as an excuse to not move forward or change,
You may be using the events to create fear inside of you and then therefore that fear stops you from doing certain things that you want to do.
See if you can figure out how each one of those events affects your personality and your behavior.
If it's negative,
Then the optimal thing that you can get from this exercise is,
Can I take this memory,
This hurt out of my backpack and leave it in the past and stop letting it even to this day slow me down or weigh me down?
Look at how many things you keep in your backpack.
Look at your list and see if you can notice the ones on that list that you use as an excuse to stay small,
As an excuse to stay angry,
As an excuse to be the victim.
And if you're doing that with any of those,
Then they are the first ones that you truly,
Really honestly need to let go of for your own sake,
For your own happiness.
Those things in your backpack that you're using for negative reasons,
You need to somehow figure how to let go of them.
And if your mind says,
Well,
I can't because it was so big and it was so bad,
Then your mind is wrong.
That's just your ego.
What your higher mind would say is you have full control and power to choose whether you carry these things in your backpack or not.
You're the one that's in control of that.
You're the boss of what memories serve you and how they serve you.
And just as simple as making a decision to get organic potatoes or regular potatoes,
You can decide to say,
I am not carrying that anymore.
It's in the past and it doesn't serve me.
Or you can say,
No,
I'm going to keep it in my backpack and I'm going to still act the way that I act from that event in my past.
That's your decision.
Let's recap.
You're going to write down at the top of your journal page,
What hurts am I carrying in my backpack?
And you're going to make a list of them.
And then when you have the list in front of you,
You're going to assess those hurts,
Those pains,
Those wounds,
And you're going to assess how they are affecting you today.
How do they make you behave?
How do they make you feel?
Am I using them as an excuse to not move forward?
And then the final part of the exercise is you choose to empty out your backpack.
I hope this exercise helps and please feel free to comment me or message me,
Share with me.
Namaste,
My friends.
