Jack Canfield

Use a Journal to Inspire Yourself Into Action by Jack Canfield

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By keeping a personal journal, you enter a sacred space. Here, you are safe from judgment and free from daily duties and cares. Here you can dream, discover, and dare to create new ways of being in the world.

Use a journal to directly reinforce the teachings of The Success Principles, and other personal learning courses. Create a laboratory for personal transformation as you put the principles of your course into action each day. Do this by including sections in your journal for inspiration, intention, action, and growth.

Receive Inspiration

Writing captures guidance from your deepest self before it disappears. Inspired ideas can rise to the surface of your mind in a classic “aha!” moment. This might be a solution to a persistent problem, an idea for a breakthrough goal, a powerful image, an energizing affirmation, or another sudden spark of insight. No matter what form the inspiration takes, record it in your journal.

Write about your challenges as well. Note the moments when you are not functioning at your peak—times when you feel bored, tense, angry, afraid, or sad. These feelings are clues to areas of your life ripe for transformation. In your journal, describe the discomfort in detail and how you reacted. Look for patterns. Also brainstorm new options for responding. Sometimes a moment of inspiration lies just on the other side of a tough emotion.

Form Intention

Statements of intention contain blueprints for action. This kind of journal entry offers a way to stay positive and on course, directed toward the new results you want to attract into your life.

As with writing affirmations, keep intention statements focused on what you want. “I intend to effortlessly double my income” is more effective than “I intend to stop worrying about paying my bills each month.”

Also release the word try. A statement such as “I will try to save at least 10 percent of my income each month” conveys something less than wholehearted commitment. People who continue to overspend can rationalize the result by saying, “Well, I am trying.”

A more effective option comes from Yoda, the gnomish guru in the Star Wars film trilogy: “Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try.”

While you can fill up a journal with statements of inspiration and intention, consider adding inducements to action as well. Even the most jaw-dropping insight or motivating statement of intention can fall flat when this element is missing.

Take the intention statement mentioned above: “I intend to double my income while working with joy and ease.” That’s a solid place to start. Now, pave the way for action by packing your intention full of details. Include specific goals such as “I will call fifty new customers this week” and “I will include ten new products in my next catalog.”

Celebrate Growth

Use a journal to make your own growth visible to yourself. Record the results that you experience by using The Success Principles and the Law of Attraction. Whenever a new outcome shows up in your life—whether subtle or significant—capture it in your journal.

Be specific. As your income increases, note dollar amounts. As your network of clients and job contacts grows, include names. As you resolve conflict with key people in your life, describe the words and actions that produced these breakthroughs.

Writing offers a way to lift your eyes above the steady march of daily events. When immersed in the details of work and family responsibilities, you can easily overlook change that is already manifesting in your life. Use a journal to regain perspective and literally rewrite your life.

Seeing the evidence of your personal growth recorded on the page, before your own eyes, can instantly raise your emotional vibration. And that opens a path for the cycle of inspiration, intention, action, and growth to begin all over again.

Jack Canfield, America's #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you're ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.jackcanfield.com

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