Transform your life by journaling: Step-by-step guide to living the life of your dreams-powerfully

As I was leaving the terminal, I mused for a moment, wouldn’ it be great if I didn’t have a suitcase to lug around, then I could go shopping and enjoy the London sales. Hmmm…

Do you believe in magic, in prayers being answered, in dreams coming true and in goals being achieved? Well, I do. Not long ago, I wrote on a small piece of paper a few of my goals, desires, wants and dreams.

I wrote ‘Car for Drishti (my daughter)’, ‘Australia’, ‘Journal in reprints’, ‘Treadmill’, ‘Grills’ and ‘being on TV’.

I just wrote them down, without thinking about how any of them could come true. The process is similar to how we plant seeds and conveniently forget about them. But, yes we do remember to water them every day.

I was pleasantly surprised to receive my daughter’s call from Sydney a few weeks later. She was picking up her new car. I was happy that it came to be, even though I was not the one to make the purchase. I pulled out the piece of paper and saw that everything else I had written had also become my reality.

Then, I tried again and wrote down the name of the organisation I wanted to work with and I also wrote that I needed an alarm clock, (the clock was not a goal as such, but it came to mind while I was journaling, so I scribbled it down without much thought). When I woke up the next morning and looked at my phone, I had received an email from the human resources head of that organisation. Later, when I went to address a group that day, I was gifted an alarm clock as a token of appreciation.

This stuff works, it really does. A few years ago, before my first book came out, I remember doing the same exercise where I wrote things such as cocktail glass, lying in a hammock, in a bikini, reading books yet to be published, champagne, a red-carpet celebration with celebrities. Needless to add, they all came to be.

My own journaling started off in an unstructured way from listing what I was grateful for in my TAG Journal (Thankfulness, Appreciation, Gratitude) to writing my dreams and wishes in point-form on small pieces of paper, to doing a brain-dump of my concerns and tasks on another notebook. I realised how interwoven all three were, and how often giving thanks for problems being solved or for wishes being answered in advance was the faith needed to help them come to be.

The above paragraph is an excerpt from the back pages of one of my earlier books “The Mind Spa” 2014

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Two years ago though, in a facilitator development program I was in, my then mentor Lisa Doig gave me the book “The Way of the Carrot” by Roger Ballard – which I passed along not before selecting one of this pages, “I now allow love, life, and abundance into my life” I diligently followed his instructions to write a page repeating this line every single day. He explained beautifully how the act of putting pen to paper helps rewire new neuropathways in our brains.

Neuropathways are etched deep in our subconscious minds from early childhood and some even say pre-birth, they can be very hard to “over-ride” so to speak, but thanks to Neuroplasticity*, we can re-wire our brains by creating new pathways – or thought-patterns for us to follow instead of taking the old and often invalid, out-dated and unhelpful old routes that were first programmed to keep us safe. Neuroplasticity is at the base of almost all work in human beings evolving to live as the creators of our lives instead of the victim.

I believe that this is why affirmations, prayer, journaling and visualization work. People say, “seeing is believing” but I know that Believing is Seeing. We cannot realise what we don’t believe is possible. Our minds will trick us into seeing only what we believe is possible.

For experienced meditators, simply planting a thought, (seed) or declaring an intention is enough to set the balls in motion, the ripple effect of serendipitous encounters, synchronistic events, and snowball effects going, but if you are just starting out to explore using more of your subconscious mind, then guided journaling is a good step to take. If the examples above weren’t powerful enough, let me share one more story; a few weeks ago I arrived in London, Heathrow and they say “be careful what you wish for”, I say, be specific what you wish for, check that it makes you feel elated and that it will bring a positive experience to more people than just you, then wish away.

I got to spend a whole day by myself, exploring historical underground libraries, shopping and enjoying lovely meals and my suitcase showed up in my room two days later. To top it off, the airline reimbursed me for all my shopping which then encouraged me to book my next flight on the same airline. A girls’ dream-come-true!

Visualizations and affirmations have always worked for me as well, but I see 2 sides to the magic of manifestation – journaling, affirmations, visualizations and taking inspired and intuitive action all sit on the outward stroke and a devoted meditation practice is the inward stroke. For more on meditation see below.

HOW TO USE THE MIND SPA JOURNAL

Guided writing is one of the most powerful daily practices to guarantee a happy and fulfilled life. As my practice grew and innovation came in, I evolved to using phone Apps to list gratitude. Many of my clients email their daily musings to me, but I later discovered there is an added magical sacredness to the practice of actually writing. My success journey truly began with the simple practice of handwriting in a Gratitude Journal. Let this be the day you start.

The steps involved in writing for manifesting are:

Sometimes just a word is enough
Surrender the how
Forget the when
Live as if it is already happening
Stop complaining about these dreams, desires, and fantasies not having come true yet. (this is counter-productive)
Relax and be joyful. Trust that all is well. Joy is one of the highest frequencies of emotions you can have. *Power vs. Force Dr. David Hawkins
Welcome the blessings that flow and trust the universe implicitly
Take inspired action every single day
Continue to dream, desire and fantasize
Express gratitude for all that you have, (by naming the giver) – more details on this below.

The way to use The Mind Spa Journal is to write in it every day, write down your goals, your desires, dreams, fantasies, wishes — you don’t need to get into too much detail unless you really want to. Writing a few words that signify the goal to you shall suffice. The magic is in triggering the emotion of already having the feeling that you want this goal for and in reinforcing them daily.

To increase the emotional connection with your practice, you can add details. For example, if it is a monetary goal, write down what you want to do with it, write down the figure (don’t forget the currency sign). I once wrote one followed by six zeroes but didn’t specify dollar. Needless to say, the goal came to be but not in the currency I was hoping. 🙂

Therefore, if it is a particular collaboration or opportunity, indicate the name of the person or the company; if it’s about your relationship you could write about its emotional status — loving, understanding, accepting, fun. If it is a weight goal, write the jeans size instead of the kilos.

On the right section of each day’s lines, in the column called TAG, list the names of the people you are grateful to. You can always attribute your appreciation to someone or something. To express your gratitude towards the sun or the weather, just write it down. If you are comfortable to write God, Mother Nature or Universe.

TAG stands for Thankfulness, Appreciation, Gratitude.

On the left side of each day’s lines, labeled DRAW — write down your Dreams/desires/goals, Reflections, Aspirations, and Wishes. This is a very powerful writing process where you are putting down what you want in the here and now of the physical world. They are no longer just dreams that you sometimes think about. As you write in here daily, you will find clarity emerging in your articulated words. Language is what brings the unmanifested into this plane for us to “see”.

In the last section called SURRENDER, write down any worry or concern you may have and thank for the resolution in advance. I find that when I dump my worries, I create space for my brain to entertain constructive and creative thoughts.

At the start of every new month is a page with the iHour and the Habit Forming Table, take the time to fill it out each month and do your best to stick to your commitments. In the iHour template, fill out the activities and minutes you will spend on each. You may find that you want to change some of these habits or rituals from month-to-month and that is fine. For a template and more information on “iHour” see below.

The activities you list on the iHour page are the things that strengthen your connection to yourself and to the universe. Look at it as the ritual to build a solid foundation to support your dreams. As outlined in The Mind Spa, mine include meditation, walking, talking to my loved ones and learning or teaching something new. The objective is to list and commit to a set of rituals and activities to fit into an hour that nourishes your body, mind, and soul. Yours may include physiotherapy, crunches for your abs, Surya Namaskars, meditation Daily practice and commitment toward these goals will make you feel happy and fulfilled. That’s how you shall be better equipped to face all challenges.

The Mind Spa Journal allows rich and positive emotions to flow from your thoughts to the tangible reality of ink on a page. The best way to trick yourself into actually feeling these positive feelings, even if you are not feeling too good is to use your memories, fantasies, dreams, and desires judiciously. It is that simple.

There is always something to be grateful for, even and especially in our challenges. If I look back at the events and challenges in my life, I can see clearly how each one of them helped me to get on the path to “here” and there is nowhere I’d rather be!

Every time and I mean every single time you notice a sad, disempowering, scary, anxious, helpless thought cross your mind, train yourself to switch it. Just like you would turn on a light switch! Switch it! Look for the meaning and the learning in the situation. Ask, what is the silver lining here?

—Don’t Think of a Blue Ball

Writing about your goals and desires, feeling the gratitude and joy of already having them, acknowledging the good in your life daily and holding yourself accountable to take action will add up to a joyful and happy life of more dreams coming true.

With Thankfulness, Appreciation, Gratitude, and Love,

Malti B

PS:

I am now in the middle of another Facilitator Development Program in the UK with the Master of Facilitation, Gita Bellin and it is only now that I see clearly how my initial introduction to MMY Maharishi Mahesh Yogi’s TM – Transcendental Meditation was the first step to me manifesting the opportunities I now have and the realizations I have recently made that has helped me to further refine my own beliefs in how joyful this life can be! It is my wish that you find that joy too.

Sample template:

Month/Day/Year

Week 1 (Month): _________

Divide your writing space as below:

Date: _________

Day: _________

DRAW

TAG

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SURRENDER

_____________

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*Neuroplasticity – Research in the latter half of the 20th century showed that many aspects of the brain can be altered (or are “plastic”) even through adulthood.This notion is in contrast with the previous scientific consensus that the brain develops during a critical period in early childhood and then remains relatively unchanged (or “static”).