The Lies we Tell Ourselves and Journaling 2.0

Happy November my friend, I hope you are doing well.

The time change always annoys me — but hey, that is outside of my control!

It is what it is! ANYWAYS! Let’s get moving and grooving.

I’ve been paying close attention to my internal dialogue lately.

I have been letting lies slip by my bullshit detector.

The second I find myself caught up in self-limiting beliefs — I snap out of it and ask myself:

“Is this true?”

Most of the time, it is not.

Here are the 5 common lies that humans tell themselves:

• “When I get X, then I’ll be happy.”

  • X can be whatever we think might bring us happiness. A relationship, a new car or home, a new job or promotion. The reality is happiness cannot be pursued, it must ensue. Shoutout Viktor Frankl.

• “I’m not capable of doing that.”

  • I find myself doubting my abilities as a writer and creative daily. I remind myself that I have to work hard to build the skills of a lethal writer — that journey requires me to practice in public. Even the best writers of all time didn't start as the best. Greatness takes patience and dedication — with those 2 qualities, anything is possible.

• “I’ll do X later on.”

  • STOP THE CAP! I have been doing this for years! I have instituted a 2-minute rule — which means that if a task takes less than 2 minutes of effort, go ahead and complete it. Do it now or schedule a time.

• “I don’t have enough experience to teach that.”

  • I have been struggling with this one lately — the truth is that the best way to gain experience is by learning how to teach. Build mode activated.

• “This is just who I am.”

  • Ugh — lame. Human beings have the unique ability to identify their weaknesses and shift their actions to change. We are all capable of change — it will be tough at first, but once you set the table, the momentum starts rolling!

One helpful exercise is to create a reframe of the self-limiting belief.

Turn “This is just who I am” into “This is who I am today, I am capable of change. The world is in a constant start of change and so am I.”

Keep a close tab on your self-limiting beliefs. You don’t have to be scared of your limitations.

Journaling 2.0

I credit the practice of journaling for changing my life. As of today, I am 5 journals in. I just ended my 5th iteration — and I am in need of a change.

I started using the weapon of pen and paper to get thoughts out of my mind and onto paper.

It was a great routine that helped me identify my problems and work with them.

Over the last couple of months, I have grown agitated with my journaling practice.

I found myself ruminating on problems, complaining about life, and berating my past self for mistakes and shortcomings.

I started to hate sitting down and spilling my thoughts because it ended up reminding me of my lack and stress. Not an optimal situation.

So — I decided to upgrade my process.

Enter:

Journaling 2.0

Pretty simple — just a few basic rules:

• No complaints or feelings about day-to-day events. Write that shit somewhere else.

• Use my journal as more of a commonplace book — which means more insights from books and other sources. A place for building up ideas and thoughts about my thoughts.

• Make this journal a weapon of self-knowledge and understanding. I want to read this journal back in 20 years and be grateful for my ideas and growth — not sad about my rumination over life’s basic problems.

Other than that — just write and write. I don’t like too many rules.

I opted for a dotted journal — feels less like school. I also find it easier to draw diagrams or visualizations of any concepts/frameworks I create.

Reach out if you want to start a journaling process or have any other suggestions! I would love to hear how you document your life.

Parils Top 5 List

Top 5 Pens

1. Sharpie S-Gel (metal barrel is TOUGH!)

2. Pilot G2 (.7 + blue ink)

3. Pilot Precise v7 RT

4. Lamy Fountain Pen (I don’t have one but I used the sample at Barnes and Noble and wow I almost spent $40 on a pen! For sure in the future.)

5. Pentel Ener-gel

Bonus: Top 2 Journals

1. Leuchtturm1917 (dotted)

2. Beechmore A5 (amazon)