A PODCAST THAT MADE ME START JOURNALLING
And what a difference it made to my life....
Hello, dear readers!
I hope you are well and surviving January? We’ve had a true wintery January, haven’t we?
But, it’s getting close to 5.00pm now that it goes dark and doesn’t that bring a bit of comfort. Knowing that before long, it will be 6 or 7 o’clock before we need to switch on the lights and close the curtains :)
But we’re still in a “start of the year mode” and very much setting up intentions and rituals to make life better.
One thing I introduced in my daily routine a while ago was a bit of journalling. And in particular a method of journalling (very quick and simple) that has been devised by a doctor who has numerous case studies where he can evidence that by journalling, people can improve how they think about their lives.
That doctor is Dr Rangan Chatterjee. I’m sure some of you will have already discovered him and his total wisdom. He’s a doctor with decades of experience which he’s poured into a plethora of podcast episodes. And has a published of wellbeing books all based in science and his experience.
It was whilst I hadn’t and a social media post for this particular episode (the first one of 2024) crossed my radar. I had scheduled a long walk around a country park near my home and thought I’d listen to the episode as I walked. I was curious….
The episode was called “How To Make 2024 Your Best Year: 3 Questions To Ask Yourself.” Being a total sucker for anything that promises how to improve your life, I started to listen to this one as I started my walk.
I have to say at the beginning, I got a bit impatient. He spent around 10 minutes explaining how what he was going to outline on the episode had changed his outlook and behaviour (yes, he practices what he preaches). Impatient for the actual regime, I continued to listen and, after much unnecessary verbal wandering (he is a tad verbose at times) he outlined what he and thousands of his patients practised each day. And basically, these are the questions he suggest you ask yourself each day.
He splits the questions into 3 to ask yourself in the morning and 3 to ask yourself in the evening. And these questions are:
MORNING:
What is the one thing I need to get done today?
What one thing/person in my life that I have deep gratitude for?
What quality do I want to show the world today?
and the evening questions are:
EVENING:
What went well today?
What can I do differently tomorrow?
What did I do for someone else today?
Now, these questions seem quite simple. And they are, but having done these questions for some time now, I’ve realised that, as a medical professional, Dr Chatterjee designed them to stimulate you to think differently. They have for me. And, as Dr C says on his podcast, they have made a difference to the lives of thousands of patients.
Okay, so what differences have I noticed? Well, when I first started writing and answering these questions, I was noting down tasks actual tasks that I needed to do. Often this would be work related. Then, after a couple of weeks, I noticed that the automatic things that came into my brain when answering were not actual tasks, but how I needed to behave towards myself. For example, initially it was stuff like “I need to complete and publish that article”. Now it’s “Remember to take a lunch break” or “Decide where to go this weekend”. Do you see the difference? From answering these questions fairly consistently (and I have missed the odd evening session), it’s gradually switching stuff in my brain to ensure I’m putting myself into the equation (which is something, as women, we rarely do, right?) and getting mor
I have to admit, although I’ve tried to answer these questions, there have been times when I’ve missed odd sessions - sometimes for several weeks. But, when I have been disciplined, and done them as he outlines for a few weeks, there is a subtle change I notice and I’m slightly calmer and happier. Things tend not to bother me as much. And, I honestly believe that the questions Dr C has said we must ask ourselves are very cleverly designed to stimulate our brains to think far more positively. I’m certainly going to continue to put aside 5 minutes (if that) to complete my morning and evening questioning session.
And where might you find this golden nugget of an episode? It’s available for free here
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So that’ll be a wrap from me. I hope something in the newsletter resonates with you.
I’ll be back next week with another newsletter about something that affects us all at this stage in our lives.
Till then stay safe & warm
Una x