A moment of truth and a challenge...

Be honest.

Are you doing the journal prompts at the end of these messages or are you just thinking about the question and then moving on?

Most of us look at reflective questions or journal prompts and we hold them in our mind for a moment or two and then move on with our lives thinking that we have gotten what we needed out of that question.

But consider for a second this saying by the famous At a Journal Workshop creator, Ira Progoff:

"Thinking about what you would write is not the same as actually writing it."

This is the most powerful phrase in journaling that you will ever hear.
So much so that I will say it again.

"Thinking about what you would write is not the same as actually writing it."

When you respond in your mind to a prompt, you get the regular, everyday chatter. You get the automatic response.

Even a simple prompt like "What's going well?"

Review that question in your mind and you will most likely come up with an answer right away. It probably doesn't change your day or your life. It probably doesn't tell you much of anything.

But just for today, notice what happens when you write that question down and spend just five minutes writing about it.
Whatever comes to your mind....just keep writing.

Progoff goes on to say that this practice of writing things down "seems to evoke depths in us that mere thinking does not reach."

In the writing, you actually explore the question. Things that you never thought before pop up. Insights jump off the page.

If you have been reading these emails and just thinking about the questions at the end, challenge yourself this week to notice the difference between thinking about writing and actually writing.

The difference is pretty magical.
Seriously.