Yes, Journaling — Continued

As innovative genius Buckminster Fuller said,

You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.

You cannot change how someone thinks, but you can give them a tool to use which will lead them to think differently.

Childhood Obesity News has already mentioned the complicity between the hand and the brain, and their ability to collaborate in a very useful way. Writing your journal entries by hand activates regions of the brain that are not touched by keyboarding, and changes the whole cognitive process. Information becomes fully processed and absorbed, in a way that typing on a device and looking at a screen just can’t accomplish. Since ancient times, putting something in writing lends it gravitas; it signifies importance. To put it in writing is how you make a contract with another person, or — especially — with yourself.

An effective combo

Some people who work from a daily to-do list find it very useful to write it out by hand, and even to copy over the unfinished items onto a fresh list for the next day. This concept can carry over to the BrainWeighve app, when it asks you to make a plan. One example would be your plans for handling the upcoming winter holidays. (See illustration.)

Journal writing can be combined with the various BrainWeighve concepts, to various extents. Maybe do the writing part separately, and use that time to really explore the nooks and crannies of your own brain. Then, reduce that message down to a few cogent points and transfer those into the app. Whatever your conclusions are, you can keep them to yourself, or share them. Maybe some people are not comfortable with loading so much information into an app, but writing by hand feels more secure, and can be kept private according to your wishes.

Or don’t even go that far

A person who isn’t ready to make the full leap into journaling about personal matters might practice using the hand-brain connection in a more general way. For instance, it might be useful to sit down and write out the serenity prayer a few times. It might help to take your favorite affirmation, like “I am a survivor,” or “Life is an adventure,” or “I got this!” and write it a hundred times. It doesn’t matter what you do with the paper afterward. Tear it up or burn it. The important part, communicating to the brain that you mean business, is done.

Bottom line

The whole point here is to acknowledge and resist the brain’s tendency to “reboot” itself back to a familiar and comfortable mindset. Don’t let it! The more comprehensive a program is, the more parts of it will find people who are particularly helped by that part. The opposite is also true. Some life hacks will not suit everybody. Journaling is an excellent recommendation because, for starters, it’s free, and in the current economic climate, that’s not nothin’.

Because you probably have ideas that will help other people, BrainWeighve encourages sharing — but it’s not required. When journaling by hand, the heavy work can be done inconspicuously, if you don’t wish to share, or if you prefer to wait a bit before sharing your ideas and results. As always, every idea does not work for every unique, individual person. Still, many approaches work for a lot of people, and journaling is one of them.

Your responses and feedback are welcome!

Source: “R. Buckminster Fuller Quote, AZQuotes.com, undated