#sorrynotsorry for the dramatic title…
As a Buddhist, I believe that all the answers we seek we can find within ourselves. This is not about science or having to have an explanation of how things work and the laws of physics but the simple truth of life. Anything we question, any kind of pain and fear we have, we can find the answers to those questions if we sit long enough with ourselves. That of course is called meditation in Buddhism.
In our daily life, we fall into a routine and we allow our brain to fall into autopilot as we wake up and walk to make our cup of coffee or matcha in my case. But being on autopilot means that you are not in control of your own self which means that you are not conscious of your decisions even if it is because you’ve pre-made those decisions ahead of time. This is true even our emotions. Often times when we get angry, frustrated, or annoyed, these emotions arise from the simple fact that something happened in the external world that triggers the body to think that it has to react that way from its past experiences, and therefore without knowing we can’t control ourself and those emotions take control of our minds.
We get angry with our partner for something that they haven’t done but because of our past experience, the brain predicts the outcome beforehand, therefore, it sends out a signal to the body to react a certain way. Yes, be angry because your ex did something similar and that was your reaction. You’d be surprised at how often our body takes over before our consciousness could have the chance to really make the decisions.
How does that relate to journaling? That was what you came here to read… Well, journaling helps us keep track of things that may happen in our lives while we are unconscious. It is where we can be held accountable for our own thoughts and emotion and really understand and evaluate if what we feel is justifiable or not. Sometimes it really is the chemicals in the body that took control of the emotions. That’s why people come up with the term “hangry”, we let our body decide what emotions to take, and while kids may get hungry and say mean things the consequence of that is different from an adult who gets hangry in a meeting and let it out on their colleague.
Our bodies and our brains also remember to do the same things over and over which is how we can sometimes let it go on autopilot. But it also forgets other details that might be more important to you and how you may evolve in life and make better decisions for yourself. So by keeping a journal, you can look back to that great idea you’ve had or that great inspirational quote you said to yourself that helped you move on from some sad thoughts. You can be your very own savior and guide if you really just paid more attention to yourself and your “good thoughts”.
I’ve said this many times to people and I still hold true to it. “We have all the answers we need within us. Sit with yourself and find out what that is.” We are intelligent creatures, use it to your advantage!
