I’m an optimist, and I prefer at all times to accentuate the positive. But the only way I can regularly keep up a cheerful outlook is with help from my journal. Because when I am faithful to my journal, I can see things from a healthy perspective. And when I don’t take the time to tune in to my Inner Coach, life quickly becomes imbalanced.
No one is successful 100% of the time and everyone has to deal with disappointment. So if you become adept at getting over disappointment, you’re likely to feel happier.
Journaling is amazingly effective as a tool to transform disappointment into something you can actually use and appreciate.
You know, it’s one thing to practice the preachings of the Law of Attraction, and another thing altogether to get over a big disappointment. I mean, you can believe and believe with all your heart, and then you can see your hopes come crashing down. Many things you believe in will flourish, and then others will not. Yes, Virginia, such is life.
Not to say that you should stop believing. It’s like that adage, “Believe in God, but row away from the rocks.”
Somehow, each of us is a weird combo of idealism and failure, playing off each other all our livelong days.
Now, one day might bring little disappointments, but it’s the big ones that we really notice. They only come around every so often, and then they seem to last forever. Something long-hoped-for is denied. The hurt lingers. What will bring back idealism and good faith?
Your journal, is what.
Write responses to questions like:
- What was I hoping for?
- How did the disappointment happen?
- What is life like since the disappointment happened?
- Who or what do I have to forgive? **
- What do I want now? How do I want to feel next week or next year?
** Just make a list of things or people that you now have to forgive. Don’t be concerned with whether or not you are capable of feeling forgiveness right now. Let that come in its own time. Just make a list for now.
It might take a journaling session or two; it might require several months or more of regular pen to page. Working through a disappointment is always challenging and the process has to take its own time. Let it unravel as you record the journey.
Sure, you're feeling the dreadful hurt, and it’s not easy to be objective. But you can also cradle your own heart by journaling. By writing it out you work it out.
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Wondering how to establish a satisfying journaling practice? Start here!
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