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Instead of criticizing yourself for your aspirations or feelings, consider these writing prompts designed to enhance your understanding and self-compassion through exploration.
The interactions we have with various people, places, and circumstances can sometimes overwhelm us. When our nervous system recalls previous experiences that left us feeling anxious or unsafe, it can be challenging to remain grounded in the present moment. This is where the practice of journaling shines as an invaluable tool. Engaging in mindful journaling offers a tranquil opportunity to reflect on emerging thoughts and emotions, delve into their foundations in survival instincts, and identify nurturing ways to address our needs thoughtfully and kindly.
Journaling Prompts: Release Your Limiting Behaviors
Take your journal and, with patience and compassion, contemplate these writing prompts:
– In what aspects of your life do you notice the dynamics of “power over” versus “power with”? What consequences arise from this dynamic?
– What survival mechanisms were instilled in you during your upbringing?
– Can you identify survival strategies that operate on a collective level? For example, consider phrases such as, “We must win at all costs,” or “Adhere to the rules and conform.” Others might include beliefs like, “They must stay in their place to preserve ours,” or “Ignore the underlying issues and maintain the status quo.”
– What additional patterns can you identify?
– How do you personally connect with these strategies? In what ways do they manifest within you?
– What societal judgments reinforce these survival strategies?
– What unmet needs do these collective survival strategies reveal?
– What solutions can you envision to fulfill these needs?
– What reinforces your experience of a sense of belonging?
– How might you foster a direct sense of belonging within the communities you associate with? In what ways can you transform this vision into reality, both personally and collectively?
Allow yourself the necessary time to explore these prompts. The process of unpacking these questions may take weeks, months, or even years. If you feel comfortable, consider sharing your insights with a friend or a supportive group.
Excerpted from the book The Heart of Who We Are: Realizing Freedom Together by Caverly Morgan. Copyright © 2022 Caverly Morgan. Reprinted with permission from the author and the publisher, Sounds True.
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www.mindful.org