Five Journaling Exercises to Change The Way You Think About Yourself
As taught to me last year by renowned novelist Elizabeth Gilbert.
When my friend (the brilliant author, Cait Flanders) invited me to join her at a workshop run by Elizabeth Gilbert, I was awestruck.
Elizabeth. Gilbert.
The structure was based on her (best, in my opinion) book, Big Magic, which focuses on how to live a more creative life, despite your fears or self-limiting beliefs.
The book, and workshop itself, is built from six pillars: Courage. Enchantment. Permission. Persistence. Trust. Divinity.
As Elizabeth gave a 30-minute speech on each idea, we were instructed to write the following letters. I’m sharing the exercises here as they’ve been helping me think about my life in a healthier way ever since.
Exercise One: Write a Letter From Your Fear
OPENING SENTENCE: Dear <Name>, I am your fear and this is what I want to say to you…
Note: This is powerful. We all wrote a letter from our fear, and were then asked to read them out. When asked if we related to someone else’s letter, every single person in the room stood up. Our fears are, fundamentally, the same, and there’s great…