A few weeks ago, I published one of my more popular stories, “I’ve Been Waking at 3:05 AM”,…
Apparently, journaling has a big following — I had not been aware of it.
I enrolled in Benjamin P. Hardy 2018’s 52 Weeks of Momentum course, and right off the bat we needed to start a morning and evening routine, and journaling was it for me.
I found immediate benefits and they have continued. A few of my readers asked for updates, so this is my continuing story.
January 2018 Journaling — Excerpts from some of the 32 insights.
If you are reading this for the first time, and want to see where it all started, see my first journaling story here.
Each night I place my Journaling notebook next to me with my pen attached and waiting.
For me, my evening routine sets me up for the morning, and my morning routine sets me up for the day ahead. One of the things I do is write down a question before I go to bed and wait for inspiration/ source energy/ my subconscious to report in.
I ended up with 32 separate messages during January. (A few times I woke up twice with a message. A couple of times because of lack of enough sleep I received no message.)
Now, I get excited when I go to sleep wondering what message I am going to receive some time in the early morning hours.
(Note to self — would this work for a child that has a hard time sleeping? Have them pose a question and have them write it down or tell Mommy or Daddy upon waking.)
Insight #13 Continued…
I was left dangling in my last story with insight (#13) where I pushed my hospital bed forward, across a field, toward an unseen destination. There were many of us doing this. We were heading toward an unknown future. Movement off to my right and slightly behind me made me anxious. The barn we stored our beds in was being removed.
I didn’t know what this flash of insight meant a few weeks ago. I have figured it out since then.
I think the bed represents our life. (A good majority of us in the United States are born onto a hospital bed and leave this world on a hospital bed.) The lines and lines of us pushing beds forward represented humanity, and our going through the motions of life. The huge barn (on wheels) represents a sheltering of what had been before I started this course. It was a bit jarring seeing the barn moved. We knew the people moving it; so we knew it wasn’t being stolen. They had a job to do and were following that directive. We had not expected this to happen.
Life is full of surprises. When we embark on a new adventure, when we challenge ourselves; it can be jarring. When we try to make improvements, we are uncomfortable at first, feeling exposed as though our shelter is gone.
Removing the barn was a wake-up call that we would never return to that place once we started the journey. Interestingly enough, the shelter was moving in the same direction we were but much faster as there was a whole crew moving it.
I think it meant we were getting help along the way.
Highlights from messages later in the month -
What I have found since starting to journal, is that insights, ideas, and inklings of possibilities are coming to me fast and furiously now.
Balance has been a big issue for me. Deciding where I spend my time is hard when there are so many opportunities. My question for Journal insight number 14 was, how do I find balance with so many things I want to accomplish?
Walk with me a moment.
Years ago, I took a drumming course at the Highland Center for Health and Healing in Worcester, Vermont. Sue Jamieson is a fabulous teacher. There is something about drumming that lets one access areas of the brain that one might not access otherwise. I think it is the same place people access when they meditate. Even in my first drumming session, I was able to “journey” to another place.
(As I write this, I think it is fascinating that the word journey is part of the word journal. There are so many ways to access the information that comes to us when we step outside of our normal routine.)
Using Shamanic drumming, the first time one journeys, they have to use a bit of imagination to start, but at some point, during that journey, the real message and experience come through. At that point, the individual recognizes the experience is real because it is something they would not have imagined.
In my case, I found myself walking a path through a jungle, and a Black Panther appeared in front of me.
NOT SOMETHING THAT EVER CROSSED MY MIND.
Of course, I had the flight or fright moment, but then his demeanor was such, that I intuited, come on, let’s move past this, and I immediately calmed.
Black Panther turned his head and looked back at me as if to say follow me, and I did.
We followed the path until it came to a lagoon. Black Panther swam across and climbed some rocks and waited for me. I have to tell you, especially since I didn’t know where I was, thinking of going into that water made me a bit nervous. I love to swim, so that wasn’t the issue.
I saw a National Geographic type show as a young adult, and I witnessed what piranhas did to a water buffalo crossing a river. Piranhas inhabit lakes, tributaries, wetlands, creeks and flooded forests. I was afraid of piranhas in the water.
Ever since passing swim lessons I knew to swim with a buddy and know about the conditions of the places one would swim in.
I didn’t know anything about this body of water. For all I knew, if piranhas didn’t inhabit this place, one of those large water snakes or a crocodile might.
Do you see where I am going with this? My imagination would never have allowed me to go into an uncontrolled situation.
So, here I am journeying with the beat of the drum in the background. It is Black Panther and me. He finally stands as if to say, do I have to come over there and get you? I think to myself, well, he didn’t get eaten by a piranha or get wrapped up by a snake, and I don’t know where I am and he seems to have a plan so I decided to swim as fast as I can to the other side.
I follow him up the rocks, and he disappears behind a waterfall. Well, cool. I follow. The kid in me loves secret hideaways. Inside and strategically placed around a fire pit behind the waterfall is a circle of rocks. I had the feeling they were for something like a council of elders meeting. Black Panther sat on one of the stones. As I looked around the place and went further into this cave, there was an elongated oval-shaped opening that looked out on the savannah with a mountain range way off in the distance.
I didn’t think much of it but noted the difference between the jungle that I had just come through and the savannah on the other side. I thought it was weird; it held no real interest for me. At that time Black Panther was my focus. He sat on the rock and watched me. He seemed to be an advisor or a guide. That was how my journey ended. We were called back.
Fast forward a few years. I had joined a Biggest Loser’s contest. I was consuming about 750 calories each day, and exercising for three hours each day. I broke up the exercise and did an hour and a half in the morning and an hour and a half following work. It was late in the afternoon. I had gone to the gym right from work. My trainer wanted me to change from fast walking on the treadmill to jogging. I was exhausted. I was halfway through the contest. I had all I could do to walk.
Every time the trainer would walk away, I would lower the speed and incline of the treadmill. It’s not that I wanted to, it was more I had to. In my head and my heart, I kept praying for someone to help me. I needed energy. I desperately wanted to lose weight, and I wanted to win the contest. Almost to the point of despair, and on the verge of tears, a sound shook me from my desperation. I thought it was from one of the many televisions the runners were watching. I couldn’t narrow it down. It was unmistakenly, the roar of a lion.
You have to know; the sound was so loud that I was startled out of my exhaustion. Stunned by the sheer volume of the roar, I raised my head and looked around to see if anyone else heard the noise. Everyone was in their space doing their own thing. I wondered where it came from. I was looking everywhere. Suddenly, walking up to me and sitting down in front of my treadmill was the powerful beast. He was Tawny, with a full mane and a huge mouth. I could see the teeth when he roared once more and then disappeared. Let me tell you. I suddenly had energy, and I wanted to run on that treadmill!
So, let’s go back to Insight number 14. In my flash scene, I found myself strolling on the Savannah among the animals. They watched as I walked while keeping an eye on me. It was as if I was the King of the Jungle. Then it hit me. I was the lion. It all came back to me — my first drumming experience from years earlier, where I met Black Panther, the lair in the back of the cave, the savannah and I knew that lair was mine.
I thought of the moist jungle and waterfall, and I thought of the arid, grassy savannah. I thought of the duality of Black Panther and Lion. Panthers hunt at night, they blend in with the dark; Lions hunt in the day and blend in with the grasses. I considered the duality of night and day, water, and earth.
I was both Black Panther and Lion.
Fast forward to 2004. Rosemary Altea, Spiritual Medium comes out with a pager turner called Soul Signs: An Elemental Guide to Your Spiritual Destiny. I read the book, I take classes with Rosemary, and I find I am a Hunter Soul.
Panthers and lions are powerful, agile, hunters and protectors of their clans.
Journaling brings disparate things in your life together. It maps a path, it provides confirmation and entices you with new opportunities.
Back to insight number 14 — I thought of a YouTube I had just listened to of Abraham-Hicks. Abraham told the story of Esther wanting deceased Jerry to move the curtain before she went on stage. (Another word — give me proof you are here.) In the thinking of all the components showing themselves to me in insight #14, the YouTube video reminded me — we are supported, we have help, and there is much more going on “behind the scene,” than we know.
Remember my question? How do I find balance with so many things I want to accomplish? I was given the word FOCUS as my answer to my question about balancing all the things I was being given.
Insight 19 — The message said FOCUS is my power. Attention to a subject will give me what I want.
I journaled this morning that maybe the Avatar that came to me early in January should have the word FOCUS emblazoned on a cape on her back.
Insight 17 Had me make three focus wheels as part of my morning routine. I felt empowered and energized to start off my day.
As I mentioned earlier, I have experienced so many messages since journaling.
I had thirty-two messages in thirty-one days during January.
Four more insights stood out as interesting and of benefit to others.
Insight 27 — Dream — I have a baby, and when he is a toddler, I have a baby shower.
I took it to mean the baby represents new birth, (new ideas, new creations) but the baby shower suggests I might not be recognized for them for a few years. This specific flash insight was similar to a dream I spoke about in my earlier post — The one about flying a single engine or twin-engine aircraft.
Insight 30 came in at 4:14 AM. The previous day, I received an e-mail that someone else had been chosen for a job I really wanted. I know I would have been fabulous at it, but sometimes people have already been slotted into positions and institutions go through the motions knowing they have someone in mind. Other times, the timing is not right. I must trust in the universe that they are helping fulfill everything I want. It still didn’t make the disappointment any less.
The message came through as big fat, juicy blueberries, growing through deep mossy greens, growing off a rock. I took this to mean good things can grow in seemingly impossible situations. The plump blueberry felt like abundance. There were so many blueberries; I felt clued in that a multiplier was in effect. The green moss was so vibrant. I thought of fertile ground and nourishment. I think I am laying the groundwork for many good things to come my way.
The last message I’ll share was said in this way:
Insight 25 — “This isn’t about self-help it is about connections.”
This was followed by Billy Joel’s song — Tell Her About It. The song with a slight variation was sung to me.
Tell her about it
tell her all your crazy dreams,
give them some attention, so you know they are for real.
Now and then you get to worrying,
because you haven’t visited (them) for so long.
Though you may not have done anything,
will that be your consolation when they’re gone?
This dream meant to me, my dreams aren’t crazy, but I must pay attention to them and act upon them, or they will disappear. Perhaps the opportunity will just disappear.
Insight 32 came with a warning. It came in the form of a snake.
A huge, thick anaconda, came into the building where a group of us were celebrating on a dance floor. In the darker corners of the room, it slithered in silently, the music drowning out any noise someone might have heard. No one noticed chairs moving. It had reached the point of almost coming full circle around us, herding us to the middle. It intended to wrap itself around us; choking the life out of us.
I had developed control, clarity and focus in my life. These attributes gave me greater awareness in my environment — they allowed me to jump on opportunities or see the writing on the wall of something needing my attention. Most of the others in the room were just going through the motions of life. It didn’t matter if they stayed out late, or drank too much because tomorrow was going to be just like the day before and they could sleep late.
Although I didn’t see the chairs move, I felt a sense of unease. I knew it was time to go. I had a scheduled life. My bedtime was coming up; I had plans for the next day, I had been saying my good-byes. Unlike others who would stay up very late, I had my schedule under control; I hadn’t drunk too much, I was aware. Because of this, I was able to escape, but others weren’t so lucky.
FOCUS, CONTROL, and CLARITY were the keys.
So, you see, messages and insights come in a variety of ways. Believe it. As the recipient, I am also the code breaker. Some messages are quite clear while others, like the hospital beds, take a bit more discernment.
If you’ve never tried journaling, do yourself a favor and try tonight. Keep that pad of paper by your bed. Ask a question, see where the answer ties into your life.
The answer may not be straightforward. It may be a metaphor.
I would love to hear about your experiences.
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