“And I hope she knows you only like the beginnings of things.” ~Mad Men
-Faith Miller to Don Draper when he tells a girl he has found another girl, a better girl, from his flawed perspective.
I have been meaning to hop on the Future Self Journaling train since I started following the Holistic Psychologist on insta. I received the email launching the updated FSJ and instead of ignoring my emails telling me I should do the things, I actually did the thing.
First journaling is at night because, like many moms, after your responsibilities have gone to sleep, you can work on the others ones in a more peaceful environment.
Environment, I am kind of annoying with my insistence that my environment reflect how I want to feel. Not necessarily with being tidy, as my space is always as cluttered as the ceiling to floor shelves in my mind, but with use of color and decor. I have a huge poster of Bora Bora on my wall, right across from the bed, so I can catch sight of the palm trees, inviting beach and the serenity of blue sky and water whenever I wish. My comforter is alternating shades of blue. An accent wall in my room is blue as well. All the shades of blue are lovely, so my bedroom reflects all colors of air and sea.
Jarred candles are scattered in my room, uncovered to release their scent, and a bit dusty. This wife kicks ass, but no A+ earned in housekeeping class. I loath dusting and do it with a grimace on my face. And that gives you wrinkles so an excellent reason to do it less since I cannot muster up the maturity to have a good attitude about it.
My bed is very very comfortable but it makes a terrible workspace. I have to shift to get more comfortable ever few minutes. But I I sit at my desk, I can’t see the beach! Just a window that overlooks an ocean of houses.
Obviously this first installment of FSJ is longer and more boring as I set the scene, bringing you into my oasis of peace.
Bringing up the new FSJ, what is the first thing I do? Send a text to The Sps asking if he wants to journal with me. No answer, I figure he is still napping. I settle in uncomfortably. The FSJ document is an easy enough read, a nine page document, two pages of the doc are examples of the daily questionnaire.
The five areas of primary focus are:
Emotional
Social/Interpersonal
Spiritual
Physical/Lifestyle
Professional
If you are anything like me, you have an endless list of thoughts and behaviors you might like to change about yourself. Dr. Nicole is very clear to choose one small change and work with it until it has become a new habit, which is at minimum a month long process. To assist with the habit build, there are 5-6 questions to answer each self-healing. Answering the questions is as fast or slow a process as you choose. I did follow the requirement to hand write your work. While I would in the past used this as an opportunity to buy yet another notebook, yet I resisted. I have a bit of a notebook addiction. I have tens of notebooks partially filled with random thoughts, lists, short stories and other random writings.
Dr. Nicole lists the process as less than ten minutes a day to complete. The first session is longer to familiarize yourself with the process. My first session took about a half hour, as my indecisiveness choosing which of the three million “opportunities” I wanted to address first. Finally I picked one. You are reading it. Posting about my FSJ experience.
One side benefit I have experience already is that I met the goal I would have normally chosen, adhering to my nutrition plan. I haven’t met it for a while, but I did today. So I started the processes with two successes!
Specific Guide below for in-depth discussion.