The New Year has arrived in earnest and I am excited to be back in it, getting into my routines, working hard, enjoying a fresh new year to get my teeth in to. I am actually a big fan of January: The weather is sharp and icey, the days still too short, new projects abound, the garden is being prepared for the Spring, and I am excited about how things are going to transpire, there is much hope and optimisim around… And heck, the days only get longer from here, right?
Today, I am going to tell you about my self-hypnosis journal…
There are those that tell me that this is the year they are going to do the king of all detox’s, some that tell me each year they are finally going to get in shape, some are going to meditate or do yoga every day, some are going to finally learn to play that musical instrument, others plan to save the world.
For some, this is the year that book is going to get written, others are going to dust off the old canvases and make time for painting, and start fixing up the house in all those ways.
All the magazines and websites are stocked up to the gills with ‘how-to’ and ‘top ten tips’ articles… When I read the top ten tips to lose weight, top ten to get happy, top ten to make more money, I refer myself to Richard Wiseman’s great book ‘59 Seconds‘ (as well as many others that recommend the same process, and start to ask about developing myself in the best way possible… I am reminded of the one thing I keep as a constant for my New Year development… A happiness journal. I call it a self-hypnosis journal, because I succumb to the notion that the very entries are hypnotising me for the good, and heck, I am a hypnotherapist and self-hypnosis junkie… Most refer to it as a happiness journal and it really ought to be something all people use that want a successfully happy time ahead.
There aren’t any hard and fast rules when it comes to starting a happiness journal. The idea and the method I use is fairly simple. Firstly, I pick out those moments in my daily life which had been particularly happy and then record them in words.
Secondly, I go over these records in order to see whether I could discover any rules about the conditions in which happiness occurred.
And so it is that you record, each day, when it was that you were happy. You begin to track your joy the way you once learned to balance your chequebook (which are going to be obsolete within the next few years as they get phased out). You discover your own top ten, not a prescribed, pop-cultured notion of what should be a top ten tip for your betterment.
The cool thing about a happiness journal is that it doesn’t ask you to change anything. Just to notice and record. Of course, the practice is designed to change you, but you don’t have to force any change. it helps you to focus on happy stuff and to filter the incoming information of life in a way that makes you feel good.
Heck, I really recommend it… Join me and lets get excited about the New Year ahead of us.
