Sunday Newscape Magazine

Spiritual books classically illustrate, “Ask and you shall receive.” That quote is so powerful I hope you will use it repeatedly throughout your life, because it does work. How we incorporate it as a routine is quite simple; all you need is a good reality check.

You would think this age of information would be beneficial to everyone. Everywhere we go images flood our minds and overwhelm our senses to the point of pure mental exhaustion for many. Now just think back for a moment. Before the invention of today’s life-distracting devices, people used the art of reading and writing as their way of expressing themselves. This method of therapy gave them character, peace, and a map of their life they treasured. Most important, it demonstrated how to create focus on things they really wanted to accomplish. Please consider this powerful method of daily therapy. I guarantee your mind will clear as you release the pressures of the day through pen and paper.

To get started you need just one basic tool. I would suggest that when you do you’re shopping or your daily errands stop by your local office supply store and pick up a good journal. Not just any journal, but a leather-bound, special piece that will last. Make sure it is one that is easy to handle and you can carry around daily in case you need to write.

Once you have purchased your journal, it’s time to get ready to find out what makes you tick. Grab that new journal and at the top of the page of your choice title it “Me.” That, my friends, is the beginning of you writing your autobiography.

You might think I am crazy because normally you would see this on television with some pompous celebrity, but now this is real and you are the star! The difference here is television uses this for entertainment and I am going to show you how to use it to empower your mind. Before I wrote my autobiography, I did not realize any direction because I was going in all different directions. At the age of forty, this was a good wake up call for me.

Since age thirteen, I was always coaching people to try and change their lives. I had good practice with a house full of alcoholics and a daily struggle just to keep these family members alive. Unfortunately they are all gone now, but how would I have known the true power I carry without looking at my life as though I was reading a book. My whole focus at that time was just trying to survive and wondering on a daily basis, is this me?

To make this work you must start at the beginning. Once you recognize that earliest memory in your mind, I want you to write about your life. Just write everything and anything that floats into your mind. Hold nothing back. Hold nothing in. Keep writing in detail at your own pace, no matter how long it takes. If you miss something by rushing, you are only hurting yourself. Remember that no one will either edit or review this, so you need to state your life however it comes out, no matter the structure. All will flow into place because this has meaning and power.

With this powerful psychological system, you will figure out many things that you would never have known about yourself. You will figure out your strengths, weaknesses, good and bad attributes and determine which people helped and which hurt you. Also, you will revisit both good and bad times and rituals that may affect your adult life in ways you did not even know about. So be ready. You probably will be opening a whole Pandora’s Box of emotions and triggers. Don’t be afraid, keep writing because this could heal you and the only place to go from here is up.

In essence, you are cleaning your brain’s filter. Those clogged neurons of the past now have space for information for the future. My intention here is not to open old wounds and bring up things that have caused you pain. However, that might happen naturally during this process. Just think of your writings as a chapter in your life that you have released and put on paper. The only way you can now relive those thoughts is by making the conscious decision to open that chapter again. Let’s be clear, I’m not here to find the old you. I want to find the best you.

Our lives are like a big puzzle that we must put together over a period of time. Once you sit down and really put your life on paper, you will truly see the kind of person you really are and potentially could become. Self-knowledge always leads to a cure in life. Why not illustrate your life so you could answer that all-important question, who am I?