This is the mantra that popped into my head last night.

This week things are feeling heavier.  I will throw some shade at it being Mercury Retrograde and that the weather is finally starting to shift here into cooler, less sunny days.  But, whatever it is, I know it is necessary.

I am practicing patience daily as the printing of my Own Your Awesome™ Affirmation Deck is taking sooooo muuuuuch looooonger then was thought. (But it is coming along!)

I was also due to receive my first four letterpress art prints to put up in my shop last week, but the machine broke.  Patience, patience, my friends.

I am feeling all sorts of feelings this week.  Both my body and mind feel like they want to stay in bed and rest all day.

Lots of thoughts are flying around.

I feel a bit itchy underneath my skin.  Wanting to just snap my fingers and for all of the plans, dreams, visions that swirl around my head about all areas of life to come true in an instant like magic.

Isn’t it funny that my last blog post was about how good I felt in all areas of my life. HA! I love it! Thus is life!

I still do feel good, but discomfort has started to risen.

But, you know what, hooray for fucking discomfort.

We all need to feel discomfort.  That is where we grow from, that is where we get to really see what we are made of.  That is where we get to lean on others and be open to receiving.  That is where we are shaped. {Tweet it!}

So, what am I going to do about it?  Write it out.

My go to clearer upper is a practice I have adapted from Julia Cameron’s Artist Way.

I am sure like me, you have heard a bajillion times how great journaling is for you, because it is.  But, sometimes it seems so distant, so big, or like too much work.  It is much easier to just not do it.

I used to think that I had to have a beautiful journal that was only meant for journaling and that I had to construct perfect sentences, paragraphs, entrys as if I was writing my ultimate memoirs.  It is great to be able to journal this way, but I realized it stopped me some times (most times) from actually doing it.

I still love to write in beautiful journals, but after learning about the Artist Way I have given myself flexibility and freedom.

In the Artist Way, Julia Cameron prescribes Morning Pages.   Morning Pages are meant to do upon first waking up when you are not really even full awake yet.  This way we have access to our unconscious minds and inner workings.

I do agree that the morning is the best time to do this, but learning this practice gave me a lot of freedom in my journaling.  Whenever I am feeling stuck, lost, emotional, I turn to the Morning Pages practice.  In that moment, no matter what time of day it is, I will grab a journal, loose paper, a notepad, anything and allow myself to write it all out.

The practice is to write, not type, anything and everything for three whole sides of a page.  Write without rules, write without hesitation, just write.  It doesn’t have to be in paragraphs. It doesn’t have to be in complete sentences.  It doesn’t have to flow properly.  It doesn’t have to be neat.  Allow yourself to jump around.  Allow yourself to let it all out.  The good, the bad, and the ugly.

Commit to the three pages even if you are writing: I hate writing.  I don’t want to write anymore.  This girl online told me to write for 3 full pages. This hurts my hand.  I just want to be asleep.  I don’t want to go to work today.  I really need a haircut.  Why did I eat that pizza last night, my stomach hurts.

Literally vomit onto the page.

Let it flow out of you, even the things that you don’t want to think or make more real by putting on paper, the doubts, fears, worries.  Let it all out, allow it to be real, so that you can truly see it and then move through it.

It is important to get the stuff you don’t want to think about out on the page,  because it is all stuff that is blocking you. When you get it out of the way, you create a space for the thoughts, desires,  feelings that are at your core to emerge. Ignoring and pushing those feelings and negative thoughts won’t make them going away.  You have to acknowledge them so that you can move through them.

I love to finish my pages off with what I am grateful for. You can name 5 things from the past day you are grateful for, or in that moment, or for your today.   Write about your dreams, your goals successes.  Put it all out there,  let the icky stuff out but also pick yourself up, affirm yourself, and cheer yourself on.

Whew, I feel better already, just from writing here, about the heaviness I have been feeling!

Care to join me in my freeing writing exercise?   Write it all out and report back! How do you feel after?

OH hey….Did you know I sell these badass journals now