5 Ways To Use A Notebook To Change Your Life!

If you are anything like me, you just might have a pretty notebook or two ten that you have not written a single word in yet.

If you don’t have a stash of prettiness, now might be the perfect time to invest in one or two, but really any notebook will do. One of the most powerful ways to invoke change is to write things down and make a plan. With the new year only two months old, why not try some of these ideas to help make 2017 really awesome.

“A word after a word after a word is power” – Margaret Atwood

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AWESOME AFFIRMATIONS

The stories we run on repeat in our brains, reflect how our outer world appears. If we continually put ourselves down we cannot thrive. When we continually tell ourselves I can’t do this or I don’t have that we create negative feelings towards that subject and the energy you project out is what you keep getting in return. Positive affirmations repeated over and over again, gently retrain the brain to think about things in a positive way.

For affirmations to be effective, they must be written in a way that declares you already have that thing, or feel that way. Using words like when I or if I etc. will keep fuelling the negative belief because you are affirming that you don’t have it.

Think about all the things you would love to have, be or do and how you would feel when they are reality and frame your affirmations as a statement that its already happened.

Starting affirmations with ‘I am’ is very powerful as you are declaring it is so, with no room for maybe’s.

Write down every positive affirmation you can come up with, or a quick scroll through Facebook or Instagram for inspiration or google positive quotes/affirmations and start filling your book. When you need a lift or are having a tough day with a flurry of negative thoughts, read through your affirmations and feel your focus change and energy lift.

WEIGHT LOSS DIARY

The path to losing weight it one of those journey’s that can be long and arduous. Everywhere you turn their is another chocolate bar or vanilla slice waiting to be consumed. I have never been thin a day in my life and there have been a few times I have felt positively huge, so I totally get how hard it can be. So much emphasis is placed on what you CAN’T have when you want to shift some weight, but you can use a journal to focus on the things you can have and do to make it a more positive experience.

Obviously tracking your weight loss is a good place to start, but sometimes focusing on reduced measurements can be more rewarding. Use gold stars or cute stickers when you see the numbers go down for added incentive.

Make lots of lists such as exercise you actually enjoy, healthy meals that are easy to make, snacks that are good for you, clothes you would like to buy when you reach your next target and rewards such as a beauty treatment.

Adding photo’s of your success is a great motivator. You could also add pictures from magazines of how you would like to look and the clothes you would like in your wardrobe works a treat too.

Tracking everything you eat for a week or more can be confronting, but an honest list can be very powerful in helping you not eat that family size block of chocolate out of sheer terror of writing that shizz down!

BURN BOOK

This might not be the perfect choice for your prettiest notebook as some of things you use it for will be going up in smoke…literally!

Writing down your problems can be therapeutic in itself. Dumping your anger down on a page can help to release built up stress and rage.

When you have finished writing down everything that needs to go, tear the pages out and take them outside. You will also need some matches and a bowl or bucket. Set the pages alight and ask for all to released to the universe to deal with. Let it burn while you take a big deep breath or two and then place it in the bowl until it is only ashes.

If you are struggling for answers to a problem, take the time to write out what is concerning you, and then place the pen in your non-dominant hand and start writing whatever comes up. Don’t judge or analyse but let the words flow. By letting your other hand do the writing you are turning off the logical process of the brain and allowing the creative area to flow and this could be a way for you to tap into solutions that your logical thinking may not have thought of.

COMMONPLACE BOOK

This form of note keeping has been around for centuries and was developed as way of keeping handy information in one place long before the invention of computes, smart phones and tablets.

Rather than relying on memory, a common place book is an ideal way to keep track of things so that all the information remains in one place. Use it record scraps of information that you know you will want to remember them in the future.

Fill it full of quotes, ideas, cooking hints, reading suggestions, poems, movies to watch, quotes from articles or books, websites you want to check out, measurements and any other bits of information you don’t want to forget.

You can add photo’s, magazine clippings, paint chips or any other visual reminder.

This handy tool has eliminated all those little scraps of paper that I would continually jot things down on and then could never find them when I actually needed them. I leave mine on my desk but have a mini notepad in my handbag incase I need to jot something down whilst I am out and then I just add it in when I get home.

My middle aged brain is enjoying this one stop information shop!

GRATITUDE JOURNAL

We all have good days and bad days, but one of the worst things you can do for your emotional and physical well being is to go to bed angry.

Gratitude is a very powerful emotion that can open the doors to wonderful things. Giving thanks even when things are tough can really help to calm fear and frustration.

No matter how tough your day has been, going to sleep with your last thoughts being one of thanks and love will help you get a better nights sleep and will fill you with the energy of positive attraction.

Before you turn off the light, find one thing that you are grateful for that day. Even if it is just that this day is over and you have a bed to sleep in will be a good start. Write it down in a notebook that you keep beside your bed.

If you have had an awesome day, then write down more things. Flip through the book at the end of each month and bask in the feeling of all the great things that did happen. It is a surefire way to feeling good and inviting more of that into your life.

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Do you love pen and paper, or have you gone the techno way to keep things sorted?

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