116. Journal Your Way to Clarity: Part 2a - Relationships

We continue with a special series of exercises that will be our focus over the coming weeks. With each podcast, I’ll examine one of the seven life themes in The Treasured Journal:  career, relationships, love, sex, money, family, and purpose. 

 

Journaling is one of the most powerful tools we have for gaining clarity and understanding of ourselves, which in turn, helps us advocate for ourselves, create space when we need it, and engage in constructive conversations that otherwise might feel overwhelming.

 

This episode is the first of a two-part look at relationships. It’s where 90% of sessions start with my new clients. People want to talk about heartache, frustration, or anger with regard to their partner or someone else in their life—but ultimately, discussion of the relationship reveals work that needs to be done by the individual. And that’s okay; it’s a good place to start. 

 

We want to be seen and heard and we want other people to be there for us, but we need clarity on what “being there” looks like. So, when journaling about relationships, start with the following prompts: 

 

What do I really feel? What do I really want? How can I satisfy that for myself with some small action?

 

It’s not essential that you use The Treasured Journal for this series of exercises—a plain pad of paper and pen will do. But, if you do use the journal, you can lean on the questions, prompts, and sentence stems that, along with these podcasts, will help you move past the blank page and gain the type of clarity that comes from meaningful self-reflection.

 

THE TREASURED JOURNAL - https://danielleireland.com/journal

 

BOOKS I’M READING (visit your local bookseller or library):

 

Spare by Prince Harry - https://www.amazon.com/Spare-Prince-Harry-Duke-Sussex/dp/0593593804 The Myth of Normal by Gabor Maté, MD with Daniel Maté - https://www.amazon.com/Myth-Normal-Illness-Healing-Culture/dp/0593083881  Good Inside by Dr. Becky Kennedy - https://www.goodinside.com/book/ The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron - https://juliacameronlive.com/books-by-julia/

 

CONNECT WITH DANIELLE 

 

Website: danielleireland.com Instagram: @danielleireland_LCSW Facebook: @danielleireland_LCSW