If you’re not familiar with writing things out or “journaling” as some call it – welcome to your Inner Global Positioning System!
Last Sunday, I finally got around to daven in the most productive way I know how, which is to write my thoughts down before davening from the siddur or asking Hashem for help. Long story short, I had not gotten around to doing this in two whole months – ever since I broke my foot (which is still in a cast going on 10 weeks now but hey, whose counting?). Anyway, it was – a VERY productive experience I must say, and I may elaborate on the details in another article.
If you’re not familiar with writing things out or “journaling” as some call it – welcome to your Inner Global Positioning System! It’s like an inner spiritual app of sorts, that you can use to help you achieve desired outcomes by clarifying for yourself where you are at with your life. There might be more than one way to activate your IGPS as I like to call it, but what I do, which I really enjoy and get good results with, is to basically think on paper.
I write down my thoughts, goals, dreams, questions (for myself and for Hashem), and my vision.
More specifically, I try to get as organized and as clear as possible on how to move forward with Hashem’s will for me by writing about a few or more of the following:
- Who am I?
- What am I about?
- Where am I going in this world?
- What is my vision for today, this week, this month?
- Where am I at with other goals and dreams?
- Have I been using my G-d- given gifts lately or have I been too distracted or wasteful of my time?
- What is Hashem trying to tell me through the incident that happened on Tuesday?
- Hashem, is this the direction you want me to go in?
- This is my vision for this week Hashem – please help me get there.
You know what happens when you take the time out to write down your thoughts, questions, goals, dreams, and vision – i.e. understand where you are currently situated vis-à-vis your life mission? Hashem tends to take you more seriously! Because instead of just getting into your prayer vehicle, stepping on the gas pedal, and zooming away, you are actually taking the time to figure out where you are currently in life and where it is you need to get to – you are using your IGPS; and only then do you enter the exact address (let Hashem where you would like to go with your life and ask for His help). In other words, Hashem puts you on the right path, i.e., He helps you, when you take the time to figure out where it is you currently at and where you would like to go from here.
You know what happens when you take the time out to write down your thoughts, questions, goals, dreams, and vision? Hashem tends to take you more seriously!
As you get your head organized and clear by writing it all down, you are relating to hashem what you feel called upon to do in life as well as seeking His guidance.
In my experience, when you write your thoughts down, you get extreme clarity as to what to do about issues at hand, thereby elevating your writing experience into a form of prayer that has a lot of momentum behind it. The clearer you get, the more Divine Providence comes into the picture. Think about it: who is more likely to develop their business and make more money? A person who has written his business plans and goals down and who consistently takes the time to review and tweak them or a person who does not do this, and simply relies on asking for help with the ongoing issues that inevitably come up when running a business?
Welcome to your Inner Global Positioning System!
By writing things down, you are first and foremost showing your Investor that you are taking this business (life) very seriously. You are focused and staying on top of things. You are taking inventory and asking the tough questions. By writing things down you are also creating order out of chaos, connecting to your deeper self, are much better able to process your days, events, and life, and are creating momentum for an outcome to take place.
The more honest and specific you are, the better results you get. Of course, asking Hashem for help is a part of this process, but only after you’ve gotten organized and clear about what it is you actually need. That being said, do not become attached to any specific outcome. Trust, that once you have used your Inner Global Positioning System, put your destination in and asked Hashem for help, He will get you there in the best way possible, which is not exactly in your full control.
Give it a try. Do it for a few minutes every day for a full week. Or do a long session a couple times one week. Don’t overthink it – just write in the free flow mode. Know that you are activating something very deep. Happy writing!
