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Articles from Mari L. McCarthy | Selfgrowth.com
- ***Journaling for Self-Discovery - by Submitted on Apr 07, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyLately, journaling has been enjoying renewed popularity. But people have been journaling ever since writing was invented. The urge to record and explore through personal writings is time-honored and universal. What is journaling, exactly? Some might picture a diary, a small volume bound with ...
Views: 2734(2 votes) - 5 Journaling Jumpstarts - by Submitted on Aug 10, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyWhen keeping a personal journal, you may notice that the practice involves you in an intimate relationship, one you and your journal are building over time. Like all intimate relationships, there may be highs and lows in the interchanges. There may be times when the journaling flows easily, and ...
Views: 1865(1 vote) - Convert Your Inner Critic to Coach with Journal Writing Therapy - by Submitted on Sep 30, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyWe all have Inner Critics. Some of us have several of them. Journal therapy practice helps us to plow through the Critic's debilitating tactics, and transform them into useful coaching. The recipe calls for plenty of pen, paper, and journaling, tunneling through the morass of inner doubt, guilt, ...
Views: 2656(1 vote) - Getting Outside Yourself in Journaling - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyJournaling is a practice we can use to get to know ourselves better. For the most part, we thoroughly enjoy the experience, and it leads to greater self-confidence and personal health. There may be times, though, when your journaling seems bogged down in too much You. You realize you're in a ...
Views: 1614(1 vote) - How to Journal Through Sickness to Health - by Submitted on Oct 20, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyWhen you're not feeling well, when you're sick or have recurring aches and pains, probably the last thing you think of is journal writing. But the fact is that journaling for the health of it can be an excellent starting point for a voyage of discovery about what your body is trying to tell ...
Views: 2060(1 vote) - Journal to Dialog with Healing - by Submitted on Feb 03, 2012 from Mari L. McCarthyIn the process of healing from disease, we usually attend most keenly to the physical body, urging it with therapies, drugs, and other interventions to return to wholeness. But it’s important to attend as well to our mental, emotional, and spiritual selves with just as much focus and care. ...
Views: 1653(1 vote) - Journal Writing Secrets - Overcome Your Personal Obstacles With Daily Journaling - by Submitted on Jan 25, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyEvery day, we face obstacles that challenge us in our personal growth and test our resolve for going after what we want in life. Overcoming these obstacles seems to require super human powers that us normal humans just don't possess. But you can increase your internal strength by expressing your ...
Views: 3713(1 vote) - Journaling Alchemy – Sub-Surface Transformations - by Submitted on Sep 12, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyNo matter what kind of journal writing you do, there are some levels on which the process works whether or not you intend it. Keeping a journal increases awareness, for instance. By reflecting on your experiences through the practice of journaling, you gain greater understanding, sharper ...
Views: 1584(1 vote) - Journaling for Health - by Submitted on Nov 08, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyKeeping a regular journaling practice can have a huge positive effect on an individual's confidence, self-knowledge, and success in all kinds of endeavors. The power of journaling is not well known, but once you start journal writing you come to know how dramatically it can improve your ...
Views: 1765(1 vote) - Journaling for Inner and Outer Healing - by Submitted on May 14, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyJournaling on a regular basis is an opportunity to get into your inner life and understand what motivates you, what helps you, where you come from, and how your thought patterns are configured. Journaling helps us understand what's really going on inside of us, so we can get past all the baggage ...
Views: 2259(1 vote) - Journaling Vision Quest - by Submitted on Nov 27, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyAs the year draws to a close, the days shorten, and the season encourages rest and reflection, we often use this time to make plans for the next year. This may include New Year's Resolutions as well as goals and timelines for accomplishments we hope to achieve. Your journal is an excellent ...
Views: 2364(1 vote) - Journaling with your Inner Critic and Inner Coach - by Submitted on Aug 02, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyMany people are often stalled in their attempts to learn and grow because of something called the Inner Critic, that judgmental voice from within that extinguishes courage and creativity. You want to make a career move, but your Inner Critic denigrates your abilities. You want to approach ...
Views: 3960(1 vote) - Journaling Your Way to Healthy Eating - by Submitted on Sep 14, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyAmong the innumerable uses of journaling, keeping a food journal is especially enlightening and helpful. There may be a variety of reasons why a person would decide to keep a daily food journal. Here are just a few: • You want to lose or gain weight. • You want to alter your diet in any ...
Views: 2498(1 vote) - Journaling: an exercise in self-respect - by Submitted on Jun 10, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyThere are a million reasons to put off sitting down with your journal. For that matter, any regular exercise for self improvement can easily start to seem like an imposition, an inconvenience, and worse, a promise that doesn't really have to be kept. That's why resolutions so quickly get ...
Views: 3382(1 vote) - Teach Your Inner Critic How to Heal - by Submitted on Jul 22, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyEverybody has an Inner Critic (or two or three). Your Inner Critic is that shadowy voice of negativity that makes itself known inside every human being. No one is immune. Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. Have you heard that one? Thinking about the Inner Critic reminds us of the ...
Views: 1823(1 vote) - Use Journaling to Face Your Financial Fears - by Submitted on Nov 30, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyA clearly practical application of journaling is to use it as a way to get a grip on your financial worries. Our current economy is challenging, to say the least, and many of us are obsessed with financial concerns. Physical side effects from money stress - like sleeplessness or headaches, or ...
Views: 2132(2 votes) - ***Cure Insomnia with Therapeutic Journaling - by Submitted on Apr 26, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyGetting enough sleep is an important key to health and happiness. Being well rested allows you to think clearly and act energetically. Unfortunately, millions of people suffer insomnia, experiencing the tiredness, dull mindedness, irritability, and many other negative effects that result from ...
Views: 3199(3 votes) - ***Get Over Yourself with Journal Writing Therapy - by Submitted on Jun 18, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyOne profoundly useful way to journal is to use the practice to change ourselves. Presumably, most of us like ourselves well enough. Though many people experience true self-loathing at some point in their lives, for the most part we maintain a healthy respect for old Number One. But even ...
Views: 3325(3 votes) - ***Journaling for Inner and Outer Healing - by Submitted on Jan 20, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyJournaling on a regular basis is an opportunity to get into your inner life and understand what motivates you, what helps you, where you come from, and how your thought patterns are configured. Journaling helps us understand what's really going on inside of us, so we can get past all the baggage ...
Views: 2422(6 votes) - Dream Journaling Lets Your Unconscious Speak - by Submitted on Jul 20, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyDreaming is what Sigmund Freud called "the royal road to knowledge of the unconscious." The nightly narratives of dreams, whether scary, strange, or sweet, are clues to what's happening with us deep down inside. History is full of examples citing the influence of dreams in decision-making, ...
Views: 2001(2 votes) - Hypergraphia and Writer's Block: Opportunities for Journal Writers - by Submitted on Aug 22, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyHave you ever wondered why some people seem to write as if powerless to stop themselves, while others struggle slowly and painfully with the process of writing? If writing amounts to an irresistible urge for you, a veritable lust for penning words and stories, you probably enjoy the process. ...
Views: 2211(2 votes) - Keep a Gratitude Journal and Get Happy - by Submitted on Dec 16, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyDespite the advice that comes to us from every direction these days to keep a positive attitude, actually doing that all the time or even most of the time is far more easily said than done. Let's face it: life is stressful, and no matter how determined you are in the morning to make the very ...
Views: 2016(2 votes) - Journaling From a Man's Perspective - by Submitted on May 07, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyIn our insanely driven society, it may seem that a quiet, reflective practice like journaling would be mostly a woman's activity. But the fact is, journaling is enjoyed by men at least as much as women. Brett McKay, for instance, of The Art of Manliness, encourages journaling, noting that the ...
Views: 4306(3 votes) - Make a Journaling Vision Collage - by Submitted on Mar 26, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyHow often do you find yourself in need of a motivator? You want to do something, accomplish a goal, embed a new habit, or simply change your life somehow. But actually getting started seems always to be just out of reach. Making a vision collage can serve to light a fire for you, illustrating ...
Views: 2367(3 votes) - Quote, Unquote: Finding Journaling Opportunity in the Words of Others - by Submitted on Feb 11, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyJournal writing can sometimes seem to corner you. While on most days, your pen scribbles without hesitation, sometimes you can't think of a thing to say. Or sometimes you have the opposite problem: there's so much you want to explore in your writing that you can't decide where to start. In ...
Views: 2325(3 votes) - A New Perspective for Your Journal - by Submitted on May 07, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyDo you dislike the preponderance of "I" statements in your journal writing? You know, your tendency to use journaling as a good old reliable data dump: “I hate my life. I can’t stand my bosses, I feel fat and bloated, I, I, I…!" When you journal regularly, now and then you might slip into ...
Views: 4380(1 vote) - Journal Writing and a Meaningful Life - by Submitted on Oct 15, 2012 from Mari L. McCarthyHow acutely do you sense a lack of meaning in your life? It’s easy to get caught up in materialism and forget what you most want to do and be. 21st century existence leaves little room for the finer things. Yet losing touch with ideals ends up in pain. If you want to improve your health and ...
Views: 1571(1 vote) - Journal Writing Secrets - 8 Ways to Use a Journal to Defeat Writer's Block - by Submitted on Oct 16, 2009 from Mari L. McCarthyWriter's block is an annoying and often persistent condition that impacts all writers: and that means everyone, because everyone is a writer! A writer's block episode is a temporary situation, but we prolong the agony when we allow ourselves to be overwhelmed by it rather than meeting, ...
Views: 2902(1 vote) - Journal Writing Your Wrong Ways - by Submitted on May 21, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyA profoundly helpful application of journal writing is to use it as a tool for reflection on your life experience. Do you remember your childhood? Have you ever made a serious attempt to remember it and work through some of the harmful habits and fears it created in you? Many of us stay so ...
Views: 2142(1 vote) - Journaling Tricks: 10 Things I Love - by Submitted on Jan 28, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyDo you sometimes experience one of those terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days like the hero of the Judith Viorst book? The kind of day when it feels impossible to break out of a rotten mood, and everything seems to go wrong? The next time you are feeling out of sorts, take out your ...
Views: 2718(3 votes) - Journaling: 7 Principles You Must Follow - by Submitted on Jul 09, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyQuite often in life, those things which are most simple and obvious are also the most profound and difficult. Things like love and money. And journaling. Taking the time to pause and reflect, to focus on yourself, and to express to yourself what you find couldn't be a more natural impulse. ...
Views: 3084(3 votes) - Journaling: Your Daily Dose of Focus - by Submitted on Aug 30, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyGetting into the habit of a new habit is the hardest part. We may jump into something new wholeheartedly, but making it a habit is another story. Many of us aren't very reliable when it comes to committing to something, and sticking to it through thick and thin. We start off enthusiastically, ...
Views: 2114(1 vote) - Money Worries and Journaling - by Submitted on Apr 15, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyWhile many may think of journaling as a harmless, completely reflective process, the truth is that keeping a journal can actually be a revolutionary act. Journal writing helps us reclaim ourselves and use our power to create a better life than we have previously known. Journaling shows us ...
Views: 2013(2 votes) - Therapeutic Journaling for Women of a Certain Age - by Submitted on Mar 23, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyWomen in menopause, experiencing the natural physical progress from fertility to infertility, have a lot going on inside them. The many changes experienced during this time may include internal and external challenges, as well as shifts in the way women think and feel about themselves. ...
Views: 2466(3 votes) - Simplify Your Thoughts with a Healing Journal - by Submitted on Nov 13, 2009 from Mari L. McCarthyAfter living with Multiple Sclerosis for over eighteen years, I’ve finally begun to cure it myself through the healing power of journal therapy. In 2001, I lost feeling on the right side of my body, making it difficult to walk and impossible to write with my dominant right hand. I needed a ...
Views: 2409(6 votes) - ***Revolution: Money Worries and Journaling - by Submitted on Jul 12, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyWhile many may think of journaling as a harmless, completely reflective process, the truth is that keeping a journal can actually be a revolutionary act. Journal writing helps us reclaim ourselves and use our power to create a better life than we have previously known. Journaling shows us ...
Views: 1941(3 votes) - Journal Writing Secrets - 5 Steps to Start Journaling for the Health of It - by Submitted on Nov 03, 2009 from Mari L. McCarthyFor most of us, there’s a lot more going on inside our minds and bodies than we let on. We may carry ourselves with the utmost confidence,when in reality we feel like a mess. There’s a lot we haven’t processed,perhaps because we don’t know how or simply don’t want to. When we bottle up ...
Views: 2669(3 votes) - Journaling a Letter to Your Former Self - by Submitted on Feb 21, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyWhen we look back on the past – whether just yesterday or many years ago, sometimes we think, "I wish I knew then what I know now." To help find peace of mind in the present, try working with that wish in your journaling practice. Go back to that previous time for a dialog with your younger ...
Views: 9384(3 votes) - Journaling: a moving meditation - by Submitted on May 25, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyExercise your mind-body connection An aspect of journal writing that is both fundamental and subtle is its use as a moving meditation. Like the ancient Chinese practice of Qi Gong, journaling can serve to provide a connection between the mind and the body. A holistic awareness of health ...
Views: 2634(3 votes) - Journaling for Self-Discovery: What's Your "Wow Moment"? - by Submitted on Mar 11, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyWhen contemplating your own personality and potentials, it can be helpful to focus on defining moments, or snatches of your experience that you remember as particularly potent, rich, and/or formative. There are certain moments in our lives that have a profound, transformative impact on us: ...
Views: 3526(1 vote) - Musical Journal Therapy - by Submitted on Feb 05, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyJournal writing is like a 6th sense, a value-adding tool for perception that allows us to experience and know ourselves and our surroundings. Journaling is a reaction to what is happening, both inside and out. Depending on where your focus lies, your journal will reflect that. As long as ...
Views: 1724(1 vote) - Self-improvement for People with Low-Self-Esteem - by Submitted on Jun 12, 2012 from Mari L. McCarthyHave you ever noticed how much an individual's success is a matter of self-confidence? People who are leaders possess a strong sense of self. They are confident in their ability to handle whatever situation arises. They believe in being, doing, achieving, and receiving the best at all times. ...
Views: 1573(1 vote) - Journaling Feng Shui - by Submitted on Aug 18, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyJournaling is an excellent tool for dealing emotionally with almost any issue in life. The therapeutic applications of journal writing are endless. But it's also true that sometimes you feel stuck, unable to make a move in any direction, and not even able to sit down comfortably with your ...
Views: 2495(6 votes) - 5 Steps to Hot Summer Journaling - by Submitted on May 20, 2013 from Mari L. McCarthyAh, summertime, when the living is easy! Sure, we have to keep up with business and pay the bills as usual; but there’s something so sweet and gentle about summer, a relaxed attitude that makes everything a little less stressed. Because of this, summer is an ideal time to re-group. Business ...
Views: 1431 - 5 Ways to Make a Fresh Start with Journaling - by Submitted on Jan 07, 2011 from Mari L. McCarthyAt the New Year, everyone makes resolutions, savoring the opportunity to align with new goals, to throw out the old and seriously get started on achieving hopes and dreams. It's a good time to revitalize your journaling practice, as well. And there's a bonus! You may well find that by ...
Views: 1962 - 7 Tips for Keeping a Travel Journal - by Submitted on Jul 13, 2012 from Mari L. McCarthyAre you travelling this summer? Whether it’s a weekend getaway to the mountains or a month by the shore or a dream excursion in the South Seas, journaling your adventure is a sure way to make its pleasures last. Have you ever had the feeling that too many things are happening, and you’re not ...
Views: 1721 - Embrace the Season with Nature Journaling - by Submitted on Nov 01, 2010 from Mari L. McCarthyRefresh your Journaling Practice Few sights are more inspiring than rows of trees bursting into flame with the red and gold leaves of fall. Unless it's the fist pink blossoms of spring. No matter what the season, it's likely you'll encounter a few days that provide an ideal opportunity to ...
Views: 2037 - Happiness and Journal Writing - by Submitted on Aug 20, 2013 from Mari L. McCarthyDo you want more happiness in your life? Do you want to find greater meaning and wholeness? Most people would say yes to these questions even if they are relatively content. Most of the time, we think of happiness as serendipitous. We have “good” days and “bad” ones. Our lucky days bring ...
Views: 1348 - Journal for Decision Making - by Submitted on Jun 24, 2013 from Mari L. McCarthyHow do you make decisions? When you’ve narrowed it down to just two or three options, what mechanisms do you use to come up with The Ultimate Choice? When you think about it, you can see that you’re making decisions all day long. What to wear, what’s for breakfast, how to solve this problem, ...
Views: 1381 - Journal to Find Your Core Self - by Submitted on Jan 28, 2013 from Mari L. McCarthyPeople in general tend to be moody. Sometimes we’re energetic and optimistic, and sometimes we’re sluggish and blue. In addition to the globe’s atmospheric conditions, producing constant weather changes, we have our own internal weather, seemingly as capricious as clouds. We do our best to ...
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