In a Journal, Complete your Relationships with People or Concerns
Exercise Details
Duration = at least 45 minutes.
Difficulty = 75/100.
This exercise developed by
Life Coach Cougar Brenneman.
Inspired by Ira
Progoff's Intensive Journaling, Robert Fritz, Osho, Tulku Thondup, Jon Mumford,
and other teachers.
Step 1
Select an incomplete relationship (past, present or future), such as one with:
- another person, a boss or employee, a family member, or an ancestor.
- a group, an organization, a circumstance, or an event.
- a goal, a project, a concern, or your purpose in life.
- a movie, story, quest, or biography, a character, or a fictional situation.
- your body, an emotion (positive or negative), an intuition, or a dream.
- your higher self, a past self, or your successful future self.
NAME who or what you'll dialog with in the box above the Step 1 title. You may change this name anytime you choose to during the rest of this exercise.
In this exercise, several steps have several parts.
Step Number buttons (such as the Step 2 button below) only appear when you need them.
Step 2A, B, & C
How do you react to, feel about, or sense about this situation? Write your first impressions, even if you don't understand them—or especially if you don't understand them.
Don't worry if you don't know the objective facts in a person's life or group's existence. In such a situation, invent Stepping Stones that capture the flow of 's life or simply focus on Stepping Stones in your relationship with .
Click the "This Is An Important Step in the Relationship" button after every event you select to add it to your Stepping Stone list. Click "My Stepping Stones Are Complete" when you're finished.
When you click this button, the Step 3 button will appear below.
In the next step, you'll still your mind by focusing on at least four or more slow, tranquil breaths. Seek to achieve inner stillness or inner silence.
Be honest with yourself. If it takes 200 breaths to completely let go of your reactions, then it’s worth it to take 200 breaths to completely release such deep-seated pain.
Seek to attain a state that some Buddhists call "bare attention"—one in which you are paying attention to the animation so completely that you no longer notice the meaning of the words. To the degree possible, just be mindful of the shapes of the letters—without even thinking about their phonetic sound. This will allow you to synchronize your breathing with the app without being distracted by concepts.
Move on to the next step after you have completely let go of your reactions.
Ready? Click the Step 3 button to begin.
Inner Silence.
Be still.
Peace.
Quiet mind.
Release reactions.
Let it go.
Thoughts dissolve.
Concerns evaporate.
Relax spirit.
Step 3
Let go of the topic completely. If your mind is in problem-solving mode, worry mode, reading-the-computer-screen mode, rushing-around mode, creativity mode, or any other kind of "mode," you haven't reached inner silence. Inner silence means bare attention—mindfulness without thought or reaction.
Trust the process.
Move on to Step 4 after you have completely let go of your reactions.
Step 4
Reread your stepping stones one or more times.
Close your eyes and again focus on the flow of your relationship with .
Keep focusing until dream-like images arise. (These are also known as hypnagogic images.)
As soon as you see an image, say or whisper one or two words to capture the image before it fades away. If a complex scene arises, say single words for individual details to capture them as they flow past.
Do not analyze or judge these images or words. Just capture them. However, if your images are unclear or fuzzy, ask for sharper images.
Step 5A, B, & C
Part A:
Record your images without analyzing them. Just use them to connect to the flow.
Part B: Tune in to again. In the following box, write "Hello," along with other words of greeting.
Click the "Continue Dialoging" button after every statement that each of you makes. Repeat until you're finished.
When neither you nor has anything else to say, click "I'm Done."
Step 6 begins with energy breathing to send positive energy to to complete the process of creating inner peace within yourself.
Step 6A, B, & C
Draw in light from the universe through your pores.
Draw in light from the universe through your pores.
Draw in light from the universe through your pores.
Draw in light from the universe through your pores.
Draw in white Yang energy from the sun through your crown down your spine.
Draw in white Yang energy from the sun down your spine.
Draw in white Yang energy from the sun down your spine.
Draw in white Yang energy from the sun down your spine.
Draw in energy from everywhere into your heart.
Draw in energy from everywhere into your heart.
Draw in energy from everywhere into your heart.
Draw in energy from everywhere into your heart.
Expel any negative energy connected to through your pores as a dark cloud.
Expel any negative energy connected to through your pores.
Expel any negative energy connected to through your pores.
Expel any negative energy connected to through your pores.
Draw in blue Yin energy from the earth through your base up your spine.
Draw in blue Yin energy from the earth up your spine.
Draw in blue Yin energy from the earth up your spine.
Draw in blue Yin energy from the earth up your spine.
Send some of this heart energy to
Send some of this heart energy to
Send some of this heart energy to
Send some of this heart energy to
Part A: For one breath cycle of twelve breaths, collect energy, and then send some of it to .
Repeat to deepen your connection with further.
Part B: Do you have any impressions to record?
Part C: Ask for one more piece of advice, and wait in inner silence for an answer. When it comes, record what you learned.
Step 7
Make choices about your situation, based on what you've learned.
Repeat several times, surrounding each choice with inner silence. Click the "I choose..." button after every choice you make.
(Inner Silence)
Future Enhancements that Apply to All Exercises
I have developed 315 more practices which are part of the same curriculum. This number will eventually grow to 3,000 or 30,000, depending on what the users (you) decide to do with this curriculum. Each practice targets different goals and different problems, depending on what you need.
For a tour of the full curriculum, use the following blog as a guide: Take the Tour: Explore the Joyful Wisdom Journey Curriculum. This blog is a illustrated guide to clicking the button at the bottom of this page that's labeled "Coming Soon: What's Next? Your Next Move." You can click the button without the blog, but the blog makes it clearer.
This prototype lacks certain features that will help you to use it. Eventually, you'll have a blog that automatically receives all of your written responses to any exercise. No more copying and pasting.
All pages will have have:
- Feedback features that allow you to suggest changes.
- Links to user blogs where you can see how other people have used the exercise or meditation and what they've learned from it.
- A way to suggest alternative wording for each step in every exercise—including wording in other languages.
- A way to set your preferences for which wording you like, including your preferred language.
- Animation, audio, and video to guide you through steps that require them.
- Links to Joyful Wisdom Community resources for learning or practicing each method in the community of others, rather than in isolation.
I've planned many other enhancements, but this gives a flavor of what's coming.
For a brief description of future programming plans, read the following blog: Plans for the Computer Programming Needed for the Joyful Wisdom Journey.
CLICK Step 1 below to use this exercise
Click the "Step 1," "Step 2," etc. button in the footer section of the screen at the left to advance from step to step.
Enhance Your Relationship with Every Aspect of Your Life Through Inner Dialog
When you dream—whether you're sleeping at night or thinking about your life during the
day—you create a drama in your mind in which all of the roles are played by you. You are both
the star and the villain, as well as all of the supporting actors.
In this exercise, we play our roles by tuning in to what our deepest wisdom has to say.
Since we tap into our intuition, we're no longer simply playing roles, but we're dialoguing with intelligence
that is separate from our normal minds. Whether we dialog with a person, an organization, an event, or our body,
we're tuning in to an energy that has a mind of its own.
Some of what you'll learn will seem to come from
deep knowledge that is clairvoyant or telepathic in origin. Be open to hearing wisdom from within that does not come from
your brain.