Journalling. The power of six journals to train the mind, access the subconscious mind, to go beyond the mind, explained.

The find:

came across a set of old journals of mine, as it was shifting some boxes... Opening them took me back in the memory lane.

A while ago, I was mentioning to P, my friend about the importance of writing about insights, questions etc.

I also recalled a set of notes i had taken to describe journalling.

Together, this was the trigger to write the blog!

Summary

This blog explains a system of six journals. Each journal does one job for the mind. Together they keep the mind in abundance, record what is learnt, install goals where they work, and pull you out when you are down. The blog covers:

•      Why the mind needs a written record

•      The six journals. When to write, what to write, when to review, and in what mode

•      The mind model behind the method. Being, doing and having

•      How to start, and the mistakes to avoid

Part 1: Why write at all?

The mind is a thought generating machine:

Around 60,000 thoughts a day. Most of them automatic. Most of them negative. Automatic negative thoughts, ANTs, as they are called. The mind needs no effort to generate them. It is its nature. The ocean generates waves. The mind generates thoughts.

What the memory keeps:

The memory store, chitta in yoga, does not store what happened. It stores a version. Deleted. Distorted. Generalized.

One delayed payment becomes “clients never pay on time”. One failed attempt becomes “this never works for me”. The memory looks for patterns and generalizes. That is its job.

When a similar event comes, the same pattern is retrieved. The same feeling comes back. The same action is taken. The loop continues.

A written record does not distort:

What is written on a date stays as it was written. The meaning you attach to it may change over the years. The record does not. This is the whole point of a journal. It is a memory that the mind cannot edit.

This reminds me of my friend S, a very successful individual, amomg the few I really admire and learn from. He keeps a handwritten diary of every meeting. One diary per year. Index from the back with page number.

So when I meet him and we need to refer to what we discussed in 2022, he opens the diary of that year, from the back side, looks up my name, sees the page number and... There are the notes! People who know him trust him to record and ask him for the notes before they start a meeting! Maybe this can be the 7th journal! Other than the 6 mentioned here in the blog!

One diary does not work:

A single diary for everything mixes gratitude with complaints, a learning with a shopping list, a moment of happiness with a meeting note. Nothing gets read again. Each journal below has one purpose, one timing and one mode. Six jobs. Six books.

Where the six came from:

These six sit on one slide of my notes. A compilation started in 2021 from books, teachers, friends, observation, reflection, debate and study. The six journals are the distilled version of everything learnt about writing things down. The formats are given below, as they are.

Part 2: The six journals

1. Gratitude journal

When: Daily. Within 45 minutes of waking up. Before the phone, before the emails, before the day takes over.

What to write: Be in abundance. Write about all the small things you have. Air. Water. A roof. A bed you woke up in. Then thank the universe as if your goals are already achieved. Not “I want”. “Thank you for”. Write 5 new things every day. For the first few weeks, it will be easy. Then you will realise that you are simply grateful to be alive. To breathe. To have a family. This will become more and more subtle and subtle, as weeks to by.

When to review: No need to review. The writing is the work.

Purpose: To express gratitude for what you have, and for the goals as if they are already done. A mind that wakes up in gratitude does not chase the day. It receives it.

Mode: Hand written. Get a big one to write every day. Preserve the old ones.

When to stop: When gratitude becomes your second nature, its time to stop. When giving something, you express gratitude, it's time to stop. For example, you pay someone for some work done. You give with gratitude of being able to give! At this stage, gratitude is you are you are gratitude. No need to write anymore.

2. Vivid picture journal

When: Once a year. Once a quarter if the goals move fast.

What to write: The goal as achieved. Not the goal. What you saw, heard, smelt, felt and spoke at the moment it was achieved. The room. The faces. The words said. The mind is motivated by the end feeling, not the journey. Give it the end feeling in full detail.

When to review: Once a month. Immerse yourself in that world of achievement for a few minutes.

Purpose: To articulate the celebration of success before it has happened. The subconscious understands pictures and feelings. Not bullet points and targets.

Mode: Hand written, with pictures. Hand drawn, or photos pasted in.

When to stop: when the only goal life is to do value edition and help others. You are just a medium for doing so. Goals then come by intuition. Vivid picture becomes the intention. There is no difference between attraction and aversion to having. You focus more on the action rather than being attached to the result. Till this happens, keep writing reading reviewing and creating the vivid picture.

3. Insights journal

When: As the insights come. Best to record what was learnt every day. An insight not written down is gone by the next morning.

What to write: Learnings, examples, applications, diagrams and the source. Anything that is an aha moment for you. Failures too, with the reason.

When to review: When you are faced with a problem and are seeking an answer. The answer is often already there. Written by you, months ago, and forgotten.

Purpose: To record all learnings, including the failures and their reasons.

Mode: A Google sheet. Not a notebook. When the problem comes, you search by keyword and the insight appears. A notebook cannot be searched.

The blogs on this website are an insights journal in public. Over 150 of them since 2019. Each one written when something got revealed.

When to stop: Continue till your last breath. If you are not learning, you are not living anyways!

4. Spiritual journal

When: As the experiences unfold. With a warning. Do not get trapped into the experience.

What to write: Mind experiences via the senses. A sound. A light. A stillness. A change in the breath. Write what happened. Be aware. Do not try to recreate the same experience. Yours, or anyone else’s.

When to review: No need to review. The experience relates to a past state. You have moved on by now. Be amused by your journey. That’s all.

Purpose: To document the spiritual experiences. Not to collect them. The mind loves a trophy cabinet. This journal is not one. The experiences on the path are signboards. Nobody stops at a signboard.

Mode: Hand written. There are not too many you can write about. Usually these experiences are not shared and they private.

When to stop: This too continues till the last breath. You may choose not to document them and just remember them as you advance in your spiritual practice.

5. Happiness journal

When: Many times a week. Whenever something brings a smile.

What to write: Trivial moments of happiness. What happened, who was there, what was seen, talked about, felt, heard. A cutting chai on the highway. A remark by a child. A client who said thank you. Small things.

When to review: When you feel sad. Or when the mind asks, why does it happen to me? One look at this journal tells you how fortunate you are. That is documentary proof to your happiness!

Purpose: To record the trivial moments of happiness. The big moments are few in a lifetime. The trivial ones are there every day. The mind ignores them because they are not a threat.

Mode: Hand written. Sections for each area of life.

When to stop: when happiness and bliss becomes your true nature. When you derive happiness by helping everyone. You are happiness is not dependent on having something. Happiness is a state of being while doing. Then there is no need to maintain record of happy moments of the past. Happiness is in the present and constant. You are happiness.

6. Success journal

When: Once a month.

What to write: A chronological record of successes in all areas of life. Financial, emotional, mental, spiritual, social, physical, professional. With the reason for each success. Not what alone. Why it worked.

When to review: Whenever you feel down. No good. Envious of someone else’s success. Good for nothing. Open it and read.

Purpose: To record all successes with the reasons. Your own successes leave your own clues.

Mode: Hand written. Sections for each area of success. You can also keep it in Google sheet.

When to stop: never. As long as you have roles, you will continue to have success and failure. The key point to remember is that these are related to the role. It's your role. You are not the role.

Six journals at a glance:

Journal	When to write	When to review	Mode
Gratitude	Daily, within 45 minutes of waking up	No review	Hand written, a big book
Vivid picture	Once a year, or a quarter	Monthly. Immerse in it	Hand written, with pictures
Insights	As they come, best daily	When stuck on a problem	Google sheet, searchable
Spiritual	As experiences unfold	No review	Hand written
Happiness	Many times a week	When sad, or asking why me	Hand written, by area of life
Success	Once a month	When down, or envious	Hand written, by area of life

Part 3: The mind model behind the six

Being, doing, having:

Everything in my notes is organized into three states.

Being. Doing. Having. Abundance of being. Awareness of doing. Acceptance of having. AAA.

The six journals map into the three.

•      Being. Gratitude and happiness journals. They keep the mind in abundance. Written when things are fine. Read when they are not.

•      Doing. Insights and spiritual journals. They keep awareness in action. What was learnt and what was experienced. Records of the journey, not the destination.

•      Having. Vivid picture and success journals. Acceptance of what has been achieved, and of what is to be achieved, as if done.

The four parts of the mind:

Chitta is the memory store. Manas matches every event with a memory and generates a thought and a feeling. Buddhi decides. Ahamkara says I.

The mind model is explained in detail here: Silencing the ego, the mind's driver

Each journal works on one part.

•      The gratitude and happiness journals change what chitta holds. A memory store filled with small joys retrieves small joys.

•      The insights journal feeds buddhi. Clarity comes from recorded learning, not remembered learning.

•      The vivid picture journal works on the subconscious. The subconscious is open before sleep and after waking up. Hence the monthly review is best done in that window. The gratitude journal, within 45 minutes of waking up, uses the same window. Two journals, one open door.

•      The spiritual journal keeps ahamkara in check. Written and forgotten. No “I had this experience”. A note. Be amused. Move on.

•      The success journal answers ahamkara when it says, I am good for nothing. With evidence. In your own handwriting.

Memory to record:

In the Yoga Sutras, chitta has five kinds of content. Pramana, correct knowledge. Viparyaya, misconception. Vikalpa, conceptualization. Nidra, sleep. Smriti, memory.

Left to itself, the mind moves a memory towards viparyaya. Its own version. A journal moves it back towards pramana. A date, a fact, a reason.

Part 4: Implementation

Do not start all six:

Start with one. Gratitude. Daily. Within 45 minutes of waking up. Thirty days. Then add the insights sheet. The other four have their own cadence. Monthly, quarterly, yearly, as it happens. They take care of themselves once the first two are a habit.

Time needed:

Gratitude, five minutes a day. Insights, two minutes when it comes. Happiness, two minutes when it happens. Success, thirty minutes a month. Vivid picture, an hour a year. Spiritual, as and when. Less than one social media scroll a day.

Hand written, except one:

Five of the six are hand written. The insights journal is the one on a screen, because it has to be searched. The hand slows the mind down. The screen speeds it up. Gratitude, happiness and success are to be felt while writing. An insight is to be found when needed. Hence the split.

Preserve the old ones:

The old gratitude journals are not to be thrown. A shelf of them is the record of a life lived in abundance.

Common mistakes:

1.    Writing the gratitude journal as a wish list. I want is not gratitude. Thank you for is.

2.    Writing the goal instead of the picture. The mind does not act on a turnover figure. It acts on the picture of the team celebrating, the sound in the room, the words spoken.

3.    Keeping insights in a notebook. It cannot be searched. The insight is lost at the moment it is needed.

4.    Getting trapped in the spiritual journal. Reading it again and again. Trying to recreate the experience. Write and move on.

5.    Waiting for big happiness. There are no big moments every day. There are trivial moments every hour.

6.   Recording a success without the reason. The reason is the learning. Without it, it is just a celebration.

7.    Not reading when down. The happiness and success journals are written when you are up, to be read when you are down. The reading is the purpose.

When things go wrong:

A loss. A failure. A deal gone. The mind says, why me. Nothing works for me.

Open the success journal. Then the happiness journal. Read for ten minutes. The evidence is in your own handwriting, in your own words, on a date. The mind cannot argue with its own record.

This is not motivation. Motivation does not last. This is a record.

Part 5: Closing summary

Learning:

•      The mind generates thoughts. Memory distorts them. A written record does not.

•      Six journals. Six jobs. Gratitude and happiness for being. Insights and spiritual for doing. Vivid picture and success for having.

•      Written when up. Read when down. Except the insights journal, read when stuck. And the spiritual journal, not read at all.

•      Hand written, except the one that has to be searched.

•      Start with one. Gratitude. Daily. Within 45 minutes of waking up.

Contemplation:

•      Which of the six do you already keep, without calling it a journal?

•      What was the last insight you lost because it was not written down?

•      When did you last read your own record of success?

Share in the comments section. You can share anonymously too.

Blessing:

May the six journals keep you in abundance of being, awareness of doing and acceptance of having, so that the record of your life is written by you, and not by the mind.

Write when up. Read when down. The mind cannot argue with its own record.