Where intention goes, energy flows

Weeks 43 & 44, Midlife Journal Guide

I am really intentional about the nurture of nature. It’s my go to response to difficult (and good!) emotions

Your brain is an incredibly complex and vibrant machine, but even it can’t take in every single stimulus, all of the time; every pixel, every vibration and sound, every nerve of feeling and taste, every piece of information that hurtles toward you every nano-second.

Which means in order to function in any meaningful way, your brain has a series of filters. These help you to focus on certain things while ignoring or bypassing others so your brain doesn’t implode (we all know what it feels like when our brain feels like a tornado of thoughts!).

When we live in a more unconscious state, in survival or emergency mode, in distracted mode or in a heightened state, those filters will revert to default. Default filters will often be formed from your cultural and educational upbringing, the external expectations of the time, and sometimes, by the influence of those “shoulds” that try to keep us in check. For example, I grew up hearing my mum constantly use the phrase “I’m stressed.” I took that reaction on as a default measure, and when we tell ourselves we are stressed, our body believes us. Only later, when I started trying to live with more intention, did I question that filter. One day I was saying out loud “I’m so stressed!” and I stopped. I journaled. Am I stressed? The answer was actually no. I was busy. Another time I was frustrated. Another, I was overwhelmed. But stressed? No. Any time I was remotely heightened, my filter was to tell myself I was stressed. Now, with intention, I can guide myself better to deal with what’s in front of me.

What you know from this practice over time is that you an are ever evolving, changing, growing, learning, curious person and so being intentional about your filters, means your focus and energy will go where you choose, not where you are drawn.

Choice means you define what’s important and send your energy (be that thoughts, feelings, actions, curiosity) there. And without this being about false positivity, that can mean sometimes choosing to invest in a different emotion or thought process.

So as we forge through our Midlife, redefined Daily Journal Guide adventure we are in our second round of Action & Living in Intention, helping you respond to your life, rather than always reacting to it.

For those of you newly following me on Your Midlife Matters (thank you for being here!) I explain how this year-long Midlife, redefined Daily Journal Guide adventure with yourself will work in Power is in Your Hand. You can start this journalling guide at any time of the year because it’s not date related: The daily prompts from Weeks 1 to 42 are here.

For ALL my lovely subscribers there is my free Midlife Daily Journal Template in my previous post here which you can use as a guide each day - and what I personally use every day.

For just €5 per month, this Midlife Daily Journal Guide (and lots of other content and discounts on coaching) is for my paid subscribers.

So let’s get into the prompts for Week 43 and 44 of your journaling journey.