Speaker 1: I turned to my
journals.
Today I reached for a book from
the shelf and it happens to be
the very first journal that I
started to keep in the way that
I now keep my journals, so it's
a record that begins, really,
when flow journaling first
became a practice for me.
Welcome to the Henny Flynn
podcast, the space for deepening
self-awareness with profound
self-compassion.
I'm Henny, I write, coach and
speak about how exploring our
inner world can transform how we
experience our outer world, all
founded on a bedrock of
self-love.
Settle in and listen and see
where the episode takes you.
And if you've been here for a
while, you'll know that I used
to date, not date.
That's a really important
distinction.
Actually, I used to not date
and I still do not date my
journal entries, but what I used
to do was write day one, day
two, day three.
Now this entry is day 21,.
So it's really early on in my
own journaling journey, my own
change journey, really, and I
opened the book at random and it
fell to this day 21 and I've
just reread it and I feel drawn
to share it with you.
Read it and I feel drawn to
share it with you and, um, it
feels really interesting for me
actually to feel my way back
into the woman that I was um
this is seven or eight years ago
, I think, um and to recognize
the things that I was working
with, that I was processing,
analyzing, exploring and maybe
there's something here that
resonates with you, either,
something that you're working
with now.
You know, this is all a spiral,
like it's not a linear process,
is it?
We go through these spirals of
change and reflection and this
inner work.
We don't, you know, tick things
off on a, on a to-do list as we
go and say, well, that's done.
We often find ourselves
circling back in this
ever-widening spiral of
awareness, or ever-diminishing
spiral of awareness, whichever
way your brain works.
So, yeah, I'd like to share
this with you and let's see
where it takes us.
Day 21.
Not really sure where my
thoughts are going today.
I'm just going to interject
there, like that's a really
common theme, as you will know
from being part of listening to
this podcast for a while, but
anyway, I'm going to start again
listening to this podcast for a
while.
But anyway, I'm going to start
again.
Day 21.
Not really sure where my
thoughts are going today, so I'm
just writing because I think
that's what this is all about
Allowing thoughts to fall out of
my head, down my arm and
through the pen onto the page, a
splurge of purple mental
cogitation, or not even even
cogitation, mere rambling, no
sense stuff.
I'm tired today and my body
feels languid.
I think my mind does too.
Meditation was lovely and would
have been delightful to have
stayed in the position for
longer, calming my chattering
thoughts and focusing on my
breathing.
I wonder when, if ever, it
becomes easy to switch off and
allow these thoughts that bubble
up and want to wash you away
with them on a lovely meandering
stream of consciousness, just
to melt away, to swim by and not
lure you along with them, and
just to focus deeply, calmly,
beautifully, on the breath.
I think it's maybe something
that grows, but never just
happens easily.
That's why it's a practice.
Being present is hard.
We're so conditioned to future
thinking and past analysis hard.
We're so conditioned to future
thinking and past analysis,
judging and fearing that just
being is difficult to do.
Sitting with yourself, with
myself, with my breath.
No, then, just now, what a
wonderful place to be.
And it does make things easier
to manage generally.
And it does make things easier
to manage generally, makes
priorities easier.
I think that concept, that truth
, that between stimulus and
response there's a space, is so
apt, it's the breathing room.
Just had to take a moment to
think that beautiful truth
through and stare out of the
window Could do that for longer.
It's so lovely out there the
trees and the sky and it's so
lovely just here the couch and
the cushions, comfort, calm,
peace.
May all beings find this
feeling, or their version of
this feeling, inside them.
Is that arrogance?
Is that assuming that just
because something is right for
me, it must be right for others?
Or does that make me feel
uncomfortable?
Because it touches on a truth
that for so many people this
moment of physical safety and
comfort is impossible to find,
and yet for others they have
this but aren't aware.
Maybe it's something more akin
to praying for all beings to
find a space inside themselves
where they can feel safe or that
they can keep safe.
I don't know.
I find this hard to think about
.
It connects me to the idea of
the deep suffering of others and
my natural desire is to shy
away from that because it hurts
me too.
It hurts me to think of that
and I feel powerless and yet
wish that I could do more.
So I think there are a number
of themes in there that you know
really resonate with me today
and, just you know, working
backwards, there are so many of
us feeling this deep desire for
everyone in the world to feel
safe and there are so many for
whom their own safety only feels
available when they are hurting
others or pushing others away
or diminishing others in some
way, and that is really
challenging to sit with.
To be able to hold all these
different versions of reality,
these different versions of
reality, and there are so many
people for whom safety feels
like such an impossible concept
right now.
And being able to sit with all
of that, to be with all of that,
it's really hard.
It is really hard and we do, I
think it's.
Also it was really interesting
for me to read my reflections
about meditation, because it was
around the same time that I
began flow journaling, that I
kind of developed this practice
for myself, that I also began
meditating practice for myself,
that I also began meditating.
You know they're they're sort
of pretty well integrated, uh,
into a shared practice for me.
It's why, you know when, when I
do these free events, these
free uh finding flow events, um,
that I do with Kate, my
publisher from Inner Work
Project, I always share a
relaxation practice before we
journal because it helps us come
into this deeper place, and my
own journaling practice has
really deepened again.
It's just so delicious right
now.
I wake each morning, I sit up
in bed, I meditate and then I
journal.
And I've had, you know, periods
of time where that hasn't been
the case and it just feels.
I'm so grateful that it's
returned to me, that my
attention to it or my attention
has turned toward it maybe
that's a better way of saying it
and like I've said in this,
this journal entry from you know
, years ago, it is a practice.
It is a practice that we that
we keep returning to meditation.
That is in order that we can
build the muscle memory and gain
the benefits from it.
And for me, flow journaling is
very similar, actually, that
it's not necessarily the words
themselves that we are writing,
or you know the lyricism within
the words.
You know the meaning, the rich
meaning that can sometimes
appear on the page and sometimes
it doesn't.
It's all equal, but it is the
act of sitting down with the
journal and our pen and allowing
our thoughts to flow that
brings us so much of the value
of this really beautiful work.
Um, and if you haven't yet
explored the power of flow
journaling and you're curious
about it, I really do recommend
getting a hold of a copy of in
the flow and it's the first book
that I kate published for me.
You know, first, one of my
books that Kate published, um, I
think there's a link to it in
the show notes and if not, I'm
gonna double check that um, it
is rich with guidance and it
also has all of these really
beautiful, compassion-based,
open prompts for you to use,
like in the book, to write in
the book.
I really like like the
subversive nature of that as
well.
You know we're taught at school
, aren't you never to write in
books, but this is a book that
we are meant to write in.
Kate has this lovely phrase
about the books she publishes
which is useful, useful
stationery.
So you know, to really allow
ourselves to sink into this
inner wisdom that I think we all
hold.
And you know I'm finding it
fascinating looking just back at
this one single entry from
years ago and seeing gosh how
and seeing the foundation
actually of so much of the, the
thoughts that really have helped
me build the framework for the
way that I work, the way that I
coach, the way that I run my
group coaching courses, the way
that I flow, journal blah, blah,
blah, blah, blah, all of it and
the way that I am, the way that
I experience the world, the way
that I choose to experience the
world, I can see the roots of
it are in here and that feels
really, really powerful for me,
and I think it's really useful
to be able to look back at times
and see how far we have
traveled.
Whatever our journey is, your
journey will be very, very
different from mine, you know,
and that's perfect and marvelous
and just as it should be.
And it is important to be able
to look back and see oh gosh,
yes, I see where those thoughts
were beginning to develop, or I
see where that insight was
starting to show through.
Or it might also show us
something, a thread that perhaps
we put down somewhere along the
way and we could, you know,
very gently, just pick it up
again and see, well, how could
we weave this thread into the
life that we're living right now
?
Um and anything else.
Oh yeah, I think the other
thing as well, really, here was
um, it's been, it's really
interesting to see, um, how, uh,
certain um messages that I have
gathered along the way, uh,
remembering actually that that
one the victor frankl quote
about, between stimulus and
response, there is a space, and
it continues something like um,
it's a space and in that space
lies our power and freedom, lies
our freedom to choose, and in
that choice lies our growth and
happiness.
I think it's something like
that.
Again, I'm going to put it into
the show notes, so you have it.
It's such a beautiful, beautiful
reflection from someone who
experienced desperate trauma in
his life.
He was an Auschwitz survivor
and was able to navigate that
with the most incredible
humanity.
And, as I say that, I am deeply
, deeply aware of the
correlation with the stuff
that's unfolding around us right
now.
So I would love to leave you
with love.
Oh, you know, I really feel
like there's so much tenderness
in this reflection.
Actually, today I don't know
I'm, um, this afternoon going to
be going to something which is
extraordinarily tender, and
maybe that's what I'm feeling
echoing inside me, and maybe
it's something that you're
sensing too, and I just want to
send you love and to say there's
a theme that has been with me I
think actually it might have
been the thing that I spoke
about last week which is this
idea that this inner work, this
deep work.
You know it can be deep but it
doesn't need to be heavy.
You know we can hold it and we
can hold ourselves lightly and
that feels so important.
And it's not about holding
things lightly, it isn't about
ignoring the pain or ignoring
the suffering.
It's about being able to hold
our response to it lightly and
then that enables us to move
into action, whatever action
that might be that is available
to each of us in order to help
alleviate the things that we are
seeing, that are so painful
around us, and alleviate rather
than subsume or, um, distract
ourselves from.
But when we hold ourselves and
what we're experiencing lightly,
it becomes easier to be calm
and kind and clear.
And I've also recognized that
those three words are really
powerful for me and they feel
like the?
Um, the deepest values of this
work really, and the deepest
values of how I wish to
experience the world, how I wish
to show up in the world.
Maybe they resonate with you
too.
Maybe other words resonate with
you and I would love to hear
what they are actually.
You know, you can always
message me, henny, at
hennyflinncouk.
You can email me with your
reflections from this.
Maybe it's raised some sorts
for you.
You can also just tap on that
little button in the show notes.
Tap to share your reflections
and I'll receive those as well.
I can't reply directly to those
messages, but if you want to
share something, I would really
love to see that, and maybe I'll
share your words in the next
episode, always anonymous, of
course, and yeah, let's leave it
there.
That feels enough.
We are enough Sending so much
love, my darlings, and sending a
hug and a wave, thank you.