The Most Powerful Journaling Exercise I Know
Dialogue with Inner Wisdom
If I could gift you just one journaling exercise, this would be it. It’s simple yet profound, straightforward yet infinitely flexible. The basic structure is this: You address your own highest intelligence. Then you answer from your highest intelligence. Continue in dialogue. Find wisdom you didn’t know you had.
You can address that highest intelligence any way you like - God, Universe, Inner Wisdom, Higher Self. When I first journaled with this tool as an 11-year-old, I imagined a wizened old healer I timidly addressed as Wise Help. Use any term that represents, for you, a reservoir of wisdom.
You'll be writing back and forth in a conversation, scripting for both speakers. I like to start by bringing a problem or question to my Wise Help. This could even look like:
ME: What should I ask?
WH: What’s on your mind?
ME: Whether I made the right decision.
WH: How did you decide?
etc…
See if you can refrain from planning the conversation in advance. Just write as you, and then jump into the responding voice, switch roles, and answer.
What would you like to ask your highest self?