Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Hi! Everybody happy New Year!
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I hope that you all had some nice time off hopefully the last week or 2, and I hope that if you
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): celebrated the New Year, it was something meaningful, and I have been thinking a lot about all of you, and I'm so excited to be here with you today. We have 4 more sessions.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): just 4 more in January, and then we're done to give you just a little bit of
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): brief run through today, we are going to look at journaling as a coaching tool. I love this session and the ritual session. They're very, very interactive. We're gonna be doing a lot of brainstorming together on case studies. You'll see it's it's really fun. And then next week we'll meet for a coaching practicum.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And then we're going to be looking, as I said, at ritual as a coaching tool.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And then our last. Our final session is a little bit of a longer one. Let me just get the date on that. So I'm gonna make sure you have that in your calendars. I've given us a nice 2 and a half hours on the twenty-third of January, from 11 Am. To 1 30 Pm. Eastern. We are going to
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): end with a bang! We are gonna teach you. We're gonna do a bunch of things on that call. I'm gonna take you through a next step process that you can take any clients through that have come to the end of a cycle with you. If you would like to invite them to continue on, I'm gonna be sharing with you, step by step.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): how to do that? To support them, to make the best decision to continue working with you. And then we're gonna have our closing
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): ceremony for the program. We're gonna have opportunity to do reflections to and to do a little ceremony and say goodbye. So that's what the next 4 calls look like. And of course we also have our 2 community calls this month for those of you that have been coming or dropping in. Those are there for you as well.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I think what we're also gonna do, even though it's not scheduled. And I need to make
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): a note, for it is Caitlin. Will. Maybe we'll have a time for Caitlin
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Hang out for a little bit for those of you that have any questions on certification. So she'll go through everything with you again, and then answer any questions that you have. If you are going for certification, and you've gotten a little bit behind.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Listen to me. and this is a pinky promise.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Do not worry. do not worry. We will help you get caught up
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you will get it done. If you want to get it done, you will get it done in right time for you. We will make sure of it. If you want to get certified you will get certified. That is my promise to you. Okay, so, Caitlin, I'm here to support you with it. Caitlin is here to support you with it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and we'll make some time for her to answer questions.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Any questions for me right now on any of it as we amble towards our last month.
No.
okay.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): The other thing I just wanted to mention is a couple of you have written in over the last few weeks about is there a way to continue to access? The community calls once sacred depths is over. Some of you have heard about. The embody program for graduates
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): from other graduates that you know. And and you've asked like, Are you gonna continue doing it? And finally, over this break. III knew that the format for embody had to change and I just like needed time for it to settle in. What's the word. I don't know for it to just come in. So it has, and I will in a few weeks
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): share with you about embody. It's just an easy, breezy way to continue to be part of the community, to review a lot of the concepts we've learned in sacred depths with new twists on them to review, etc. So I'll share about that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): in a few weeks. I'm not ready to share about it today. My first day back in the office. Okay? So all that being said.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): let's
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): talk about journaling
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and Jurn. I believe journaling is really such an effective tool that we can use in our client or
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I save looking at journaling and ritual for the end of sacred depths.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): because the journaling especially really does bring together so many of the coaching tools that we've already looked at.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): You'll see that as we move through today, and when you use journaling in
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): effective way.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): it. It actually requires a lot of the knowledge of everything we've explored. So far
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): as a little bit of a background. I'll just share with you. That. You know, a lot of obviously a lot of coaching practitioner programs don't include
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): journaling in it. I'll share with you one of the reasons why I do. Obviously, you see, we've used it throughout sacred depths. It's a you use it a little bit differently, one on one. Then in groups, we're not going to be looking at how to use it in groups. We're going to be looking at how to use it, one on one today. But the but what I wanna get at is one of the reasons why I use journaling so much in my classes with my clients
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): is because it's played a huge role in my own life and in my own business.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Since I've been a little girl I first when I was 7 years old I was the first time I got a journal.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Shortly after. That was when my mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): was really really difficult for me, especially because of the ways my hand my parents handled it. I won't get into all of that right now. It's a story for another time, but I just mentioned that because
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): my journal was my lifeline, starting from a really young age, it was a place for me
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to not only share my thoughts, to have to have a place to express my thoughts.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): but it was a place for me to to work things out for myself.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to find emotional comfort, to get more clear on things to to bring awareness
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): all, all of it. And it's not for everybody. Some people don't like it, though, although we're gonna look to date different ways, even for people that don't like to write and use words. We're gonna look at different ways to use journaling. But I'll I'll just share that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you know. That was when I first started with a journal, and to this day it is one of my go to
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): tools for everything for brainstorming, for clarifying, for awareness, for connecting with spirit, for my soul, work for my shadow work, all of it. Even yesterday. Yeah, I'll my 9 year old, and I went, and we bought journals for 2024 and had a little party to journal and start the year off. So II. It's it's I know so many of you already have journaling practices.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and it's one of my favorite topics, and it also just feels like a gift, to have this space, to share about it, to exchange ideas, and to see how we can really use it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to support our clients, to go deeper.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): in one on one. So what's the purpose of journaling in our in our one-on-one work with clients?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for me, I use it mainly as homework
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): versus during session time. Really, the only time that I use journaling during one on one session time is
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): if a client needs a pattern interrupt.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): or if they're having trouble clearing their head. So what I mean by a pattern interrupt is, if a client needs to move from outward to inward, for example.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): sometimes, if they're having trouble doing that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): a good journaling question can help them, or if they need a pattern, interrupt from being a little bit too much in the heart to move to the head, or a little bit too much in the head to move to the heart, of course, to move from head to heart. We've also looked at other tools like
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): visualization connecting with heart, you know, asking the heart what it needs, etc. But sometimes the journaling. It's just different than conversation. It can help create
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that pattern. Interrupt.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Sometimes, if things get a sometimes, things will get a little too emotional right? And you're gonna wanna bring some grounding. There are lots of different ways to bring grounding. But moving to the cognitive always helps and writing things down is just grounding in general. And it can help with that right, make a list of XY, or z.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): etc. Right? So every now and again
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): it might come up
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): during a session. But where I want to focus today mainly
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): is how to use journaling as for homework outside of session.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): as a way to go deeper on certain topics
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that were covered in session
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): as a way to reinforce
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and practice new learnings and awarenesses that came through
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): in sessions.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): You can use journaling homework
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to address pieces that you didn't have time for
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): in the session, but that are timely right, that it might be valuable for a client to look at before your next session.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Another way to use or purpose to use journaling for homework is for pieces that came through in the session.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): but they weren't fully baked yet. Right? Sometimes things they need more processing. It's a revelatory process, right? And so the journaling can support clients
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to for more pieces to be revealed, for it to become more.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And then sometimes also, every now and again.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): there's gonna be a topic that comes up in session that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): is so personal to a client
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that they might want to explore it in private first.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): before they're ready to share it with you right, and that has nothing to do about there not being enough trust in the container or anything like that. Right? We all have certain things that it's like
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that's private. I want some help knowing how to process it or understand it more. But I don't know that I want to have a conversation
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): about it right now, right? So we can use journaling in that way as well.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): There are
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): very. I think there are very few rules when it comes to journaling as journaling homework. It's a place where you can get really creative
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and not just by asking, by giving clients questions to journal on right. It can be dialogging with parts of themselves. It can be drawing. It can be list-making. It can be mind mapping. It can be diagram making, etc., etc.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Right? So it's a place to get really creative, not just the traditional, you know. Question, answer, question, answer.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So there are very few rules. But I have a couple for you to consider when you are working with clients and co-creating journaling homework.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Number one don't have it. Take up too much time.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Oh, any right. We we just know this. Any homework assignment that's gonna be too big is gonna be too overwhelming. And it's gonna set our clients up for failure. They're either not gonna do it or they're gonna give up
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): halfway right?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): But also it shouldn't take up too little time. Something that's just going to take 2 min is not going to be really meaningful for each client.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): It what you know, and depending on what's happening in their lives as well. How much time it takes is gonna be different in terms of what's appropriate for them.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Second rule, to consider
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for the journaling homework.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Invite your client
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to carve out some sacred time and space to do it some quiet time.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): uninterrupted time.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): For them to really be focused and present to the work. Right? So it's not just a homework assignment that we wanna check off to say that we did. But so that it's actually they're they're present, and they're in process with it the same way that they are present in a session
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with us.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): even just that alone
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): supporting clients to create sacred time and space for themselves. We'll look at this more when we talk about ritual. Also, just that is so valuable for for I was, gonna say, so many of our clients, really, for all of us right
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to to have sacred time and space, to be present. to focus, to be with our soul.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to be in a revelatory process or a discovery process
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): another rule to consider.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I always think that the journaling assignment is not yet over when the last word is written, or the last piece is drawn
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for deeper awareness and integration. I always like to ask
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): people to read over their journaling afterwards, and if they want to Star Circle, underline important parts, or make a list of takeaways from it, just like we would do at the end of a coaching session. Right? There's there's kind of like a beginning, middle and end right? The intention is, these are the things we're gonna do for the journaling. There's the doing of it. And then there's the integration and the takeaways.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I always invite my clients to keep me in the loop
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): on the homework, so I invite them if they want to share it with me over email
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): or discuss it in our next session. But I'd like to follow up right like. Continue the thread, follow it up
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): again. O, either over email or in the next session.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): If your clients don't like to journal. then don't give them writing homework, they're not gonna do it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Think about other thing right? A walk in the park, a conversation with a like II have one client who's like, not a writer, but is a nature person. So the journaling questions I might give someone else
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for him. He's gonna take a walk in. He takes a walk in the park and dialogues with a tree right on those same questions. Right? So so again, get get creative, just like in our coaching sessions. Always coach the what based on the Who
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): journaling is the same thing. Right?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay. So let me pause here, cause I just spoke a lot.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'd love to hear what's sparking for you so far? What's resonating? What are you seeing? What are you excited about? What questions do you have? So far
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): we'd like to share?
Bolta.
jodigolda: Hmm. I'm curious about the sharing by email.
jodigolda: maybe. Can you say more about that? And
jodigolda: yeah, like, just a little bit more like how they might share that. How much? And then it's, you know. Yeah.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yeah. So each for each person, it's different. Some people send me summaries. You know this. This and this came through. Some people take pictures of their journals, which I then can only read half of people's handwriting. Alright great.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you know. I usually recommend journaling acts, not on the computer, but writing. But some people do like to type in. Then they'll send me that. So each person is different in term, and some people are like, no, let's just talk about it, cause they don't want to deal with the email. So it kind of runs the gamut, and then.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): if but if they do, send me something whatever. However, in whatever form they send it to me, I'll read it, and then I'll coach back over email. So what that means is creating awareness by reflecting
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then sometimes asking, follow up questions the same way as I would in a session.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): That
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): helpful? Yeah. Okay, great.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay. Yeah. Victoria.
Victoria Cali: something that was coming up for me is like working with the resistance of like.
Victoria Cali: I mean, we just went over time not too long ago, and this is like such
Victoria Cali: to me, so closely related to working with time and people, making the time, and then wanting to make the time, but not making the time, and like that whole dance, and but I don't know just to how
Victoria Cali: how to address that, how to work with that. That's
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): eponymous.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yeah, it's such a good point. And so again, it's it's always coaching the web based on the who. And first even asking, Do you want to have some homework
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): on this this week, or, you know, between now and our next session? Right like, is there space for it is this something that you wanna focus on or prioritize. So that's number one. And sometimes clients gonna say, no, you know. And it's like a legit. No. And
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): then that's okay. Right?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): You do the work in the next session.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): But yeah, all the P. Exactly. All the pieces we looked at with time. And then it's again. It's it's
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): what is going to be appropriate
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for this client for this week.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and sometimes I'll have clients that say, give me 5 things, and I might not get to all of them. But I like II might be thinking about them through the next couple of weeks, and I might get to one right. And sometimes I have clients that say.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I can only focus on one thing like, what is the thing right? And I'll do that. So II it's I don't know if that's that's helpful to think about. But again, it's just like Coach the what based on the who get creative with it. And as with everything right that we've learned from day one, it's a collaboration
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with the client.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): The other thing I'll say is, as we start to get into some of the next pieces is
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Sometimes it's like a full collaboration, and then other times. A client will just be like, give me some. Give me some questions, you know, and sometimes
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'll be able to do it on the spot in a session.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Other times I'll say I'll email you later today or tomorrow. I wanna think
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): on this a little bit right? We that's all. All is good right there. There's a whole range of how we can do it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay? So you all know my being a Virgo, I always like to divide things into categories. So I've got 2 categories
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of types of journaling homework. We're going to spend most of the time on Category B,
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): but I want to just talk a little bit about category A,
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): which I call more general journaling practices. So B is like.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): this is exactly what happened in a session. And it's these these questions that I'm giving you this week or this journaling this week is specifically related to the session this week.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): But the first category that I'm looking at I want us to look at is more general, or we could say, like ongoing, ongoing, journaling practices.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So ongoing journaling practices are not for every client
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): ongoing journaling practices are for clients who have the space
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and the willingness for a journaling practice right to do that longer term consistent inner work related to journaling on their own.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Some of you, I am guessing, have your own journaling practices.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): The purpose of journaling practices are to have a practice to connect with yourself.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): or to connect with spirit. or to have an ongoing practice of connecting with your heart.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Right?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): this category that I'm talking about right now
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): is the the types of things that we would ask clients to do in a longer term in a journaling practice
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): are things that work best over time, right? So like a gratitude practice.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): For example.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): 1 one time writing down, what are you grateful for today? Helpful, right, but not really building the muscle, whereas over time a practice of journaling gratitude. That's where the the real value is gonna come from.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Does that make sense?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): a practice can be anything right? Anything that a client wants to build a muscle on long term.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and I'll give a couple. I have ideas, and then I want to hear some of your practices as well, right. So we spoke about gratitude. I have a practice which is not when it's an everyday practice. I definitely feel the benefits of it more. And then it's not always an everyday practice. But we're the end of the day I write I have a couple of cause. I like categories, a couple of categories. I write down what I'm grateful for
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): from the day
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I write down what I'm celebrating
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): from the day to me celebrating is a little bit different than gratitude celebrate. I'm celebrating myself. Gratitude is
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): grateful for air conditioning great, like, grateful for organic food, whatever it is. And then the third is lessons learned
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): today.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Probably many of you have heard from Margaret Margaret Julia Cameron's book. What is it? I just forgot the name of the book the artists way
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): morning pages as an or ongoing thing. Sometimes I start my day with I am, and then I just write. I am right. Doing that daily such a beautiful way to connect
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with self.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): We spoke. I think we spoke about this in our last session. An ongoing practice of connecting with spirit. Right? So II will channel letters from the Great Mother to myself during periods of time where I need more nurturing, where I need more self love where I need more self
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): compassion.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I have a semi regular practice of doing dream work in my journal.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): What else?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): What are some other ongoing journaling practices that either you have or have had or know of? Or have you client done with clients?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): What else might be helpful? Let's do some brainstorming on this. On ongoing.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you can put in the chat. You can raise your hand
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that have you got.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Maybe you have some kind of list making practice.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Maria.
Maria Chowdhury: speaking is so much easier. I love journaling, but in the chat not so much. I spell it all wrong, and no, but I like to journal. I'm a real creative person, like we all are, and just get all these great ideas for
Maria Chowdhury: all the herbal remedies I'm gonna make, or all the herbal, mainly herbal remedies, or all the the journeys I'm going to take people on or or and then so sometimes it's this creative of like, what am I going to co-create with the universe and who needs it?
Maria Chowdhury: And so I'm just bridling writing about that. But a lot of times that's bulk of it. But then sometimes it's just like, Oh, a reflection on, you know, those of us were doing deep spiritual work all the time. So we're in this inner alchemy place all the time. So kind of tracking my where I am in the transformational cycle of like, okay.
Maria Chowdhury: so those are the things I just spontaneously like have a kind of a regular, I say spontaneous. But I would say, those are regular topics in the journal.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): yeah, I love it. I love it. I love that you bring so many of your also your interests into it, too.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Lara.
Lara Wilde: this is fun for me, because I'm an obsessive note taker journaler, and I use A,
Lara Wilde: I use a program called Log Seek. It's LOGS. Eq. Stands for log sequence.
Lara Wilde: and it works really well with the brain like mine. II have a background in computer programming. So it's kind of like computer program markdown
Lara Wilde: the way it works. And I just keep track of everything, like
Lara Wilde: everything I did that day. Everyone I talked to my help. What things? What
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): would you say? The purpose
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of it is for you like, how, how, what kind of client would we wanna invite to do that?
Lara Wilde: Well, I have so many purposes. And, in fact, right right now, I'm writing a group program to to teach this. So a lot of it is just reflection. You know, most of it is reflection.
Lara Wilde: And to get my feelings about things and get just get it down like like a second brain. Some people call it the second brain. So it it relieves a lot of anxiety. It it helps me feel like.
Lara Wilde: you know, like I feel like I'm a little bit autistic. So it helps me feel like I'm keeping track of things. I you know I have a schedule in there, have my schedule written down.
Lara Wilde: I have important links that I don't want to forget.
Lara Wilde: Like if I give someone a gift. I put it in there. So I know what I you know what I gave them last year, and what I want to give them next year.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I think now, like that last thing with the gifts like I need that I love it so it's it's like a dual purpose. There's a tracking piece which could be really important for some clients, and then similar to what Maria was saying at the end of her share, right to just to have a space for reflection as well and ongoing reflective
space
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for expression and deeper connection with self and relationship with self.
Lara Wilde: Right? Yeah, it's a place. It's a way for me to see patterns in my life, so I can say, Oh, this is a pattern I like. This is a pattern I don't like, I wanna break this pattern. A lot of it has to do with habits. And
Lara Wilde: yeah, I love it. Yeah, it's great.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): beautiful. Thank you
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): if you don't mind Lara putting in the chat, the the app. I have a feeling some people are gonna want to write that down
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): reassing in the chat goals for the next day or week. I do that a lot, too, in the year. Yes, Victoria, saying 5 min stream of consciousness, yes, similar to those morning pages.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Susan is saying, writing memoir parallels, journaling for me. I'm so glad you're you're adding that in Susan I've been writing memoir lately, and it's it's been taking the place of some of my journaling. For sure, Susan is, Sue is saying, reviewing the week and the month. Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Nisha's saying, I've done scripting at night where I write as if it's the next day, and how I want to feel at the end of that day. Oh, I love all of these. I love it. That's so great. Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Helen likes doing a daily oracle or Tarot card pull, and then you use it as a springboard to reflect on what's true for me at that time. Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Holy Trinity from Mama Gina 3 bat brags, 3 gratitudes and 3 desires. I love that. Yes, and Susan Hagen is saying, getting heart centered. Then asking unconditional love, What would you have me know today? And that's from Elizabeth Gilbert. Beautiful!
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I love all of these so much.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay, so that's ongoing. Right? A practice that builds over time right? And you're building a muscle on a certain. You know, we could call it skill or relationship or way of being through that journaling practice.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Let's talk now about the second category, which is more about specific
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): assignments or questions, whatever you want to call it, that you might you know, assign with a cop client or co-create with a client on any given session.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Now.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): there's so many right of these, as many as coaching sessions and topics.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So what I've done is, I've created some case study scenarios for us to kind of practice
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and brainstorm and then apply.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So I'll I'll give you the case studies.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And then
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you. My my question for you is to brainstorm. On what journaling homework you might give
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that client. Now, obviously, when we're with a client we'll work it out together with the client. But for now you know what might you give? So here's the first
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): scenario
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): in a session with a client.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Your client shares that she hasn't done any of the action steps that the 2 of you had strategized in the session before shouldn't take any action.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): She's working on her logo design business.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and in the session before the 2 of you had strategized for her to to ways to bring on clients.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Now this is the second session in a row where this has happened where she didn't take any action.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and in this session, when you looked deeper together, you saw that a few things were at play for her number one.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): She didn't quite have the time in her schedule to complete the action steps, but she did have some time at least.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Number 2.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): She has some fear and resistance to being so visible and taking the action steps.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So in the session, when that came forward together, you did a befriend your fear process around her fear of visibility.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and she connected deeply with a time when her first boyfriend ever made fun of her for wanting to become a famous artist.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and she was able to see that the perceived rejection from her boyfriend at that time made her feel ashamed of her creativity, and also nervous to let others know that she wanted to make a business out of her creativity. This logo design business.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the higher level message that came through in the befriend. Your fear process was.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Trust your creatrix.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So that's where you got to at the end of the session. What homework. journaling, homework might you give her
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): again to either go deeper to integrate more. to keep on going.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): With all of this. I'll give you all a few minutes to
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): think about
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): some journaling homework, and I'll put this little case study in the chat in case you want to reread it, and I'll give you 3 min.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): 3 or 4 min.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Oh, my message is too long. Okay, I'll split it up into 2
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): right? And remember, you can get creative can be drawing. It can be list making. It can be questions. It can be mind mapping.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): We'll save ritual for next time. Like ritual actions. So this is anything you can do in a journal.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Another way of thinking about it is what inner work would be helpful
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for this client to follow up with on her own
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Lara. The
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the question was, what journaling questions, or what journaling homework would you give
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): this client?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Alright!
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I see some of you shared in the chat. I'd love to hear
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): if you wouldn't mind also sharing voice to voice. If not, I'll also read it in the chat. But
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): let's hear some ideas.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): How can this client go deeper?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): What assignment might you give them? Don't be shy, even if you're not sure we'll kinda brainstorm it out right
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): before II go to the chat. Anyone want to share voice to voice.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Alright, I'll start on the chat.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So gold is saying, write a love letter to yourself from your creatrix.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yes, right as a way that creates came started to come through that message of trust, your creatrix.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So, writing a love letter to it alternatively, you could also channel the voice of the creatrix, and start to have the creatrix write love letters to you, or letters of wisdom to you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Right kind of honing in on that creatrix piece could be an important piece for this client because of what came through in the session. And we want to strengthen that relationship, possibly for the client.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): The more she trusts that creates.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the the more she's gonna trust herself to move forward in her business.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Golda is also saying another way of creating that relationship dialog between your fear and your creatrix right? The the creatrix is kind of that. Balance point to the fear. So what? How can they come together a little bit more. How can they be in a better relationship.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then write a letter to her ex boyfriend saying anything she wished. She would have said then, exactly. Yes, right. Cause that boyfriend piece was so big. What if she could go back with all of the resources she has now all of the wherewithal she has now stand up for herself, speak her her deep truth about what she knows about
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): herself as an artist to the boyfriend.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Awesome! I will keep on reading from the chat, but I really feel like it's more fun if you share voice to voice instead of only hearing my voice. Does anyone, even if you've shared in the chat you want to share voice to voice.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Come on, please.
Brie Laridon: Bree, thank you.
Brie Laridon: Okay, sure. Yeah. II said a similar thing in the chat. Where could go into
Brie Laridon: that higher self and see what else? What other guidance it has for you, internal on that. But I'm also thinking for anyone that's
Brie Laridon: wants to feel more creative. Another way to get into emotion
Brie Laridon: as I used to be in art school, and you can literally draw your emotions, because sometimes it's hard to put them on paper like draw like, why, one time I drew myself feeling suffocating. It was like me underneath this frozen lake
Brie Laridon: with like this feeling and drawing it can really.
Brie Laridon: just in, you know, pictures worth a thousand words, kind of feeling, you know. It's like if someone's having trouble writing it out, and then you could even look at the drawing or share it with the coach, and you could work on creating more awareness together
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and seeing. Okay, what does that drawing have to say? Another way of going in to befriend your fear and using that as a absolute thing. So oh, just another idea. Yes, yes, yes, absolutely so the
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the draw drawing is also activates. Pre, verbal fe, you know ideas as well, and there's so much exactly what you're saying. Bree! So drawing the emotions, or we know that this client is a drawer. She's creative. She wants to have a logo design business.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Could she create a logo about a of her creativity like if if her or her creature, if her creatrix had a logo. What would it look like? Right? But using that drawing especially for this creative client?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Great Kristen.
Kristin Jensen: there we are.
Kristin Jensen: Okay. I the one I wanna highlight that I really liked was the journal about like, what ritual can you craft for yourself so you can get into a state of trust and channel in your creatrix energy before you sit down to work or to do any creative stuff
Kristin Jensen: like, how do you set up the container? Yes, yes, it's I love it, cause it's straddling ritual to but first, like journal on it, like what would create this just in sacred flow, courageous environment for you to take
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): these action steps.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I love it. I don't know. And, Kristen, I can't help but think cause you like this question so much. If there's something in this one for you, too.
Kristin Jensen: Yeah, I think you're right. I'm not much of a journaler. But I really, I like this idea. Yeah, awesome. I like it, too. Thank you.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Lara. Sing in the chat.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Has anyone ever given you positive feedback about your art? Who, when, what, how did it make you feel so to journal on when you have felt really good about your art and your creativity, and what that experience has been like. Yes, make a list of the positive things people say to you this week to start being more aware of receiving. I love that. Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Susan is also saying dialogue with her inner creatrics on what she needs to know, ways to protect space and her schedule. Yes, yes, and then embodying the feeling in her body. Right? So again. You can that embodiment piece. You can do it drawing. She can also take a walk around the block. Is her creatrics
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): put on a piece of music that her creatrix might like and do a dance, move into the energy of the creatrix right? And then maybe be in that energy, not just for her creative work, but for her business work.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And then maybe her business action steps become creative as well. Right?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Amish is saying, yeah. If you were to draw or describe your creatrix. What would it look like? Yes, how do you feel when your creatrix shines through? These are also, by the way, everybody great breakthrough questions in in all of this, too. Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Describe how you feel in your body, how the rejection feels in your body. What does it look like, what are the sensations? Now? Give that rejection some space to exist. How would you describe it? Yes, I love this. And I wanna just make 1 point on this question, Nisha, and also what Bree was seeing before about doing a drawing, you know about
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): like feeling strangled, or what you know, whatever it is.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Remember that when our clients are on their own, the they're not usually as in tight a container
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): as when they're in session with us. Many, many, many clients can absolutely stay regulated enough
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to draw how rejection feels in their body. But there are going to be some clients that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): go, that is, might be too dysregulating on their own to do. They might not have a grounded enough container on their own, or like a safe enough container. So we just wanna again coach the what based on the who which clients can do kind of that work on their own. And then which clients is really, that's only gonna be in session.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I love all of these.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Christine is also staying in the chat. Yep, let's do some schedule work. Also. Take a look at the schedule. Where can you carve out time? Block out those times? Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): yeah. Don connect with the spirit of the creature. See what else. What other wisdom drops in. Create one to 3 tiny steps?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yes, beautiful.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Alright!
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Let me see if there's anything. Oh, you guys hit all of my stuff.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): The only other thing I had, which is a possibility.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): is for her to write a letter to her teenage self
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): right to the one that got so upset and went into fear of visibility. When the boyfriend said what they said, and to to do some repairing work on that, or just getting love and nurturing to that teenage self.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Alright. Let's do another case. Study well before we move on just any other thoughts or questions on that. Yeah.
Maria Chowdhury: Maria, I think you're raising it just really quickly. What just popped in. I think kind of somebody must have already said it. That's why it came in. It's just like dress as your creatrix, move as your Creator. Speak as your Creator, eat as your Creatrix, dance as your Creator, just like what in your body, and then express it in every single thing you could possibly do. Yes, yes, I love it. Full embodiment, absolutely
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): good.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Do you see how this pulls together so much of what we've learned. Right? We're just kind of using all of our our transformation skills into the homework as well.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay, let's look at another case study.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Okay? So with this client.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the 2 of you are working together on setting boundaries, this client. it's got some boundaries they want to set.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Your client realizes that she's kind of a doormat
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): in a lot of her relationships.
She over gives. she takes over responsibility.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): She allows others to be critical of her, you know, to her, and take advantage of her.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and as you explore this together in session, you uncover that this client has a fear of others being angry
her.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and that's why she allows
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): herself to be taken advantage of. That's why she over gives. That's why she takes over responsibility. It's just so that other people won't be so angry right? She's worried that they're gonna be angry at her.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And as the 2 of you continue to look at this together in session. What comes forward is that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): there's a buried energy. There's an energy that got buried inside of her, of that she calls the warrior woman
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and her warrior woman is lying dormant inside of her.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So as you get to the end of the session. she comes up with some action steps that she wants to take that week, based on the inspiration and the awareness and the motivation that came through in the session.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): She is going to set boundaries with one of her close friends specific about this is a friend that she keeps on lending money to, but she never gets paid back.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): She's finally gonna talk to her friend about that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And then the other boundary she wants to set that week is with her parents.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): She's going to tell them she's not going to call them every day anymore, setting kind of a boundary for some more space. And she's decided with you that she really wants to set both of these boundaries with confidence and also with a lot of love for herself and the other people.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): What inner journaling homework
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): might you give this client.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): She's got her outer action steps the setting of the boundaries. How are you gonna follow up on the inner work that came through?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And I'll put this in the chat.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Give you another minute.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Alright, let's hear some ideas and brainstorm on this. Golda.
jodigolda: Okay,
jodigolda: So again, another love letter from her warrior woman.
jodigolda: Also
jodigolda: I would love for her to write the truth of what she really wants to say to all these people that have been transgressing her. And
jodigolda: you know, just yeah, like, what does she really want to say? And just see that?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yes.
jodigolda: yeah. And then just the a conversation or dialogue between the part of her that has fear of hurting people or being, you know, or angering people. And her warrior woman. So a a little conversation.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yes, beautiful! Yes, to all 3, going deeper with the warrior woman strengthening that energy inside of her. You know, and a lot of times when something like the creatrix or the warrior woman comes through.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'll ask a client if they're willing to do more than one sitting of channeling that archetypal energy to continue, like to to really activate it, to bring it in. And then yes, she wants to set the boundary with confidence and love
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that those words and energy might be different then the part of her that that usually when we're scared of making other, there's a shadow thing right. Usually when we're scared of making others angry. We're suppressing our own anger as well.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Right so to just have a healthy container for her to write out every little last word that she actually wants to say to those people.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then she can find the confidence and love part to what she's going to say to those people good Helen.
Helen Wrack-Adams: I also had come to the suggestion of a scripting journaling exercise, but to initiate that process my suggestion would be to pick a playlist of empowering songs that represent the warrior woman essence, and to encourage the climate to stomp and dance and
Helen Wrack-Adams: take up space and use her voice and make war cries and really tune into that empowered place before sitting down and writing out the ideal scenario of how she would like to deliver her truth, and what her truth is, so that she can shift all those energies and be embodied in that place.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Beautiful! I love it so much. Just th this embodiment. Again. Embodiment right of the that warrior woman. Archetype through the music
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): probably needs more than one song. I like that. You're saying a playlist.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): you know, and then and again follow through right the difference between a breakthrough and a transformation. So this is follow through into transformation. Even more, you have a playlist after that initial, whatever workout to that playlist, while, you know, continue coming back to that embodiment, and then being that energy to to be able to articulate the words.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and you could even listen to the playlist right before having the conversation. So you're back in that place and attuned to the truth. Yes, so great, so beautiful. Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Danielle.
Danielle: mine was so similar. It was about dance, but also creating a playlist.
Danielle: That kind of moves you tenderly from like
Danielle: I've done this with people. It's really powerful younger child, you
Danielle: accessing that through dance, and then kind of shifting with the music to with your body, saying No, like as that young like, in accessing those memories of being that younger child and actually embodying your body, saying what it needed to say. At that age it was very powerful embodiment. And and then yes, moving into more of that
Danielle: warrior woman essence! That was really powerful for me, and then also that involved, like accessing that inner mother, that caring part too. So it was just a whole blend.
Danielle: But then, in terms of journaling, one idea, too, would be in terms of list making. I saw that as an example.
Danielle: it can be helpful to stop and kind of take stock of like. What is the cost here for me in these relationships. I'm always thinking of the cost of making people angry. But I'm absorbing a cost in these relationships by not saying no, and for me it has been helpful
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): to. That's a way I don't know. For some people it might not to see right so without usually with that. You probably want to say, without judgment or self criticism, right? That you but what has the cost been?
Danielle: Yeah, it's like it gave me a boost. It gives people a boost of like. I have spent time looking at the cost here. It's not just theory. Oh, I know I should be able to say no, but I actually have named myself. No, there's actually a cost on the other side, too.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yes, that's so beautiful. I love it. And then to the first piece on the inner child within. Now it reminds me years ago I let a retreat. We were working on boundaries, and one of the pieces of the retreat I brought in. A self defense teacher who taught
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the people this incredible way of like pounding down. It's a self defense move, but we used it to apply it to like find the the no, and and where the boundary was gonna be set. I love that with that idea again. Watch for
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): what's more appropriate in session. Cause. Sometimes it's gonna be about a container and regulation. Sometimes it's gonna just be if it's newer material than what you already looked at in the session. A client might not be able to go there on their own unless they're really into all, all the stuff that all of us are into. So sometimes we want to save things for session
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for other clients that might be totally appropriate. Now, if we've introduced it already in session, if we've practice some of that in session, then
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for sure they could do it on their own.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Maria.
Maria Chowdhury: Well, as a martial artist and a Chi Gong practitioner like healthy boundaries, is like what we teach. So I would obviously bring her into Chigong, you know, because that's the core of it, and our big big component of it. But
Maria Chowdhury: but I, what keeps coming to me is she wants to feel confident
Maria Chowdhury: and loving. And so
Maria Chowdhury: a couple things. There's been so much wisdom already shared that playlist from the beginning. What might. What keeps wanting come to me is that it ends calmly and peacefully, and stable and centered. Because if you had listen, I just am speaking of myself. So I listen to a bunch of empowering stuff, and I'm like, feel in my way. I might feel way, not centered, but really big and powerful, and that might actually create more conflict.
Maria Chowdhury: Then I'm aware of, especially if I'm new to that kind of energy. So I would have that. I love that list idea, that music idea. But then I just keep on wanting to like. Make the music come back to your center.
Maria Chowdhury: and just holding love and power in the same chalice like. What does it feel in your body when you're being
Maria Chowdhury: telling love and power in the same chalice, in the same word, in the same action and the same stance.
Maria Chowdhury: just figuring out what that feels like for them, and writing and all the dialogue within, that those are the things that keep coming to me.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I love that if there's time at the end of the session. You might want to start a client off with that, to feel that love and power together, and then follow through. During the week.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): If not, give it for homework, maybe start with the journaling what would even feel like or look like, and then move into the embodiment, or vice versa. Yeah, good.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Let's see what's in the chat here. Susan is saying. Journalist story of the awakening of the warrior woman inside of her. What does she look like? How does she move? What is her voice like? What wisdom does she have through the space from the energy of the warrior woman. Yes, the second assignment to script the conversation about boundaries from the warrior woman's voice. Beautiful? Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Always practicing conversation a big, you know, for any client, whether it's a job interview or a conversation like this session, or you know, whatever it is, having opportunity, either in session with us or on their own to script out what they wanna say from the energy that they wanna say it can be so helpful.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Misha's sharing. What does it mean to be responsible to yourself as opposed to others. Yes, beautiful breakthrough question, what is the relationship between the boundaries you're creating and self intimacy? Yeah, these are great great
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): journaling questions, breakthrough questions, write a letter to the warrior woman, tell her about the importance of setting those boundaries. Yes. or vice, or have the warrior woman, tell it to you. How do your boundaries align with what is valuable for you?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Beautiful? Susan Hagen. Yes, more on the connecting with the warrior woman. Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): yeah. Same with Amy.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yep, and Victoria's sharing about the dialogues. Good! Let me see if there's anything else I had
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): here.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So you know, tracking. This is a little bit. Lara brought this up on the earlier case study tracking, you know, we can call as a form of
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): journaling. So another idea is follow yourself throughout the week and make a list of all the times. You ignored
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): a boundary because of a fear of making others angry, and also all the times that you upheld the boundary right? And what were the scenario? Who was it with what was going on tracking? We looked at this in befriend your fear with fears. You know the the more that we can become aware, help a client become aware in real time
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of how they're reacting. Slowly, they can start to change behavior through that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Another idea.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I had make a list of people who she knows, who set boundaries in healthy ways.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): what you know, and some information about that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): she could make a collage of what healthy boundary setting feels like. and looks like with words and images.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): another question, what are the components of a healthy and supportive friendship?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Right? So to maybe go a little bit deeper into defining what healthy and supportive friendships are.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): define aligned responsibility and giving. So if there's over responsibility and over giving what is aligned responsibility and giving look like
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): any other thoughts, ideas. or questions that came up for you as we've been looking. Oh, and Kristen is having an exploration of the anger, too. Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): what are you starting to kind of see or learn from our call today so far.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): or get excited about what are you noticing
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): anyone want to share?
Lara Wilde: I have something.
Lara Wilde: I can imagine. Some clients are too anxious or fearful to do journaling.
Lara Wilde: so
Lara Wilde: I mean, I can imagine myself during some some points I wasn't able to do that like with an Alexander work. They we do a lie down, and I was so anxious I couldn't. It took me 2 years to be able to do the lie down.
Lara Wilde: So maybe you could address that.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yeah. So it's such a great question. So again, it's always gonna be different. But for for a client. So for some clients, they're just not gonna be ready. It's not gonna be the right time.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): right? And that's great. So then it's a different kind of
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): follow-up homework. It might not be journaling, it might be waiting to the next session. If
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): it's a client who it's just really the work is only going to happen in session. And let's say you're meeting with that client every other week. It might be a conversation about meeting every week instead of every other week, if the going to, you know, just kind of like letting it go and not doing anything on their own between the 2 weeks.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): If it's not gonna they're not gonna be able to
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): kind of build on what's happening. Right? So that's one thing. If they just aren't gonna do it, you know, for some people it's just not right, you know, for other people like I said earlier, it might be. Well, I'm not gonna journal, but I'm gonna talk to a tree, or I'm gonna take a walk. And I'm gonna think about this, or I'm willing to make a list
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): right? So always coach the what based on the who.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): work with that client on what's gonna work for them?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): If a client is saying, I really want to do the journaling, but I just feel so resistant to it. Then in session you're gonna
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): take a look at the resistance and see what the the fear underneath it is, it might be a fear of going deeper. It might be a fear of I don't.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'm scared to devote the time to this, because I have so many other things to do right? But always value is gonna come from looking at the resistance.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Is that helpful?
Lara Wilde: It is. And I just had another thought, too, as you were saying, that maybe even coming up with a mantra or something that they could write down on a post it. Note on their bathroom mirror or
Lara Wilde: something just to start thinking about.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yeah. An easy first step, as with everything. Sometimes, you know, for some people it's just like, what is the easiest first step that's gonna be a win right? That is almost a guaranteed win. They're gonna do it right because once people get the win.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Oh, my gosh! I'm forgetting the word. anyway, the good vibe hormone comes through. They're like I did it. I got I got I can't remember what it's called oxytocin. And then, right? And then they're gonna be willing to take a next step.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So sometimes it really is just looking for that easy win the first time
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I love that.
Lara Wilde: Okay, thanks.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Thank you. Who else any
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): questions? I have one more case study but before we go there? Just any questions that are coming up in general about this? Or what's popping for you around using journaling as a coaching tool?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Golda?
jodigolda: Yeah, I think I'm I'm still sitting with like the follow up and just appreciating that that's something that I haven't done.
jodigolda: and that I want to step more into of, you know, really inviting. Sharing in between sessions. And also, if not, then then, you know, following up during during the next coaching session. So I appreciate that. Yeah, I'm glad that you're underscoring this because really so much of what we're looking at today, in addition to creating more breakthroughs and awareness and all the things it goes back to
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the thing. One of the things I've been saying throughout is there's a difference between a breakthrough and a transformation. And so often we do such great work in session, and then it just gathers dust.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And yes, we wanna pick it up in following sessions. But a lot of the times. What's gonna strengthen the breakthroughs to the transformation, even in addition to the following up in session, is, if a client is willing to even do a little bit of work
jodigolda: in between all, all of that. And I also want to add the other piece that it feels. It's it's also about the relationship. It's also about that, you know, like the holding I forget the languaging that you've used around it. But it's like at the very beginning of just really.
jodigolda: yeah, that was good.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Yeah. Yeah. And again, I'm gonna pull on what you're saying. It's important for all of us. We look, we did look at this as our in our very first session. I really want to encourage all of us to not look at our client work
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): as there's this session.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and then the session, and then the session, but instead to look at it, however long, we're working right, whether it's a 3 month thing or a 6 month or a year, that it is a container for that amount of time, and the value is not just in the session. By session we are holding space for our clients.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for that whole container obviously tightened space right during sessions. But but just that overarching container is supportive and motivating and inspiring. And then, if we can add a little work in between, that that tightens the container even more
good.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Any other thoughts, I think I'll give our last case study as a homework for anyone that that wants to do it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I think it's more important just any other thoughts or questions on any of this?
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Or is this inspiring you to come back to your journal a little bit more, too? And
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): any thoughts or questions you have on that. Maria.
Maria Chowdhury: It's a question really about just your practice when you're with your one on one clients.
Maria Chowdhury: and you do you like sense? Each person out to see if they're a good candidate for these continuous journal questions. And then something pops up. Is it always just in the moment? Or do you kinda have it in your repertoire of like, Oh, welcome new person into my realm. And they say something. And then you're like, Oh, here's some questions cause you're anticipating that you're gonna give them some journaling homework.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I'm always anticipating that I'm gonna that I'm gonna be giving them inner work to do in between sessions and looking for the best ways for them to do that in our work.
Maria Chowdhury: So I don't know. Does that answer your question? So you're anticipating you're gonna give them homework or some inner work. and journaling is one of them.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Exactly. For some people it's ritual, like, I said. For some people it's walks around the block dancing. You know what whatever it is. And and look.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): some people don't do anything in between sessions. Also. Right? I mean real talk. Some people don't, or some people do a lot, and then they don't, and then they do again, or, you know, just like all of us. But I kind of go in
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with the the hope that
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): the work that I'm doing with the client is not only about our session time.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and also that I'm using the whole of our container to help them build a muscle
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): of going deeper in their own relationship with themselves, even when I'm not there.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And so I'm always hoping
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): that they will do some kind of inner homework because of that.
Maria Chowdhury: And and and so one other just question just popped up right now is, I do groups, and I'm not in a one-on-one very often. So I'm doing groups. And then I always wanna check in with them throughout the time. But a lot of times what you said. Some people are engaged and some are not. How would you make this different? For groups
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): like the homework, the journaling for a group, a small group of people. Yeah, so right, size depends. Right? So sacred depths. We have a fair amount of people. Right? So I'm in all of the homework. There's usually journaling, or I'm asking you to follow through on what came through and befriend your fear, this, that, and the other thing.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): And then, because there's more people I'm really leaving each person to. Well, everybody's always taking full responsibility for themselves, no matter what. But I'm not. I am not necessarily checking in right. If you have a coaching partner, maybe you're Cho checking in with them, or if you're going for certification, you have sessions, etc.,
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): for smaller, because I can't personally check in every week with everybody. Right? For smaller groups
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): I may sometimes do tighten the container with some of the accountability. If people want it with that right? So there, there's an assignment. And then maybe everybody fills out either an accountability form like they would for one on one sharing. This is what I did this week. This is the new wisdom. This is what I want to do next, and I will read through those and make comments.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Sometimes it can look like at the beginning of a session, creating 10 min of space to see what came through the homework for everybody and discussing it. Kind of creating inspiration in that way for people that haven't yet been ready to do it.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): So you know, there's lots of different ways that you could do it with groups as well.
Maria Chowdhury: Thank you. Thanks. Yeah.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Victoria.
Victoria Cali: One of the things.
Victoria Cali: If I can articulate this kind of like a head throbbing thing going on. One of the things that
Victoria Cali: pop back up for me was actually what we were talking about.
Victoria Cali: the beginning of our call, which is like working with journaling in a session, and like one of the things that's bigger depth really brought back for me into my practice was
Victoria Cali: like the value and beauty of like clarifying the takeaways at the end of the session. So there's something here about like
Victoria Cali: tying together like clarifying the takeaways. And then like.
Victoria Cali: how are you gonna work with those takeaways in between now and next session, and baby journaling has something to do with that. But like something about connecting all of that. Yes, absolutely. The hope is, whatever the takeaways are, there's gonna be inner work and outer action
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): on it. Right? So the outer action we kind of looked at in our strategizing module, and this is kind of the inner work to to go along
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): with that. But I love that way of looking at it. Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Donna, saying in the chat, you had a breakthrough through this conversation. You always try to journal, but it's been intermittent. You realize your mother read your diary. I had that happen to me, too. II get it and also a partner. When you were in your thirties.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Do a be Yup, do a befriend your fear on it. I love that. Yes.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Jen, and the saying, I'm a lifelong journaler like me. And the piece you're taking away is the commitment to reread and integrate what you've explored in your writing. It's an essential aspect of your own growth and really deepening into integration. Yes, I go back, and I read old journals, and not only does it make me giggle sometimes, but it
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): it actually, it's such a celebration of the evolution, as well as an acknowledgement of the things that stay the same. But loving myself that I'm still working on it, it's a reminder of lessons to go back to. I mean, II just think there's so much
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): value in rereading
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): alright. I have one more case study. I'm gonna share it in the Facebook group later today, if you wanna speaking of homework and you wanna work on that case study and you can post in the Facebook group ideas on it as well. And I wanna encourage you to take this into your client sessions
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): and into your own practice as well.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Alright. I'm sending you all lots of love. If you need anything, you know I'm around. I'll see you soon.
Joanna Lindenbaum (she/her): Hi!