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Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.

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Speaker 1: Good Morning. This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.

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Speaker 1: Today's tip is about some useful things you might write

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Speaker 1: in a journal. Many people journal in order to process

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Speaker 1: emotions and solve problems, but certain approaches make those things

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Speaker 1: more likely to happen than others. Today's tip, like a

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Speaker 1: few others this week, comes from Tara Schuster's book By Yourself,

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Speaker 1: the Lilies and Other Rituals to Fix Your Life from

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Speaker 1: someone who's been there. As I mentioned in the other episodes,

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Speaker 1: that is not the exact name of the book, but

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Speaker 1: it's close. Tara talks about ways to become a Ninja

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Speaker 1: of self love, how to take care of yourself so

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Speaker 1: you can do great things in the world. She notes

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Speaker 1: that journaling has been helpful for her. She writes in

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Speaker 1: her journal almost every morning. It helps calm her and

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Speaker 1: helps her process what's going on. How does that work?

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Speaker 1: As she writes, a journal is not a place to

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Speaker 1: record the daily events of your life. It's not a

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Speaker 1: place to describe the sushi you had for dinner last night,

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Speaker 1: although if it's really good sushi, go ahead and do that.

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Speaker 1: It's a place where you can get in touch with

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Speaker 1: your core, with what you believe. Some of us have

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Speaker 1: very limiting beliefs, but are totally unaware that we've set

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Speaker 1: such a low bar for ourselves. Journaling is the gift

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Speaker 1: that gives us a chance to uncover what is true.

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Speaker 1: The truth is that you can heal your past traumas,

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Speaker 1: you can build the life you want for yourself. But

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Speaker 1: you're going to have to do the work. All that

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Speaker 1: sounds good but might not be helpful when you are

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Speaker 1: sitting there with a pretty notebook and a nice pen

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Speaker 1: and trying to figure out what to say. So here

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Speaker 1: are a few writing prompts that Tara suggests for getting going.

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Speaker 1: You might begin today here are ten things I like

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Speaker 1: about myself. Now, perhaps that is a tough thing to

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Speaker 1: do when you are feeling down, but it will be

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Speaker 1: a good reminder as you go about your day. Or

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Speaker 1: you might begin today, I am grateful for this very

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Speaker 1: small thing that happened yesterday. Did someone send you a

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Speaker 1: nice email? Did you see some pretty flowers at the

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Speaker 1: deli around the corner? Write it down? Or dearest journal

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Speaker 1: I have a question I have been mulling over in

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Speaker 1: my brain, and I thought you might have an answer. Really,

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Speaker 1: you are just tapping into your own wisdom. But sometimes

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Speaker 1: this framing can help. Or here is what I want

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Speaker 1: people to say about me when I'm not around. This

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Speaker 1: a useful tool for figuring out the kind of person

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Speaker 1: you are working towards becoming. Or if nothing else mattered,

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Speaker 1: not money, not other people's expectations, not kids, not jobs,

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Speaker 1: nothing my dream day would look like. Try to really

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Speaker 1: get the details here. Visualization can help you figure out

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Speaker 1: what you want in life. Or there is something I've

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Speaker 1: always wanted to deal with but I haven't for some reason.

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Speaker 1: Here goes. As Tara notes, it's amazing, but most of

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Speaker 1: the time we actually know what we most need to tackle.

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Speaker 1: We just need to commit to it. Any of these

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Speaker 1: writing prompts can make keeping a journal a very useful exercise,

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Speaker 1: so why not give one a shot. As Tara writes,

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Speaker 1: you can't control the narratives of the outside world, but

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Speaker 1: you can control the story you are telling yourself in

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Speaker 1: your journal. I suggest you make it a good one.

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Speaker 1: In the meantime, this is Laura, Thanks for listening, and

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Speaker 1: here's to making the most of our time. Hey, everybody,

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Speaker 1: I'd love to hear from you. You can send me

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Speaker 1: your tips, your questions, or anything else. Just connect with

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Speaker 1: me on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram at Before Breakfast pod.

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Speaker 1: That's b E the number four, then Breakfast p o D.

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Speaker 1: You can also shoot me an email at Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: podcast at i heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast

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Speaker 1: is spelled out with all the letters. Thanks so much,

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Speaker 1: I look forward to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is

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Speaker 1: a production of I heart Radio. For more podcasts from

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Speaker 1: my heart Radio, visit the i heart Radio app, Apple

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Speaker 1: po Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Yeah,