I truly believe that each of us has all the answers we need inside of us but how do we access that? If I was to sit down and try to access my “wisdom” all I’d hear would be thoughts, so I have a few tricks that help me side-step my overthinky brain and tap into the part of me that’s far wiser than the face I show the world. It starts with a piece of paper and a pen.
Without a doubt journaling is one of the fastest ways to get to know who you are on the inside. You can use paint and collage, write gratitude lists, use prompts and keep five-year diaries — and all of that is fantastic — but the method I return to again and again is the simple act of writing stuff down, stream-of-consciousness style, in a notebook. I write the date at the top of the page and then scribble down whatever is on my mind. It might end up being three pages of hormone-fuelled angst or a paragraph outlining an idea that came to me over breakfast. I don’t journal every day but I’ve made it my practice to check in with myself in my journal at least once a week, usually more. I don’t write anything particularly profound — most of my journaling reads like a messy brain dump.
However.
Getting into the habit of journaling — however that looks for you — is the doorway to accessing your inner wisdom. In that way it’s a bit like meditation: for the first few minutes after I’ve closed my eyes I’m like a dog trying to get into a comfortable position. My neck suddenly itches, my hands feel cramped. My head immediately fills with everything I must do and my monkey mind starts jumping around. But after a few minutes of letting myself settle, things quieten down and I can bring my focus to the mantra, if I have one, or I simply ‘sit back’ in my head and pay attention to the space inside me (best way I can describe it). If I’m lucky that’s the point when I start to feel more connected to the bigness of everything, but even if I don’t get there, I still feel calmer when I eventually open my eyes.
So if we translate that into journaling, first you get everything out of your head onto the page. Concerns, worries, half-baked ideas, preoccupations. He said this, she said that. The what ifs? The resolutions. Get it all out. And then keep writing. Start asking the questions and see what you come up with. Once I’ve dumped everything out of my brain I find it’s much easier to start looking at things from a different perspective. Sometimes I’ll keep my notebook by my side all day, adding more notes as they occur to me. What started as chaos in the morning might look very different by the evening.
Another journaling technique I use a lot is letter writing. You can write letters to people, places, things, feelings — anything and everything, really — but it’s especially powerful when you write a letter to yourself as yourself. Try writing a letter as your future self, one year older than you are now. Or five years older. Or as your 80-year-old self. What does she have to say? What clarity can she share about your current situation? I like to imagine that my future self knows a heck of a lot more about the world than I do, so when she writes me a letter I feel I’m accessing the part of me that’s wise and loving. Doesn’t matter that it’s the me of today who’s writing it — I’ll often read a letter back and wonder where did that come from?!
Checking in with my inner wisdom and intuition is how all my decisions and plans are made these days. We live in a noisy world filled with people telling us what to do and how to live but the fact is nobody knows YOU like you do. You are the ultimate authority on your inner and outer world but it can be hard to hear yourself think let alone listen to anything more subtle! And intuition is really beautifully subtle, so I’ve created a new course to help you not only hear your own inner wisdom but to act on it too. Think of it as your sense of knowing — just like your others senses it’s possible to strengthen your intuition through daily connecting and creative practices — and yes, journaling plays a big part in that!
Your Soul Speaks feels like the next evolution in my teaching. In all my courses I want to empower you to be able to know, trust and express yourself better. It’s time we tune in to ourselves to become fully empowered to steer our own ship. A world full of people who trusted and followed their inner guidance would be a world that changed overnight! And it starts with us.
The giveaway
To celebrate the launch of Your Soul Speaks I have six special journal packs up for grabs! Inside each pack is a gorgeous OLA journal, a copy of Project Calm magazine, a stick of palo santo and a pack of my absolute favourite incense.
There will be 12 winners in total — 6 peeps get a journal pack and a place in class PLUS! another six peeps will also get a place in class.
** If you win and you’ve already enrolled in class I will send you a refund! **
I’m happy to mail the packs anywhere in the world, so this giveaway is open to everyone.
How to play
You can enter up to five times in the following ways:
1. Leave a comment on this post sharing something that has already made you smile in 2018
2. Pinterest: Pin one of the images in this post (and include a link back to this post) then leave a comment saying you’ve pinned it
3. Instagram: Share any of the images in this post and include a link to my IG profile @SusannahConway and the hashtag #yoursoulspeakscourse (then leave a comment saying you’ve shared the pic)
4. Facebook: Share this post on Facebook (then leave a comment saying you’ve Facebooked it)
5. Twitter or anywhere else: Tweet/share this post with your peeps (then leave a comment saying you’ve tweeted/shared the post)
Comments will close on Friday February 23rd at 11:59pm GMT and I’ll contact the 12 winners on Saturday 24th (please make sure you type your email address carefully when leaving a comment) The winners have all been notifed x
Good luck and thanks for helping me spread the word about Your Soul Speaks! xo
Had dinner with a childhood friend made me smile and laugh.
Ig it! @azinkerman
something that has already made me smile this year? I just walked after dinner for the first time in over a year (I was super ill most of last year) and even though I didn’t go far and was a huffing and puffing – I still did it dang it and that made me smile big. Small steps are still steps baby!
https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/142989356903442654/
Pinned ?
Thanks for the chance.
Laurie
Shared on Instagram, my first post ever on Instagram btw, yea!
Shared on Instagram.
Something that made me smile this year? Taking a wonderful trip with a friend and being there to share a hard but special time.
1. My grandson! The other day we went through the car wash, he was squealing and laughing and describing the car wash to me – he had so much fun. I forgot how much fun it can be to just be in the moment and enjoying the simplest of things like a car wash. His laughter was contagious and grounded me in the moment.
Pinned it!
1. Having my best friend from the other side of the country visit me made me smile (and laugh and be full of joy!). We had tarot readings, bought our first ever decks of tarot cards, and decided we’d do 78 mirrors together and skype every week to discuss it. We’re excitedly waiting for registration to open to 78 Mirrors <3
Thank you for creating these soulful courses. 2018 has certainly started with a bang, I have done my very first ‘workshop’ in Jan and so thrilled about it. Thanks for the Unravelling 2018!
Grace x
Wow, these are wonderful comments. So many things have made me smile this year – falling over in the snow during my first skate ski lessons, realizing that my intuition is already just so good and feeling gratitude for that, and recently watching my 50 year-old partner get in a giant inner tube and slide down a long, snowy hill (when he saw the photo that I took at the end of the run he described himself as looking like a giant turd!)
Thanks for the opportunity to enter the giveaway.
What’s made me smile in the first weeks of the year is how we’ve already moved on from the crazy darkness of the first winter months and are fast approaching lighter spring days. It will be a couple of months before we can really say it’s spring up here in the north, but even the waist-high snow banks in my yard make me happy. February is my favourite time of the year.
Pinned, too!
The things that made me smile this year is birds, synchronicity, and some happiness bubbling inside me that I really don’t know where it comes from. Grateful for that though since I’m going through a period of big confusion and what feels like separation. Blessings, Marika
Pinned on Pinterest :)
I moved to a new area recently and every morning I get treated to a view of the most beautiful sunrise from my kitchen window. It’s a good reminder of the unexpected delights that can come from getting out of your comfort zone!
Who ever would have thought that only being allowed to use 50 litres of water per day per person could make you smile, this in turn has made the whole family come together in how to use water wisely, from washing dishes to saving shower water, with day zero looming over our heads, this has made us realise the importance of living in the moment, through this we have bonded together as a family, when you enjoy your cup of tea or coffee that has to make you smile, when you can flush your toilet, that’s a bigger smile, when you throw your grey water on your plants, and they are surviving, a colossal smile. Bringing us together as families and communities that did it for me.
On 1st Jan I saw the most beautiful sun rise in London and Bam Slam I knew this year was gonna be special <3.
Something that made me smile is that when I let go of something that is causing me pain it frees me up to let new things in. Within days of letting go of something I had 2 new clients and was more focused than I have been in the last 15 months since starting my business. Letting go and remembering good things can come from it, is something I am holding onto.
Shared on IG and FB!
Pinned on Pinterest :-)
Shared on FB
Pinned on Pinterest, too :-)
what made me smile… having a dear dear friend (and partner) visit from out of town and over dinner watching her and my husband have a great time catching up (since it’s been 8 years since they’d seen one another), while at the same time I was afforded the time to have a lovely conversation with her partner = double happiness :)
I posted on FB…
Yes definitely feeling the shift. Removing clutter I haven’t been able to shift for over six years. After my separation, loosing a friend and four family members, one was my favorite Aunt and my lovely grandmother, both were my rocks of support, I hadn’t realized how much I had been over come with grief. All that has shifted finally and it started with working on the “Unravel your year” workbook, I am ready and preparing the way for new adventures.
this has made me smile, reading that you have a new course starting – so looking forward to it.
pinned it, posted it, shared it!
Pinned! And something that has made me smile this year was a wonderful serendipitous night out to see beautiful drag queens with some dear friends. It was sold out but a ticket appeared for me, in that it-was-meant-to-be way. Last year for me was so fraught and sad, and this year so far had been poor and flat, I didn’t realise until it happened that what I needed as soul medicine was to see the exquisite beauty, intense emotion and sassy bejewelled-ness of Sasha Velour, Hungry, and a whole host of these talented queens. They reminded me that everything is possible, and that being magnificent is hard work, so I’d better work!
The unending capacity of love my friend Tony has, we can look at each other and instantly know how the other feels and we love to laugh, I see him and he makes me smile. I am lucky enough to work with him so I get to see him every day and he makes a grey day, sunny and bright.
Thanks for the writing wisdom! I always welcome new ideas for tapping into inner wisdom:) Something that’s made me smile so far this year: having a hard conversation, with an outcome I didn’t particularly like. Yet feeling the weight removed of living inside one’s repetitive story and having the courage to speak my truth out loud. Vulnerability made me quake. And then cry. And then smile, eventually, too.
Love spreading the word of your beautiful work on Insta ?
Oops, that question mark should be two hands rising xx
This year I had the biggest smile on my face when I rode my bike to my new job (which I really like!) and it was the first time in months I did not have to turn the lights on on my bike. The air was crisp and the sunrise was beautiful. Fantastic memory I will carry with me for a good while.
Reading “Women Who Run With The Wolves” (which also made me cry… but in a good way.
Pinned your class!
I’ve had a rough start to the year byt last weekend I was dog sitting this wonderful madam of a dog and at night, I wanted to let her into the garden so that she could do her business before we went to bed and she just looked at me from the couch with such a funny expression full of utter disgust at me for trying to make her go out into the dark and wet. And that made me laugh so hard.
I gave her cuddles instead :)
People make me smile, always, even when I realize I’d want something else or something more from them that they cannot give me: the simple truth that they crosse my life and that they’re breathing and that we saw each other even if only for a minute is so beautiful that I cannot stop smile. A lot of love to you, you’re a constant inspiration for me.
What made me smile??? My son’s sense of humour…
Pinned :)
Shared on instagram :)
I smile when I look outside. The winter sun is so heartwarming.
Wow, this looks an amazing course and give away. Thank you for giving us the opportunity to enter. Lots of things have made me smile this year especially jumping up and down in muddy puddles with the two-year-old boy who I look after at work On Putney Common.
Have shared on twitter and facebook xxx Many Blessings x https://twitter.com/Brassneck/status/961891277271904256
Returning to yoga has made me smile. I feel like I’m really learning how to connect to my breath and I’m returning to my body (which I’ve been ignoring because I’m trying to do all the things, some of which are important, but still I won’t get very far in my plans if my body can’t carry me along).
My word for 2018 is *light* and, after a very dark December, January and February have so far had several cold but sunny and light days. I work on the 5th floor of a building with a great view and have enjoyed so many beautiful sunsets and evening skies of pink and purple so far in 2018. Every time it makes me smile and feels like a gift from heaven.
Facebooked it!
To see my son growing healthy, developing well and happy is what makes me smile the most everyday. Now, with the beginning of the year he also wants to start feed himself and help me with enrads, I smile every time I see him being so tenacious… A true lesson for me ;)
I decided to join a dance workshop this past weekend and not only does the dancing making me happy in general, the teacher chose me to do the intro solo, which really made me grin!
So many things have made me smile. My little boy singing to himself when he thinks no one is noticing is top of the list!
I’ve tweeted this post Susannah :)
https://twitter.com/forthedistractd/status/961893432842170368
Shared on Facebook and Twitter and Pinterest. :-)
https://www.pinterest.jp/pin/62768988540919416/
https://www.facebook.com/journeyessentialswithkamsin/
https://twitter.com/kamsinwrites
My Mom gifted me with an amaryllis bulb for Christmas. Watching it grow so rapidly and bloom with beautiful scarlet flowers puts a smile on my face and in my heart everyday.
Slowly learning to quiet my frantic mind and just being able to notice the little things… like fuzzy squirrels running down a tree, the warm touch of the sun on my skin on a late afternoon, the sweet taste of apple-cinnamon tea… little moments of quiet that reminds me that everything is perfectly fine, even if the noise says otherwise. That knowing always makes me smile.
Thank you for all the soulful work you do in this world! xx
What has already made me smiling is feeling the enthusiasm and support from friends and family as we plan our wedding. I just feel so loved!
Just shared this with my Twitter folks, too. :)
my boy makes me smile on lots of occassions… but esp so when he beams from one ear to the other with happines…. :-)
i do wish we could get the magazine here, the german edition just came out once, need to get it als epaper i guess…
i did pin it, facebook shared as well as instagram (norgebarn)… and who knows maybe i am lucky!! and now i am off to signing up – whatever the outcome is… waited for this course, now its here… thanks!
Love the sound of this course Susannah! My gratitude journal is full of many smiles this year, but walks by the coast in the sunshine are probably at the top of my list.
I’ve shared your post on Instagram (in Stories – hope this is OK – I’ve added it to my highlights so it should hang around) x
And I’ve pinned it on Pinterest :) https://www.pinterest.co.uk/zoepower/
Something that made me smile is our black Labrador being able to go to the woods for a walk and to enjoy it without stopping every few minutes as she’s now had both hips replaced and is pain free. Seeing her walking and enjoying herself is a blessing.
My pets (2 dogs and a cat) are an endless source of smiles, particularly the way they use their bodies to express themselves.
Reading your blog posts and seeing your photos of the beautiful cat who wandered into your life have really made me smile this year. I just love that you found each other and how you’re discovering the secret joy of cats ? LOVE the theme of the new class and am loving The Sacred Alone!
Thanks for the reminder about writing my feelings in my journal. Today is the perfect day to really sort through my thoughts…
A big smile was mine when I opened a What’s App message on my recent birthday and found a picture of my 7 month old grandson, smiling and holding a Happy Birthday Gnema message. Recalling it has brought another (teary) smile to my face now.
It’s hard to pick out one thing as I find I’ve been smiling a lot thos year, but I’m going to go with the look of absolute joy on my great dane’s face when she gets a treat. No matter how many she gets, her response for each one is to look me in the eye and do a jiggly little dance of excitement, as if no one’s ever given her a treat before.
Smiled because I saw that there is new e-mail from Susannah Conway.
Before this smile I was writing in my journal how I’m feeling and cried a lot. The last sentence was a question – “Universe, please tell me how I will get out of all this situation and these feelings and so on..?” And then I open my mail and saw your letter. The LOVE letter from you. Then I knew – there is some love for me to. And I SMILED :)
The thing that has made me smile the most so far in 2018 is watching my dog who I adopted from the hurricanes in TX and came to me in New Hampshire, never having been in the snow before, I smile every time I see him go outside and jump and play in the snow. He absolutely loves it. The snow is deeper than he is tall, yet he does not care, he jumps the snowbankings and then is almost like a deer prancing through it, running and jumping and sliding down the icey hills. I had to put my 12 1/2 year old dog put to sleep last April, and I did not think I could ever love a dog again, but this little guy is just so sweet and so easy, and he makes me smile every day.
I tweeted this as well as posted on Facebook. My income has been cut down to under 600 a month for the next 8 to 10 months, I’m not quite sure how I am going to get by so I will not be able to afford to take this class, but I know how very beneficial this class would be for me in so very many ways. I am facing major surgery this late spring/early summer, and I know that having this practice in my life and learning from you would be such a valued help for me. I know if I win this, I will be smiling extra big for a long time.
The thing that has made me smile most this year is your sharing of your burgeoning relationship with your cat (the one that chose you). It has made me realise that it’s time to go to the rescue centre and give a home to another old moggie after losing The Meemster (Mimi) a while ago.
What made me smile most this year was watching my nephew discover the world by taking his first steps! And now he can’t stop running everywhere :)
And pinned: https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/195836283781352649/
Shared on FB
Shared on Pinterest.
What is making me smile at the moment is nature, a beautiful heron I spotted the other day, or a pheasant, also that blue, blood moon from some days ago. The going has been rather tough lately but these gifts make me smile and remind me that life is quite beautiful when we care to open our eyes.
Something that made me smile (grin in fact) – performing my very first ritual that I had written myself from beginning to end. A truly powerful experience, and one I intend to repeat at frequent intervals from now on.
Facebooked it ?
2018 – diving head first into my own blog, finally!
Posted to Facebook!
Tweeted it out!
Shared on Instagram!
Pinned on Pinterest!
Facebooked it.
Oops. Forgot my happy time. I got tickets to see Slayer and Huey Lewis and the News. My musical taste is wide. Both of those make me smile when I think about them!
One thing that has made me smile this year is this random stuff happening with my job where I get to work from home for a month. It’s nice to be home with my pups.
I pinned this post.
I Facebooked this post.
I tweeted this post.
I instagramed this post.
What a wonderful gift. Thank you for the opportunity to enter. I have often looked at your courses and wanted to join, however my budget is restrictive at the moment sadly.
Today, cuddles with my love, a fresh coffee and avocado toast has made me smile :)
I will also share your beautiful work on Instagram.
1) Something that has made me smile so far in 2018 has been taking the local bus to places. I know that doesn’t sound very exciting compared to everyone else’s entries. But since I am unable to drive due to a disability, taking the bus is how I have been getting around lately, So I feel pretty capable and independent from doing that. I have even taken to the bus to Philadelphia last weekend. That was a fun trip.
But what has made me smile is seeing how connected all of us bus riders are. I can honestly say I have never had a bad experience while riding. I have seen all kinds of people from all walks of life. And that is really amazing! Our need to get where we need to go is filled by the bus. It is what connects us. I have had some really nice, funny, and interesting conversations while riding the bus.
As an introvert, it is pretty hard for me to open up to people. But by riding the bus, I am allowing myself a space to learn and listen about others. Do I have days where I just want to sit and read my book and watch the scenery pass me by? Absolutely. But there are a lot of days where I break out of my shell for a min, and just connect with the other human beings on the same trip I am on.
Something that has made me smile this year is lately my dog comes and lies on my chest early in the morning and touches her nose to mine.
Facebooked, Instagram and Pinterest
My favorite six-year-old has made me smile. J and her parents are dear friends, and I’m sitting for J overnight so her parents can have a getaway. I don’t and will likely never have kids, but I am J’s Tia Cheryl. Tonight we kicked her parents out then made an “awesome fun secret plan” for what we’re going to do this weekend. Top on the list are eating sushi, playing in a snow fort (it’s Chicago), reading chapter 18 of James and the Giant Peach, making a heart streamer for Valentine’s, and playing a game she created called Witches and Wizards. We put the list in a secret place that we hope even the cat won’t find. ??
Little bits of wisdom and things falling into place amidst the chaos has made me smile this year <3
Pinned to Pinterest <3
Shared to Instagram! Which feeds directly to tumblr and Twitter, and sometimes Pinterest too!
Emigrating to the USA from the UK recently, I’m now able to spend lots of time with my four grandchildren who are adorable, with wonderful personalities and each with a fabulous sense of humour this makes me so happy…every day is another adventure. I’m so lucky.
so many things are making me smile this year, even though this month marks a year since my Ma passed and so there are moments of deep sadness. earlier today I was smiling because I am reading the marvellously lyrical writing of Brian Doyle in ‘Mink River’, while a small bull terrier lay draped over my foot and bees mumbled by.
now I’m smiling because it amuses me that there’s so much warmth, friendliness and connectedness here on the internet…a tool initially conceived for use in times of war by the American military. there’s a gentle irony in that.
Wow, you got me with this one! Again. ?? Instashared.
PS en route to Glastonbury for another circle session … this would most definitely not be happening if it wasn’t for you! <3 xxx
Being at the surprise wedding of our friends daughter made me smile in the first weeks of 2018.
Shared Instagram and Facebook
My daughter (who is staying with me at present) has acquired a rescue kitten and this little scrap’s sheer joy for life, curiosity and boldness not only makes me smile and laugh out loud but also reminds me that life is to be enjoyed ‘full on!’.
She is a gift.
Have also pinned to Pintrest.
Best wishes,
Claire
This course offering made me smile, because getting more in touch with my intuition is my intention for this year. It never steers me wrong, but I struggle to “hear it” in certain areas that are obviously full of blocks and fear (i.e. changing careers, and if I want to relationship). Yay for this opportunity!
By far the thing that has made me smile the most so far this year is the realisation that some magic is happening and that lots of stars are aligning to mean thay 2018 is going to be the year where I finally get to know myself and understand what makes my soul sing. Usually I am very blinkered and an extreme people pleaser but am learning with lots of help to allow myself to trust that I AM ENOUGH and that this wonderful world we live in is truly amazing ??. Just when I am ready to peel away the next layer this opportunity pops into my news feed …. thank you ?
My precious granddaughter has already made me smile many, many times in 2018 already!
Instagram , pinned and tweeted . Let’s are the love xx
It’s a little random, but I was at work helping with an office move and had to help a guy from a storage company with some boxes. For some reason I suddenly started to be a bit naughty and do things he’d asked me not to do – like taking a label off one of the boxes (which were for referencing) and then moving some things I wasn’t supposed to touch so they all wobbled and fell off. I know it sounds like this shouldn’t be funny as I was being ‘disobedient’ but later it really made me smile. I’ve been working on trying to be more ‘me’ and let my inner, naughty self out – she was much more outspoken and visible when I was a child (over 30 years ago). This is one of the first times I’ve done it in ages and it felt bloody good. I didn’t hurt anyone or break anything, and it was so freeing to just be me. Baby steps :-)
The sound of waves crashing on the beach as I am going to sleep makes me smile
Something that has made me smile is the overwhelming feeling that the universe is watching out for me. I came into this year so overwhelmingly worried about my finances, stressed that I’d have to swallow my pride and ask to move back home. Then I was given my lecturing contract with a list that included far more classes than I expected AND I’ve just been informed that one of the classes is so large it will have to be duplicated! I’ll be paid my first decent salary at the end of March, but I should be fine until then, and after then I should be in an even better financial position than last year! So in addition to the removal of my financial woes, I’m also doing so by doing what I do and love best – teaching and lecturing!