7 Questions To Ask Yourself If You’re Ready To Break Free From Your Patterns
patterns
The following journal prompts are from my upcoming book, Write Your Life. Use them any time you need to be alone with the page and work through something specific, or as prompts for your Morning Pages.
1. What stories are you getting tired of telling?
What are you constantly complaining about? Where do you notice your conversations (both in your own head and with other people) lead? Whether it’s the political climate, your failed relationship, how you feel in your body, or the number in your bank account, what stories about your life are you tired of telling?
2. what’s Frustrating You?
What’s really bothering you? What’s keeping you up at night? What’s making you so angry? Describe the situation. Get it all out. Don’t hold back. Be radically honest with yourself. List everything out. Don’t censor yourself. Then, take a breath and review your list. How many of these are your own excuses? How many of these are a matter of you setting clearer boundaries or parameters around your time?
3. WHY are you GOING THROUGH THIS?
Whatever you’re going through right now that’s causing you stress or, angst, or frustration, ask yourself why. What are you learning about yourself in this situation? What are you learning about what you need? Have you been here before? If so, is there a lesson you didn’t quite learn the first time?
4. WHY DID you WANT THIS?
This can be an incredibly confronting question, but one that no doubt shines light on why we find ourselves in certain situations. Maybe it feels familiar, or maybe it was your ‘way out’ of a situation you didn’t want to be in anymore. Often, we don’t let ourselves have what we really want, so we subconsciously create chaotic situations that don’t make sense on the surface, but when you dig deeper, the truth is always there.
5. WHAT ARE YOU ADDICTED TO?
Be honest with yourself. Get it all out. Don’t hold back. Chaos, drama, toxic relationships, overeating, overspending, self-sabotage, sex, or overindulging in substances that cloud your consciousness. Then ask yourself, what are you really looking for underneath?
6. WHAT PROGRAMS ARE YOU STILL RUNNING FROM CHILDHOOD?
Whether it’s the perpetual feeling of abandonment, the need for constant attention, living in consistent crises and disorder, anxiety, depression, sickness, debt, fear, or perfectionism, how are you still living in the same patterns as you were raised? How are these patterns affecting your life romantically, financially, and emotionally?
7. IMAGINE ALL THOSE PROGRAMS JUST GOT DELETED.
Imagine all these programs and patterns have been wiped out, and you are now a completely new creation. Who would you be? Who would you want to be? Who could you be now with nothing holding you back? Write a short paragraph.
ABOUT the author
Taiha Lee is the indie author of Waking Up and has been writing Morning Pages for 15 years. She is passionate about teaching women how to develop a personal relationship with God through daily writing and prayer and has written with women worldwide. She lives by the sea with her husband in the Pacific Northwest on Vancouver Island, British Columbia.
You can find her book Waking Up here.
