The Power of Journaling with GG Renee Hill

This episode, we're joined by author, creative coach and facilitator GG Renee Hill, who shares with us the power of journaling. In this conversation with GG, we explore how journaling can be incorporated into our lives and what types of benefits it brings, from self awareness to productivity to healing. This powerful practice can help us connect to our inner values, or navigate challenging situations. It can also help us develop our skills in communicating and relating to others. GG shares a variety of resources including the following:

All The Many Layers - GG's platform for writing workshops, coaching and community
The Writer's Center - hosting seminars, classes and opportunities to connect and grow your writing or journaling skills
The Artist's Way - Julia Cameron's book on healing the inner writer
Writing Down the Bones - Natalie Goldberg's book about daily writing practice including prompts
Writing As A Way of Healing - Louise DeSalvo's book on the transformative power of writing

Transcript below:

Erica D'Eramo 0:10

Hello and welcome to the Two Piers podcast. I'm your host, Erica D'Eramo and today we will be talking about the power of journaling. And to help us explore this topic, we have a guest that I'm really excited to have on the podcast. Her name is GG Renee Hill and she is an author, creative coach and facilitator who believes in the healing power of storytelling. She draws on a passion for mental health awareness and a diverse background of corporate and creative experience to create books, resources and workshops that sent her writing as a tool for self care and personal professional development. She's also the author of self care check in published in 2020, and a year of self reflection published in 2021. Two guided journals that offer writing exercises and activities to promote well being, so we definitely recommend you check those out.

GG facilitates transformative workshops that show individuals groups and organizations how to overcome creative blocks and reframe their stories. Past and Present clients include a diverse list of organizations, including the writer center, the Recording Academy, University of Maryland, Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, and BAE systems, just to name a few. And Two Piers and myself are actually other another client that has attended GG's workshops. Her essays have been featured by Shondaland and Thrive Global. GG holds a Bachelor of Science in Marketing from Morgan State University. And she lives in Maryland with her partner and her three children. So we're really excited to have her on. And thank you, GG, for joining us today.

GG Renee Hill 2:05

Thank you for having me, Erica.

Erica D'Eramo 2:07

As I mentioned, you know, in in the intro, we, or I attended one of your workshops, I think I've attended a couple of your workshops, actually, and just found them to be so helpful and supportive in my journey as a leader, as a business owner in being able to communicate, you know, my story, and what's important to me and put it down onto paper, but also to be more effective in my journaling, journaling practice, and what that looks like in my life. So I thought that this would be a good topic for us to explore for our listeners who are also on their own journeys, whether that's in leadership, or just, you know, surviving difficult work environments, difficult, difficult personal environments, or challenges. And so that was why I wanted to explore this. But I'm, I would love to hear from your perspective, like, what is it about journaling that you find to be important?

GG Renee Hill 3:11

What's most important about journaling is it shows us quite simply what we're thinking like, what is that narrative? That voice in your head, which I recently learned, not everyone has a voice in their head, which completely shocked me. That's a whole other topic. We all have thoughts, right? We all have thoughts, we all have a certain story in our head that we're living according to but we might not really be aware of it. And what journaling does, is it shows you the thoughts that are directing your actions. And to even simplify it more than that, before I was even ever aware of any of that, I simply started writing, and this is as an adult because many of us wrote or kept diaries as children. And we weren't thinking about really self discovery at the time, we were just expressing ourselves, right. But as an adult, when I really revisited journaling and saw it as a tool for self care and a way to take care of myself. I realized that while I projected a lot of optimism and positivity in the world, to other people, I was not directing toward myself very much at all. And I didn't even realize it until I started writing, what I was thinking what I was feeling and it gave me this appreciation for that act of connecting with myself in a different way other than just keeping everything in my head and I think a lot of us think that if we think through something, we understand it, right? But there is more to it. There is something magical that happens when you take take it from your head and put it down on paper. And that's why I think journaling is so important because you can't really know how helpful it might be to you until you try it and see for yourself.

Erica D'Eramo 5:13

Yeah, that really resonates for me, actually, the importance and I do have a voice in my head actually, sometimes helpful, sometimes not so helpful. And sometimes it gets translated into verbal words, if I'm like sharing or venting, but the act like you said, of kind of putting it on paper, or digitally, or just getting it from verbal into written is really transformative in, like taking me out of the picture a little bit and being able to see it. Yeah, instead of just experiencing it like in the moment in that in flux.

GG Renee Hill 5:55

Yes, it gives you the opportunity to observe yourself.

Erica D'Eramo 6:00

Yes, right. Yes, observer position. Yeah. So, um, we kind of referenced it and talked about it a little bit. But when we talk about journaling, what does that actually mean to you? We take it for granted, perhaps that we all have a shared understanding of what journaling is. But I'm guessing that that might not actually be the case. So what does journaling mean to you?

GG Renee Hill 6:25

I love that question. Because we do we all have a sort of concept in our mind, maybe some listeners will hear journal and think of their diary they had when they were eight years old. And they wrote what happened at school that day. And it's sort of a documentation of, you know, our log of your day to day life. That's true. But a journal can is can be much broader than that a journal could be a extension of your planner, right? So if I have my main journal, where it's where I put grocery lists, what I'm thinking, what I'm feeling, what projects I have going on, it's kind of a catch all. I also have journals that capture that are dedicated to specific projects that helped me stay organized to help me stay in tune with that project. So a journal in the sense that I want to convey to listeners today is a place for you to capture yourself reflections. So it doesn't have to be a day to day, every day, I'm writing down everything that happened. It could be something as simple as no date you write when you feel like it right, or you set a schedule for yourself daily, weekly, whatever. There's no rules with that. It's still a journal if you only write in it once a month. And you simply can transcribe your thoughts really, you can call it you can just write your stream of consciousness, what's on your mind. And it serves as a place to capture, like we said earlier, your thoughts, your reflections, your feelings, your inner conflicts, what's going on in your life, there's no rules in the journal. And that's think that's the beautiful thing, you could sit down when say, I have the story in my mind, of an old woman walking along the beach, and I just want to write a story about that, right, just just express yourself creatively, in a way that as adults with our busy lives, unless that's something that you do for a living, you might not be thinking, I don't have time to write a story or, you know, to write about how the sky inspired me today. But your journal is a place for you to just dump all of that expression that doesn't necessarily have anywhere else to go. But it's so important to alleviating stress and feeling like you have something for yourself something for that creative part of you, that tends to fall by the wayside, just in the midst of responsibility, and adulting and all of the things that we have to do as grownups. I believe that a journal is a place to recapture that creative expression, that inner child that just wants to be seen and heard. It's still there, we you know, it's easy to forget that it's there, but it is still there. So it can really be the start the starting point to reconnect with that part of you.

Erica D'Eramo 9:25

Yeah, we've talked about kind of journaling as an activity and keeping a journal as a noun. And the word practice kind of comes to mind when we talk about journaling. And, and it always reminds me a little bit of kind of mindfulness practice in that. It's, you might be able to do it once right, and you have a certain experience, but that as you come back to it time and time again, it feels like the experience changes and it's like the learning is in the change that you witness, that's occurring. Tell me a little bit about what we mean, then I guess with practice, I mean, I guess maybe I said some of it, but I'm curious what your thoughts are on?

GG Renee Hill 10:09

Oh, yeah, I completely agree. And I think it's beautiful the way you stated it, because that's exactly what happens is, you sit down and you say, Okay, we're gonna try this journaling thing, and you journal once, and you might feel good, because you got some things off of your mind, and you did what you said you were gonna do, right. And then the next time you sit down in the journal, it's a little bit different. And every time it's a little bit different, you're building this relationship, almost like you're starting a different type of dialogue with yourself. And it enriches your life, in ways that are hard to explain when you when you're not experiencing it for yourself, sort of like you mentioned mindfulness, which also makes me think of meditation, and how that's a similar form of self observation, and stillness and self reflection that it enhances the way you live your life, even when you're not doing that activity. Right. So it could show up in your life as the next time you have a conversation with someone, you're more articulate and more calm, or more aware of what you need to say, because you've been journaling. And you've been thinking of this out and working it out on the page, and you're more connected to your authentic self and where you stand on that issue. As opposed to having more reactive responses, right, when you're not haven't really sorted through as much. That's just one small way in which journaling starts to show up in your life as a benefit as something that is allows you to bring more of your authentic self into different situations to know yourself better. Because a lot of times our thoughts aren't the deepest reflection of who we really are. Our thoughts are like more like our ego talking.

Erica D'Eramo 12:02

You know, waves, right? Yes, yeah, you're bouncing. And yeah,

GG Renee Hill 12:09

it's the waves on the top of the ocean, it's just the waves, and it's very much influenced by the wind and other external things that are happening. But journaling, you're going deep down in that water, and you often do start at the top, you might start off with, Oh, I'm so pissed off, because you know, this and that, and it sort of starts at the top. But as you keep it going, Erica, like you said, you're able to reach deeper levels, and to feel more comfortable and more aware and more calm with those deeper, even when you get down into the dark stuff. Right, the deep dark of the ocean, you feel more comfortable. And that capacity only helps you to weather all the things at the top more easily. And just with more awareness.

Erica D'Eramo 12:57

Yeah. I mean, when we talk about the practice of it, sometimes I think about the... that like tension between this is not a chore, right? We talked about it as like an act of self care. This is not something that's a chore. And also there's something valuable in like the days you don't really feel like doing it, right? Just like meditation, it's like there's something there. On the days, if you've set an intention. Say you'll journal once a week, or you'll journal every day, or whatever that is, there is something around like, the exploration of that resistance in the moment to like, Why do I not feel like doing this today and kind of working through that, that I find valuable, as long as it's still serving you, you know that thing in there.

GG Renee Hill 13:45

I think that's true. When we as listeners are thinking about a practice. That idea of practice and resistance is really cool to look at because it mirrors so many other aspects of our lives where maybe you want to get out and exercise more but you feel resistance or other practices that you know will be good for you. And in your mind, you really want to do it. But you feel that resistance. Journaling is such a great way to cultivate that muscle that shows you that if I continue to do this in my own way, even if it's five minutes here, 10 minutes there, a few sentences, whatever parameters you can put around it to make it feel accessible to you. And just give yourself like we talked about in the workshop, that evidence that you can do it that it is helpful. And that when you take those days off, like you said, or life happens and you can't you can't do it or just you're feeling resistance that day you're feeling under the weather that day. Exploring all those dimensions, allows you to understand yourself better and to surrender a little bit more to the ebbs and flows of life and realize that a practice is exactly that. You're going to change, it's not this rigid thing. I love the word rhythm. And that it's about finding what rhythm works for you. Because journaling is to me maybe because I love to write is such has been such a powerful tool in helping me apply that same muscle and that same concept of rhythmic just sort of good easing my way into and out of it, apply that to other areas of my life that are not as that I have more resistance, right, because we need to study is that resistance, because we can just reject it. And it'll just get bigger and have more of a hold on us. If we beat ourselves. If we tell ourselves, I'm just not good at this, it just solidifies it. But if we can find an entry point, maybe something like journaling and find an entry point that allows us to practice something that it's not that much pressure around, then we can see that. Okay, this is something I can get to know I can get to know resistance, I can make friends, I can be easy with it. And I'll get better long term. I was about to say results. But I don't want to use that word. Because I don't want to focus on results. But I'll get better long term fulfillment and growth and just feeling better day to day. And I think that's what we really want from something like journaling. And we don't want to attach results to it. We don't want to attach roles and rigidness to it. We want it to be about how it enhances our fulfillment each day, and just overall in our lives.

Erica D'Eramo 16:36

That's an interesting concept to me too about, like how you come to it even on the times that even the days that it's difficult, or you're not feeling like it. And it makes me think of like, so who is this for? Who is journaling for? Is it for the people who have tons of time? You know, like, I think that there's some myths around it takes an hour out of your day every day or journaling is for writers or journaling is for people who are super introspective, which kind of parallels for me in the myths around who yoga is for or who meditation is for. The ballerinas don't really need the yoga as much as like, somebody who can't touch their toes. So okay, so with that question, who would you say journaling is?

GG Renee Hill 17:22

I think journaling is for anyone, especially, especially for those who think they can't get anything out of it. Because there are certain types of people who are going to journal in spite of themselves. Even on days when I don't journal, there's not a day that goes by that I don't write something down to remember, like a thought or something that strikes me, I have if you're a journaler, or someone who just is very attached to. If words are how you see your way through the world, then you're writing something down every day in spite of yourself. Right?

Erica D'Eramo 17:56

Yeah,

GG Renee Hill 17:56

I think journaling is especially for people who don't see themselves that way. Who think, Oh, I'd rather talk or that's, that's powerful as well. However, even taking the the idea of journaling and making it work for you, let's say that you really want to focus on gratitude in your life. Right, I think that's a really accessible point for everyone, because everybody needs more gratitude. Everyone, I think needs some type of gratitude practice in order for their well being and just to have a positive outlook. And journaling is such a great way even if you scribble down once a day, every every other day, once a week when you can what you're grateful for, that's journaling. And that is something that can have a very powerful impact on your state of mind day to day, how do you show up at work, how you show up in your relationships, when you are just taking a moment every now and then to write down what you're grateful for. And it can lead to other things. I think that the reason that people sometimes think journaling for them is because it can become a place of judgment. They're like, Well, I'm worried about my spelling, and I'm worried about how this sounds or I'm worried about it, that's when you have to like really in when I'm talking to people in like poetry journal is just for you. Like a lot of times in my journal, I don't even use punctuation or, or any of those rules because I'm it's really just for me to get those thoughts out. You have to let all of those rules go, and just really just write from your heart. And that is a powerful practice for anybody to really give a voice to what's truly going on inside to have a place where you can be unfiltered. How many of us have that a place where you can truly truly be unfiltered. So in that regard, it's for everyone.

Erica D'Eramo 19:56

That's so interesting to to conceptualize like that editor that steps in as we're journaling, right. And it's that is such a difficult habit or practice or like behavior to release, and like, step away from the self judgment as we're writing stuff. And yeah, I like for me, one of the things that helps with that is, if I'm in that space, like writing on a piece of paper and committing to myself that no matter what I write down, this is going in the trash, or it's gonna get burned or whatever. So that like, I've already set that intention at the beginning, because I know how tempted I am to like, read it again. and evaluate it. Yeah. Other like what other tech for the people who are, you know, high overachievers, like very, you know, straight A student? How, like, what are some tactics that you found that are useful for us.

GG Renee Hill 20:58

So those kind of the simplest tactics that I've found that are very helpful for me, there's, there's three of them, they're just little prompts. Like, if you have a blank page, or you have a blank screen, and you just want to get started, a great place three great prompts to start our I feel, I feel simply, I feel like I don't want to be here, like I'd rather be doing anything but this, I feel an itch on my foot, just like what get bring yourself into the present moment and just write what you feel. In addition to that, and the extension of that is really all of your five senses, I see, I hear, right. So getting into the moment, and just being a fly on the wall, right of your environment, or of your inner self like so I feel as sort of being that fly on the wall of your inner self. And your other senses can bring in your external environment and just to start writing there, and it will feel uncomfortable a little bit at first. But the idea is to remember that discomfort is good when it comes to this, right that this is something different, and new and outside of your comfort zone. So instead of discomfort being something that you run away from normally we're like, I feel uncomfortable, I'm doing this wrong. So I think that where, hopefully listeners will will get permission from this conversation. Discomfort is a yes, think about other areas of your life where you were uncomfortable at first in a new job or in a new situation, learning a new software, and you knew that it was uncomfortable, but that you had to get through that discomfort to get to where it could add value, right. And before I forget the other prompt that can get you started other than I see I feel I hear and those things is I remember and see what comes from that. I reached another level in my journaling. When I started going into the past that was a place that I would avoid, that I didn't want to revisit for a long time. And I was very much in the present. But eventually the present does start to connect you to "Well, where did these reactions and feelings and these mental habits that I have come from?", and you start thinking into the past and to those influences and those experiences. So a prompt like I remember and just letting it flow, whatever comes and having no expectation. It doesn't have to be this fully formed thing. It could be messy and disjointed. And it's cathartic. And it's allowing yourself to when you do have that type of personality that's like I want things done a certain way. I'm used to things, you know, having a checklist of rules or ways that it's supposed to be, it's acknowledging that there's value in this other part of you, that is free, and that this is a way to cultivate that. Right? So it's knowing that you're doing this for a reason to give that other side of you a voice. And it's really a beautiful thing.

Erica D'Eramo 24:07

Yeah, as I hear you talking through that, like the word that keeps coming up for me, which this is one of my like, favorite words, but it's curiosity, like just maintaining that like curiosity about what, what the connections are? What will come on the page, like what will show up? What am I feeling? What, you know, what is this tied to? What is that resistance that I'm sensing or, you know, like, what is it that I can talk about? So, yeah, just a lot of the curiosity versus the critical and that critic keeps us safe. Right. But in journaling, it's not. It's not really helpful.

GG Renee Hill 24:46

Yeah. Yeah. You know, what's cool about journaling is journaling can help you get to know your inner critic on a different level. And what I found after so many years of journaling is that even on my worst day, even when I come to the journal ready to vent and rip someone, a new one, or whatever I came for, and I'm upset or sad, or whatever it is, what happens is ultimately, it might not be always in that same session. But I allow the inner critic to have its say there, and it's okay, I just let it say what it needs to say, get whatever it needs to get off of its chest. But what happens is, it also evokes this inner coach that after all of those things have come out another voice, a soothing voice, a an accepting and nurturing voice, that motherly voice, right starts to come out. And it was always there. But I needed to acknowledge the mother, you we just like we always talk about if you go to therapy, if you're reading about wellness, and how to take care of yourself, and you know that you don't want to suppress your fears and your sadness and your disappointments in any negative emotion, you want to feel it, you just don't want to stay with it too long. So you can apply that to journaling by saying, I'm going to let all of the bad feelings come out. And then I'm going to let another voice reveal itself and be curious about well, what else is there beyond the bad feelings? There's another voice that's quieter that's asking, Well, what can you learn from this? Or what else could be true and open asking these open ended questions? And like you said that it just happened that curiosity to say, if I allow myself to just get to know my inner critic, maybe there's something beyond that, that yeah, can really give me a reason to do go through this process that initially, I feel some resistance around.

Erica D'Eramo 26:56

Yeah, yeah. So we kind of maybe debunked the myth that, you know, journaling is for writers or people who are already super self aware, what are some other misconceptions or myths that you find people, you know, holding on to around journaling?

GG Renee Hill 27:17

Well, we talked a little bit about like, you know, timing like that you have to have time to journal or that you have to dedicate change your whole life around to do it. That's a big one. I'm big on letting people know that it can look, however it needs to look for you. Journaling could be writing on your phone, while you're waiting for your kid to finish their basketball practice. It could just be writing a few notes in an app on your phone, it can look however you want it to look, it could be maybe narrative writing sentences is not so much for you. It could be making lists, right? It could just be writing down 15 ideas per day, right? It could be whatever form it takes for you. That's still journaling. I think another thing that people often associate with journaling is this idea that you have to be a deep thinker. And or an introvert, right? Like you, I think you said it earlier, you said you have to be this introspective person. And for anyone who is an extrovert or prefers conversation, I would say journaling is a way to organize your thoughts and to look for patterns that you can't necessarily, maybe I feel this way, because I don't have the best memory. Because I've done talks or had conversations that I felt like, oh, I said, a lot of things I'd like to remember, but I'm not going to remember those things. But if I have a journaling practice, I'm looking for patterns or I'm noticing surprising things that I say that I'm like, Oh, I can use this, you know, in work, or I can this is you know, in in some other aspect of my life and you're able to capture it and you have it written down. That flexibility can also be used for someone like that in the sense that you can sometimes journal maybe even by transcription, by recording yourself. Right? And and really stretch your mind to think about what journaling can be for you because it doesn't have to be something that you feel restricted by if you have a lot of thoughts and you struggle and like I've known so many people who have said they want to write a book, but just sitting down and getting it down on paper. I'm like well start recording yourself. You have these ideas. You have the stories you want to tell record them I think it was Brene Brown who said she wrote one of her books that way that she just needed to talk it out. So she talked it out and she recorded it and then went back with him and wrote and wrote the book. So just this This idea that it can be anything, it take any form, take any amount of time that you can carve out for it. But that the idea is to develop a deeper relationship with your, your inner message, your inner story that you are living anyway. And if you specially if you have the desire to, which I hope most of us do to be intentional, and to write to really live a life that is aligned with an inner guidance, that we feel a purpose that we want to live out, this is a tool that can help you do that, and putting too many rules around and I think just keeps so many people from from accessing it. And from tapping into

Erica D'Eramo 30:50

Yeah, yeah, accessibility was the thing that keeps like, you know, flashing in my brain. And nowadays, as we know that, you know, from advocacy and inside the disability community from like neuro, the increasing awareness around neuro divergence there, it doesn't need to be, it doesn't need to be typed, it doesn't need to be like handwritten. I love the idea of sort of, you know, voice memos, or now there's so many voice to text options, there's transcription, there's lots of different ways to take whatever is happening in your head, and then capture it however you want.

GG Renee Hill 31:34

Yeah,

Erica D'Eramo 31:34

I love that. I love that.

GG Renee Hill 31:35

Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Erica D'Eramo 31:39

We we touched on some of the benefits and the importance of it. I'm curious from, you know, from both a personal and maybe professional perspective, what do you see as sort of the key? The key benefits not, not outcomes, right, that we're talking about, but maybe just how it how it shows up in our lives?

GG Renee Hill 32:00

Oh, yeah, the number one thing that comes to mind is it alleviates stress, immediately, if I have a lot on my mind, and I just grab a journal or a piece of paper, and just brain dump, what's on my mind, I feel calmer, it eases that overwhelm. It eases that feeling of I just want to go hide under the covers and not come out. I just feel completely just stressed and overwhelmed with everything going on. That brain dump is huge to allow that. In your day to day life. And that's scientifically like proven that writing alleviate stress. So let's just make sure for anyone who is very much like a lot of people are like, well, what's the science behind it is this just something that people say is going to know as actual science that writing will alleviate stress, which we all need, in addition to the, in addition to alleviating stress. Some other benefits to writing are you're able to show up in conversations and in situations decisions more intentionally, you become more connected to what your values are and how you really feel and what you truly think. So that in the moment that you have to make a decision or you have to have a difficult conversation, that there's so much work that's already been done. So you can show up more fully expressed in that moment and not be as easily swayed into what someone else is pulling you into. Or a decision that doesn't quite align. But you haven't done the inner work yet. But you feel pressured in the moment, you're doing a lot of this you're getting out ahead of a lot of situations by knowing how you deeply feel. And that's, that's one of the big impacts for me is that it allowed me to really figure out what my values are and my "Whys" so that when decisions came, it was easier because emotional decision making impacts so many of us in different ways. You know, if you're a people pleaser, which I have been, I'm a recovering people pleaser. It has helped me so much with that. Because I know that even though a boundary that I set might feel awful in the moment I've had to set boundaries or say no, or say yes to things that didn't feel good. And in the past, I would have taken that discomfort or that bad feeling as I did the wrong thing. This is somehow this is not right. This doesn't feel right. But because I journal and do that self awareness work, I know that even though it's uncomfortable, it's the right thing for me, it's the authentic thing for me. So it takes a lot of the stress out of those decisions in those moments, right. Another thing professionally, is it just helps you stay organized as In my work as a creative entrepreneur, I have multiple projects going on all the time at any given time. And if I didn't journal, if I didn't keep, I keep logs of where I left off on a project, like I have a master to do list. But then I also have my log of it's a process journal, which Erica knows about, because we talked about that in our, in our workshop. I keep process journals for each of my projects. So when I come back to it after a couple of days, I don't have to say, oh, where was I? What's going on? I don't remember, you know, I know exactly where I left off. And I know how I was feeling. And that's really helpful. I include that not only what I was doing, but how I was feeling. Did, was it a the last time I worked on it Was I feeling frustrated, was I in the flow was I struggling with a certain distraction or obstacle? That is extremely helpful in just creating a certain amount of ease to go back and forth between different projects and stay organized and feel in tune with everything. So it expands your capacity, right? So we have many of us are goal oriented, high achievers, we have so many things we want to do. But we put so much pressure on our thinking mind to manage it all. By journaling and having it implementing this as a practice in your life not just for how you feel, but in how you do, how you show up in your actions and how you perform. It's an excellent tool for that and allowing you to take on more, without putting more pressure on yourself. It's giving yourself you're more scalable, you have more capacity, when you're keeping track of things in this way. So that's like productivity, it's worth talking about, oh, and then creative ideas. Another thing professionally, is that right is journaling, to brainstorm and to mind map and to take these ideas that pop into our head randomly throughout the day, or when we're working with in a you know, in your job, or whatever your creative ideas are centered around. bring that into your journaling practice and let it be a place where you can water those seeds and, you know, have a session where you just sit and say I've really been thinking a lot about this theme of I don't know, home, right? So you write the word home in the middle of the page, and you just kind of like free associate and see what comes from that. Why is this theme showing up in my life. So it can help you just really water the seeds that are inside of you that without any attention, they will kind of fade to the background and languish, right. But if you give them some attention, it's really amazing and life changing, to see how they can grow with that attention. So those are just a few. Those are just a few benefits and different ways that you can apply journaling to different aspects of your life. Yeah, oh, I have another one. Oh, I just thought of another one. Yeah. Anything that you're struggling with. So two things I'll share personally, in the past I have struggled with I've been in this like financial healing process for years now. And journaling has helped me so much with that, to reframe my relationship with money to get my finances in order. And like really, I write and journal, like, document log everything financially now and make it sort of like a project for myself. And I do the same thing with cooking, I just struggle with, you know, I just resist cooking and save it. I just just I just can't wrap my mind around how it works. But now, I am not going to say I journal before I cook but I do take notes. If I'm going to cook something new. I look at a few different recipes, I take some notes. It can be whatever that looks like for you. Maybe it's your mental health journey. And you want to document that and you want to just really pay some loving attention to that anything you want to pay loving attention to in your life. Even if you just want to get really specific. It can help you make that process feel more. Like it's a part like your journal is a partner with you. Like you're not doing it alone. I've got my journal. I know what you know, I know what I'm doing. I'm on track. And it can really be such an amazing tool for anything in your life that you're trying to change any story that you're trying to change or an area of your life that you're just trying to get hold of.

Erica D'Eramo 39:50

Yeah, yeah, I write because it like evokes that, like observer state a little bit that you can see change as it's happening and kind of an, there's something around. When we talk about, like the efficiency or productivity, there's something around like just channeling some of the noise out of our heads and onto the page. So we can, like, let it go. So we can stop the, you know, the churn or the repetitive to do list or like, don't forget, or you want to capture that, or whatever we're dwelling on, it's almost like, I sort of picture like closing tabs on a browser, you know, like, let me just, like, close this out and capture it, get it on the page, and then I can mentally sort of release it, I can always come back to it, I can always reflect on it. But it's not like holding space for it anymore in the like active memory piece, which for me with ADHD is so hugely valuable, like, it's been a big tool for me and in sort of managing by ADHD. But going back to your comment about some of the data around stress, they there's a ton of data that we explored when we looked at resilience, around dealing with trauma and journaling in that regard. And that information is well documented. And it's like, literally just freeform writing. And they recommend doing it like four times a week, and just doing it for like 25 minutes and just writing and there's no intention, you never have to look back at it, you don't have to write about any certain thing, but that has shown to result in more like resilient, healthful outcomes. So I want to, like give a big boost to that. And then also you mentioned authenticity. And that's another area where we do a lot of work. You know, we had a workshop on like resilience, we had a workshop on authentic leadership. And I love what you talk about with even knowing self, you know, like identifying who you even are and exploring it on the page. So that when we are in those moments where maybe our values are challenged, or you know, it comes kind of up against our, our identity or sense of self, then we've sort of done some of that work. So we can be more responsive in the moment versus, you know, reactive, like on the fly, because we've already sort of laid that groundwork you've already visited, you know, visited this on the page. So yeah, I love that.

GG Renee Hill 42:30

Yeah, yeah. And I love what you just said to about a clearing space in your mind. I just, I had to just piggyback on that, because that calmness, and that clarity, allows new ideas to come up. Right.

Erica D'Eramo 42:49

Yes.

GG Renee Hill 42:50

Allows for, for things you couldn't hear they were always there, but you couldn't hear before you can access them before because that noise was there. So that is one of those things that I just tell people like you have to try it and see. Because I didn't know and I can tell and it's almost like a way my body speaks to me now when I can tell when my mind is really busy. That that's almost like a communication to say, okay, Gigi, you either need to journal or you need to go meditate, take a walk something that quiets your mind, because I'm not used to that state anymore. That's not my default anymore, right? That's not my normal. So when it's there, I'm like, Whoa, like, I need to, I need to bring it down.

Erica D'Eramo 43:38

How fascinating because I'll bet there are so many people, I mean, myself included in this group that don't even necessarily notice the churn and the like the constant narrative until it sort of gets out of control, perhaps and then we're like, okay, I need a corrective action here. But developing that awareness of this is happening like it tie again ties back to like the creativity, the being able to like not take it so seriously all of this stuff, kind of, I see so many themes with not just like mindfulness meditation practice, but also you know, yoga, and my yoga practice and just being able to like laugh or be curious about things not be so like goal oriented. So for any of our Yogi's listening, like maybe you can use that as a parallel. Yeah, yeah. So what you know, for people who are maybe intrigued and want to try this out, what are some resources that are available to folks as they get curious about this journey?

Unknown Speaker 44:43

There are a few different resources I love to share. You mentioned when you read my bio, the two journals that I wrote in 2020 and 2021. And I recommend them not just because I wrote them, but because they're like guided journals. So Sometimes it helps to start with something like that where you're prompted, and you're asked questions that allow you to just respond and not feel the pressure to start the whole thing off. And that can be really helpful to beginners. Or even if you're not a beginner, and that's just your preference, you could find it that makes it easier for you. And then you can, what I always say, though, is, don't feel restricted by the prompt, let the prompt be a starter for you let it be an entry point or a trigger, and then run with it. And if it takes you in a completely different direction, allow that. And I think that talking to people, I realize that sometimes people are hesitant with prompts because they feel like oh, I have to stick to them. Like "No!" when you're really here just to, you know, tap into your inner world in that way, take any entry point you can get and just allow what comes out to come out. So that's just that disclaimer when you're doing guided journals. Also two of my favorite resources that I just latched on to early in my journey in my writing journey, were The Artists Way by Julia Cameron, which has a lot of explanation about just getting back into your identity. As an artist, we're all artists of life, we're designing our lives. So there's this identity that we leave in childhood, that Julia Cameron's work just really taps into in such a powerful way. I mean, across the board, there's not many creatives that you would talk to who don't know what that book is. So I would, if you're not familiar, or you just don't have that background, run and grab it right away. And there's also prompts, there's also questions that will help you get back to that inner creative identities as she calls it, the your inner artist, get back to your inner artist and how you approach life. Another one like that, for me, which is less explanation, and more like just probably 100, or so mini exercises, is Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. And again, it's just these little, it's the way I think of Writing Down the Bones is these little moments with a coach where she just kind of sits you down each day with a little lesson, and gives you a little exercise to do to again, awaken that inner artist, that inner writer, that inner expressive inside of you, and get you out of that comfort zone of, you know, writing emails and writing texts and writing for work. And you know, all of the formal things we do with writing. Another one that really opened the door to personal storytelling for me was Writing As A Way of Healing by Louise DeSalvo. And she talks about memoir writing. And when I say memoir, I don't mean you have to be this, you know, want to be a published author, I just mean your personal stories, the value of telling yourself those stories, and what can come from that in terms of healing and personal growth and development. And all of that really blew my mind at the time that I read it because it awakened in me, the work that I do now, right, it was really the book that kind of awakened that in me. And she also gives a lot of perspective on the creative process, which is so helpful, both personally and professionally in just understanding how our ideas take form, and how our stories can be shaped and molded in our lives. Or life experiences are really like our creative material to work with. And our stories are defining our lives whether we realize it or not. So we might as well be intentional about how you know the stories we're telling ourselves in the world. And she really does a beautiful job of positioning journaling as a as a way to do that. And another resource, I would say, is community, and whatever that might look like for you. Sometimes you start a journaling practice or intention to. We've made a lot of parallels with yoga here. So it can be that comparison of some people feel like I have a hard time keeping up with my yoga practice at home, in my living room with the video. But when I go to class, I feel the energy of the people around me and I feel like community and I feel like I get a lot more out of it. Writing can be the same way some of us feel isolated after a while with journaling and writing or we just feel alone or you do start to feel excited but you feel like I don't have anyone to talk to you about what I'm discovering here with this journaling or personal storytelling or whatever it is. And I found that my writing practice really bloomed when I started embracing community more. And for me that looked like blogging and even just getting out in my community where I live and taking some writing classes. Again, this does not have to mean, you're taking classes to become a published author, it could just simply be a writing class, it could be a journaling class, you know, where you're just with like minded people, and you're like, there's a collective wisdom there. And there's a collective, just feeling of intention there. That is nourishing to what you're trying to do. So I would say another way to, to really water your journaling practices to find some access to community, even if it's one other person that you can just talk to about it, you know, it really goes a long way to just add momentum and to, to what you're trying to do, especially when it's something new, right, and you are something that you've dropped the ball on before, and you feel like oh, I always quit, maybe a little accountability, a little partnership, or community can help with that.

Erica D'Eramo 51:03

They mentioned that in The Artists Way too, like sometimes pairing up with somebody can be really, really helpful. And just Yeah, yeah, I think I, you know, working from home and being kind of in a more remote area I found there's like an online platform called Focusmate that I think I shared in our workshops, that has helped me to just show up, and I'm sure there's kind of groups on there that are specific to journaling. But it just is sort of like sitting across the camera from somebody, as you say, like for the next 25 minutes, I'm just gonna write and they encourage you, and then that's it, you don't have to talk, if you don't want, you know, and then joining your workshops, also, like through The Writer's Center, through your platform, that was another outlet for me to find community. And, you know, that was more about like sharing to the extent we wanted to but engaging about it and sharing in the process. So So I want to mention that too. And speaking of the, the, you know, the platforms that you show up on what, what else should folks check out that you've, you've kind of got in the pipeline or have available that people can

GG Renee Hill 52:20

Well, I do every month I do so I have www.allthemanylayers.com is my website where I share any workshops that I have coming up. And also I publish creative coaching articles, they're just creative inspiration for anyone who just wants to embrace a creative lifestyle, meaning the you are showing up as your authentic, fully expressed self. There's no rules around what a creative lifestyle looks like. And that's the message that I'm trying to get to people through my work. And the from there, to engage further folks can sign up for my newsletter, where they have access to my monthly workshop, I put out a monthly list of prompts every month. And the idea is that Thank you. The idea is that here are some prompts just to get you started to maybe evoke an idea or a scene or something from your memory or your consciousness, that can be a writing trigger for you. And so on the first Friday of each month, we get together, and anyone who's a member of my newsletter can come and we write together a tying into what we talked about within community and we share stories. Sometimes we cry, we laugh, and it's just a really a place to feel that. That connection where we kind of leave our egos at the door. And that's cleansing and nourishing because we operate in a lot of very ego heavy spaces in the rest of our our lives. So to have that place where it's just like free open expression is really helpful. So I offer that once a month. And then for more immersive experiences, I have a monthly subscription, where we do a month these are this monthly subscription is new. And I created it for people who are really dedicated to doing story work. And what I mean by that is working on either their personal storytelling projects, whether it's a book or a blog, or whatever project they have, or just their personal self discovery work, which is an ongoing supplement to whatever your wellbeing practice is. It's this idea that by being the narrator of my own life, even if I don't publish anything, don't share it with anyone. I'm going to be living a more fulfilling life a more rewarding life and just like a more purposeful life and creative expression is such an integral part of that. And we really highlight that and I provide resources To make it easy to access that part of you, because some of us need a little help getting back, getting back to it, as we've talked about in our podcast today. And then I also do one off workshops that can range anywhere from, you know, getting over impostor syndrome, finding strength as a highly sensitive person, what that looks like, and accessing all of these things through writing through writing exercises through storytelling. So yeah, there's a whole suite of offerings there. And the idea, again, is to awaken people to their own creative voice that just often gets lost along the way in, in our desire to achieve goals and leave our mark on the world. Sometimes we leave the most, you know, pure part of ourselves behind and all of that. And those goals don't feel as fulfilling when they're not connected to our values.

Erica D'Eramo 55:59

Yeah, that really kind of brings me full circle to why this I think topic was so important for me to highlight as part of kind of Two Piers and our mission around really supporting individuals, we talk about the trailblazers and the changemakers a lot, but like individuals who might be the only in whatever space they're operating in, right, they might not have people that they relate to, or they look like or have similar lived experiences to them, and providing those resources to them. And I think that so often in those environments, we really can lose touch with who, who showed up in the first place, like who we are, when we walked in that door, because there's so much pressure to conform, there's so much pressure to like, just get through and survive and not ruffle too many feathers, but also stay true to yourself and authentic. And somewhere along the line, it'd be very easy to like, forget who we even are, like, what our values are, who is the authentic self underneath that and, and, and there might not be people to connect to in those places that you can be vulnerable with. And so I think that's maybe why, for me, this practice of journaling kind of really touches on so many of those elements of like, you know, know thyself, but also the self care having an outlet to share all these thoughts that might be going through your head, how to be more effective and intentional, when you do have those openings to bring your full self, you know, like that, to me is how it ties to our mission. And sometimes it's, it's like an indirect thing. And people are like, your podcast is really all over the place. And you're talking about kind of systemic racism, and then you're talking about like yoga or journaling. So how does it tie together? This is how it ties together. This is where I just think it touches on so much of that ensure journaling can be like, really valuable for everyone. And also, perhaps even more so for those people who are showing up that are either underrepresented or marginalized, marginalized communities who don't have the support and the network. And I love that you mentioned community because, yeah, we I mean, that even lifts it to a higher level.

GG Renee Hill 58:29

Yes, yes, absolutely. I love that too. Because what that one thing that you're going to get out of journaling, for sure has a stronger sense of your identity, and a stronger sense of what you really want, like what you'll see what's on your mind. Most often, that tells you so much about yourself, and it tells you in a different way than just thinking about it. And you have to really, you know, understand from the doing, it's one of those things you have to experience and try for yourself to see it will take the thoughts in your head and turn them into like guideposts, almost right, like the guidance system. And it's like, oh, it just makes it helps them make more sense.

Erica D'Eramo 59:17

It's almost like a little bit of a mitigation for all those extrinsic motivators were faced with all the time, like yes, informants evaluations and the feedback and getting that next promotion or whatever it is. I mean, for those of us self employed now or, or owning companies, you know, whatever those metrics are that society puts on us like it's a bit of a mitigation for some of that.

GG Renee Hill 59:41

Yeah. And I had I did my first in person workshop in the fall. And one of the things that stuck with me that one of the women said to me was, I had she said, I haven't been this honest with myself in a long time. And that stuck with me, right? I was like, yes, that is is when you asked me Erica, like the benefits, I was like, thinking in the moment, but that one just came to me like, a place to be just 100% honest with yourself like that's a muscle that many of us have a lot allowed to go lax our self honesty muscles can get really weak because like you said, all of those external voices, that boom, boom, boom of should and me too, and by this time and blah, blah, blah, can drown out that self honesty, where inside you might not really care about any of that. But yet you're stressing yourself out to meet these expectations. So that's definitely one that we all need that somewhere where we can just practice and cultivate and strengthen our ability to be honest with ourselves.

Erica D'Eramo 1:00:54

Yeah, I mean, so I know, in your workshops, you talk about self care, while you're doing some of this work. And that kind of brought to mind for me, sometimes, and you mentioned it, we just, we kind of go deep, we maybe we don't expect it. Maybe that day, you didn't know you're, you're going to journal about your sandwich. And next thing, you know, you're remembering stuff from a long time ago, that perhaps you weren't really ready to revisit. So I mean, what what do people need in their toolkit that maybe they, I don't know? Like? I? What are your thoughts on that?

GG Renee Hill 1:01:32

I think I missed the question. You said, What how do you deal with when something unexpectedly like heavy comes up? Is that...

Erica D'Eramo 1:01:38

Yeah, perhaps or like, what? Maybe what? What should people you know, have at the ready? Or are there is there anything because I think we sort of think, Oh, we're gonna go wade in the shallow end of the pool. But before we know it, like, oh, shoot, we're in the deep end. Yeah, some servers that you recommend.

GG Renee Hill 1:01:57

Yeah, that does happen sometimes. And what I would say the first part of that is to be gentle to be easy with that, too. If you feel I do a self check. If you feel that you have touched on something that you are ready to explore, then I would say move forward gently with caution with love and compassion, like, like you're holding fragile china in your hand, as you're doing it. And if you do decide to move forward, consider doing it. Depending on the gravity of it, consider doing it with therapy as a partner in that if you have if you're already in therapy, let your therapist know, hey, in my journaling, I've kind of started touching on this area, so that they can support you, maybe it's not your therapist, maybe it's someone else in your life. If it's a trusted person, now be very careful about who you share these things with, of course, if it's a trusted person that you can share, hey, I'm working through some stuff, I just want you to know, whatever you feel like sharing with them, build up the support around yourself, if you decide to go forward. The other side of that same thing, some things you might want a parking lot for now, you might discover, you come up against a room that that door has been locked and all of a sudden the door opens. Are you ready for the door to be open? If you feel overwhelmed by it, maybe just parking lot it for a minute and do some work around even before you go in the room, maybe do some journaling about okay, there's a door that's open now, and I'm looking at the door but I'm not walking through it yet. I don't know if I'm ready to write about this. It's really just a matter of being self aware and being gentle. And knowing that it's really no expectation that just because you discovered this thing that you have to immediately solve it. One of the things that we talk about often is if you do decide, or you do have a tough writing session, you are exploring some heavy things to sandwich that with love and self care, right. So go into the session with your hot cup of tea or your incense burning or whatever comforting things you can go out of the session with maybe something cozy waiting for you are a binge Netflix shows you want to watch or a walk whatever self care practice soothes you have something ready to go and just be mindful of the fact that you're doing very sacred, but potentially heavy work. And don't be afraid that, I think my thing with heavy things is that I tend to take on this witness consciousness. Like when I'm ready to go there and write about something difficult or have a difficult writing session or heavy writing session. I say I'm going to separate myself a little bit because I am observing this in myself. So I tried to find a way to just simply write what I'm observing about what my memories are, what those feelings are, and to not necessarily become one with it again, if that makes any sense, I tried to separate myself so that I have a certain distance, and write about it from that distance. And depending on where you are in your writing journey that might click for you. And it might feel like oh, I don't know exactly how to do that. But you can just feel it out. And remember that writing is, in itself a way to create distance from, from what you're expressing. So it's not going to jump off the page link page and get you it's, it's simply a way for you to release it. So if you can remember that, and think of it that way. Like you're releasing it, it can feel less like it's going to suck you in or or pull you down.

Erica D'Eramo 1:05:46

Right? Yeah, it's not like it becomes more, sometimes I think that it feels like it becomes more real, once we put it on the page and like has to be acknowledged at that point. And I don't know, maybe that's where some of the scariness comes from. But I, but we know reflectively like, that's, that's not necessarily the case.

GG Renee Hill 1:06:05

Yeah.

Erica D'Eramo 1:06:06

You mentioned getting the perspective, I think one of the things that you that you offered up in our workshops that was so powerful for me, it was like writing a letter to myself, or, you know, changing the point of view of the narrator and perhaps narrating things. So that was really helpful,

GG Renee Hill 1:06:24

Yeah, that can be really helpful to give you some distance as well. Absolutely. There's so many little techniques and ways to approach it that that's goes back to what you said, I feel like everyone can find a way to connect with it, because you can make it work for you. Letter writing is so powerful and so helpful to access just really surprising things that are in your mind. And in your consciousness that you're not even aware of that are there. I recently had a workshop participant, she had a recent loss. And she said she was looking for a way to use writing to heal. And she said, Well, I, I had to write the eulogy. And I, I couldn't think of the word. So I just thought of what that person would say. And I said, Well, there you go. There's your writing practice, right like that way you channel that person's voice that loved one's voice for the eulogy, perhaps that's a way that you could use that dynamic to write your way through this grief and to write to them and maybe channeled their voice writing back to you. Like, just open your mind to different ways you can use it to for whatever situation you have going on in your life.

Erica D'Eramo 1:07:37

Yeah, yeah, I think those are great tools. And I second the mention of kind of teeing up your therapist, if you are doing therapy, then definitely give them a heads up.

GG Renee Hill 1:07:49

Yeah. Yes,

Erica D'Eramo 1:07:52

My therapist would agree. Well, I really appreciate all of these insights. Are there any like final thoughts you would like our our listeners to kind of take away from today,

GG Renee Hill 1:08:08

I hope you take away from today that journaling is probably the cheapest, one of the cheapest and most consistent and most beneficial self care practices that you can develop for yourself. And if you came into this thinking, I've always had this like inkling that I kind of, or this desire, part of me says one day, I'm going to start journaling. I hope that this is like a catalyst for you to give yourself permission to just start in some small way, even if it's just, you know, planning out setting aside time to take away from time you would normally spend maybe scrolling, watching the news or something that adds to the noise in your head, right? Take away from that time a little bit, maybe even just 5-10 minutes. And instead, do this. Journal to take away from the noise in your head and just start with some little entry point like that. And give yourself that permission to just let it be what it is and see what happens. I really hope that somebody listening will take action based on something that they heard today.

Erica D'Eramo 1:09:27

Yeah, absolutely. We will be including in the show notes, you know, links to GG's resources, All The Many Layers, we'll include a link to The Writer's Center. Everything that we kind of mentioned today. And also, if you're coming across this via social media, we'll be tagging you in our in our posts about this as well. So and you can find us you can find Two Piers on our on all the posts platforms that you would typically look to so Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram. And hopefully you enjoyed this episode with GG, we really appreciate you coming on. I've been really excited about doing this episode for a while now. And yeah, thanks for sharing all these insights with our listeners.

GG Renee Hill 1:10:21

Well, thank you for having me. It was a joy. I could talk about this stuff all day. And I truly enjoy talking with you, Erica, and your insights are just, we probably could talk all day. So I just really appreciate the opportunity to share what we both have, I think in our lives benefited quite a bit from with your listeners. I really appreciate it.

Erica D'Eramo 1:10:42

Yeah, I think it'll be really impactful for for quite a few folks out there. Thank you and we will look forward to catching our listeners on the next episode. So this is the Two Piers podcast and we'll talk to you soon.