Secrets from My Macrobiotic Kitchen with Julie S. Ong

Eat better. Live better. Love better.

Category Archives: journal


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Three Tips for Keeping Your New Year’s Resolutions

Change your thoughts and you change your world.
~Norman Vincent Peale

It happens every year. You create a few resolutions that will hopefully get you back on track for the New Year. You follow through for a couple days, maybe even a couple of weeks. However, as time goes on, the enthusiasm fades and you’re right back where you started. How can you keep the momentum going and accomplish what you set out to do?

To initiate change and stay on your path, you must change the way you perceive your goals. Let’s take a look at the word resolution (re-solution). Resolution comes from Latin, meaning “to loosen or dissolve again,” which was the original meaning. So, it is about loosening your current perspective, transforming your old habits and thought patterns into something more productive.

Here are three tips for keeping your New Year’s resolutions:

1. Support your True Essence.

Rather than focusing on how something is going to happen, you will create actions that support your True Essence. This is the key to sustaining and spreading positive energy to help you move ahead.

When you examine your True Essence, you’ll find you are, at your deepest level, healthy, healed, whole, and complete. Learn to identify “should” behaviors that are not aligned with your core truth. “Should” behaviors are actions that you “should” be doing because of pressure from external sources, such as society, family, or friends. For example, you may go to the gym because your family wants you to be thin, yet you can’t meet this expectation. This inner conflict may trigger feelings, such as guilt or sadness. (As is often said in AA meetings, “Don’t should all over yourself.”)

When your emotions are triggered, receive three deep breaths and come back to the Present Moment. This will help you reconnect with your True Essence.

2. Change your thoughts.

In order for a change to take place, you must change your thoughts. This means discovering what your thoughts are and changing them so that you support your True Essence.

In your journal, keep track of your thoughts throughout the day. You may notice that you have thoughts about devaluing yourself, which will ultimately sabotage your progress. Next, meet yourself where you are and go a little higher. Begin with your belief and ask that your belief be raised. These are called Progressive Affirmations. For example, you may write the following:

  1. I need help remembering I am loved.
  2. I am beginning to remember I am loved.
  3. I am remembering more and more I am loved.
  4. I am seeing evidence I am loved.
  5. I am seeing more and more evidence I am loved.

3. Look for Positive Evidence.

During the day, notice positive evidence that supports your Progressive Affirmations. Make a note of what occurred that validated your affirmation. For example, if someone spoke respectfully to you, highlight it in your journal. Also, notice any positive change that takes place in your thoughts, emotions, and body. Answer these three questions in your journal:

  1. What are my thoughts?
  2. What are my feelings?
  3. What is showing up in my body? What physical sensations am I having?

For change to occur, you must look within, at the foundational thought patterns that initiate behavior. When your thoughts change, you will see your authentic self, and your outer world will be a reflection of your inner beauty.


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Journal Break!

I’ve spoken a lot about the power of your journal, and now it’s time to take a break and make sure that you are keeping track of all your progress. This will help you immensely as you look back on how you started your spiritual journey and on how far you have come since you first started.

Use your journal to document three major elements of your life.

  1. Body
  2. Emotions
  3. Thoughts

This can help you discover areas in your life that you would like to change. Of course, this is your journal, so you can feel free to add in any other relevant areas of your life. Just be sure to write about the above three issues, though, because that is how you will really be able to document your progress.

Recipe for Success: Positive Evidence Journal

Develop your awareness of Spirit by writing positive evidence in a journal. Follow these simple steps:

  • In the morning, write your screenplay on the left page.
  • In the evening, write what happened during the day on the right hand page.
  • Remember to express gratitude for the abundant opportunities and blessings in your new life.

It is acceptable behavior in this society to put other people’s needs first, while sacrificing your own needs. Living within this norm, it is easy to set the intention for going to work and spending eight hours a day at the office, since people are often reluctant to set the intention to put their own needs first. Here are some hints for when you want to connect to your truth.

  1. First, listen to your inner voice, and then, set the intention to receive help from your Bliss Guide.
  2. Second, be as detailed as you can in the creation of your day. For instance, when you are planning your day, include the times you will do something and how long you plan on doing it. Include time for your passions. Be specific.
  3. Pretend that you are a secretary, making out the schedule for your boss. She is relying on you to plan out her day, minute by minute. She trusts you to create a day filled with important appointments as well as relaxation time (down time). You will find that not only will you will get more done, you will create the day that you want. You will live from your truth.
  4. Then visualize your day in Technicolor, Techni-smell, Techni-sound, Techni-everything!

Your thoughts and words have the power to create endless experiences. All it takes it your imagination and listening to your heart to be who you want to be. Have you ever envisioned your day and then lived it moment by moment, watching the drama play itself out? It’s almost like déjà vu, except that you created the day through visualization. When you have envisioned a scenario, it is as if it has already happened, because the spiritual world will manifest the desire into action. Now’s your chance, so live your life to the fullest!


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Writing Your Screenplay

You are director and main character in your movie. Whatever you want to have happen will happen under your direction. All the world is your stage and the props and extras are waiting for your cue to perform the drama of your dreams. What message do you want to convey to your audience? What is the theme of the movie, your legacy that you want to leave behind for future generations?

Scripting is a useful tool to help you become clear about what you want. Scripting is a personal expression of your passion and sets up divine right timing to create a flow of energy straight to your door. When scripting, it is important to connect with the essences of your feelings and passion. This opens up communication with Spirit using Universal Language. There is no right or wrong way to script. I like to include gratitude and thanks for the gifts that are on their way to me. I also write in the present tense to emphasize that the gifts are already being given; it is up to me to be open to receiving them.

Recipe for Success: Writing Your Screenplay

Letter Format to Spirit

  • Date ___________
  • Dear Divine Team,
  • Write a divine incantation.
  • Begin in gratitude for your blessings.
  • Write your inner and outer intentions for today. The inner intentions focus on the spiritual essences (love, peace, joy, freedom) of how you want to feel on the inside. The outer intentions are what you want to intend on the outside.
  • Script your day. Begin with gratitude and focus on spiritual essences of how you want to feel. Use the present tense. Visualize your day in Technicolor.
  • Acknowledge Spirit in granting your gifts.
  • State that it is done.
  • Sign your name as if closing a letter.

Example of Screenplay

  • 1-5-10
  • Dear Divine Team,
  • Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti. Om Peace, Peace, Peace.
  • I begin in gratitude for my Divine Team, my Blessed Life, and my Abundance which overflows as Love and Light.
  • Today, my intention on the inside is to be open to Divine Inspiration and on the outside to connect with Higher Self in each person to meet, to have fun, and serve Humanity in the Highest Way possible.
  • I am so happy and grateful now that I am co-creating with Love a delicious macrobiotic meal. I am so happy and grateful now that my loved ones and I are connecting on the level of the Heart, and we are giving and receiving Love in the perfect amount. I am so happy and grateful for the Abundance of Life that is flowing to me.
  • In gratitude, I decree IT IS DONE. And SO IT IS. Amen.
  • In Love and Light, Julie S. Ong

Hollywood Feature

In Hollywood, every movie comes with a full production team. When it comes to your life, you have to play the leading actor, director, producer, and everything else. You get to set the lighting, design the set, pick the wardrobe, and choose your own props. Use all of these choices to your advantage! You’re playing by your rules to create the best life movie that you possibly can. So get out there and win yourself a metaphorical Emmy, because you certainly deserve it!


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Positive Evidence Journal

A positive evidence journal is where you write about all the wonderful things that happened to you during the day. You’ll write about everything that worked and the changes that are going on in your life. Create a list of positive affirmations and look for the positive evidence. This helps you develop your awareness of the spiritual forces at play on your behalf.

Diary

Then make a list of the opportunities and blessings that you receive. Even the small things, like getting a terrific parking space or eating energetically balanced food, are positive evidence. We often take these small things for granted, and we can become more aware of them by writing about them in our journals.

Express gratitude for the abundance that is flowing to you. What small things are you grateful for? Notice how your list becomes longer every day.

Example of Positive Evidence Journal

Begin each day with a positive affirmation. Start off with an affirmation that meets you where you are. When you are ready, create a new affirmation, each one building on the next, as you move up the vibrational scale. This helps you shift your beliefs so that you become more aligned with what you want. These are progressive affirmations. For example, you may discover something like:

  1. I need help remembering I am worthy.
  2. I am beginning to remember I am worthy.
  3. I remember more and more I am worthy.
  4. I am seeing evidence I am worthy.
  5. I am seeing more and more evidence I am worthy.

Next, look for positive evidence that you are a worthy person. If a person spoke respectfully to you, write it down. For example, “The cashier at Walgreens told me to have a nice day.” Think about that positive evidence and pay attention to how it made you feel. Don’t worry – you don’t have to do this alone! Simply use the following questions as your guide and be honest:

  1. Did you notice any shifts in your body?
  2. Were there any changes in your emotions?
  3. Did you experience any changes in your thoughts?
  4. Were there any changes in your posture?

Pay close attention to the answers you wrote in your journal and take the time to reflect on past journal entries every now and then. You are just beginning your spiritual journey, but soon you will be able to see the progress you have made and the difference between where you began and where you will end up.

Remember, a spiritual journey has no end, but every journey starts with a beginning – and you are off to a fantastic start!