Good Morning, I Love You: A Guided Journal for Calm, Cl… (2024)

GOOD MORNING, I LOVE YOU: A GUIDED JOURNAL FOR CALM, CLARITY, AND JOY
BY: SHAUNA SHAPIRO

I wish to thank very much Dr. Shauna Shapiro and Sounds True Publishing for gifting me this ARC which I have read and agree with everything this Dr has included in this Amazing life transforming journal prompts. This Non-Fiction book at the end lists footnotes of sources for the positive effects keeping a three month journal with these guided prompts done every morning and evening. Dr. Shauna Shapiro has shared that she, herself has a large collection of journals that she began at age seventeen. Some of what is included in this strategy of guided journal prompts I already knew. Putting the effort into actually doing the recommended practice of writing one's reflections on her positive messages will determine if it can improve your neural pathways in your brain. I already knew that current research studies have proven by fMRI'S, (functional magnetic resonance imaging) done of subjects who practice mindfulness by a Harvard researcher showed that the areas of the brain related to attention, learning, and emotional processing were stronger. I didn't know the exact results that I have just quoted. What I did know is that our brains pathways are able to change no matter how old we are because of the brains neuroplasticity. By practicing meditation I also knew has been shown by people who meditate live longer. Dr. Shapiro has explained how being kind and showing ourselves compassion, among many other thought provoking journal thought allows us to sculpt healthy pathways which may start as a footpath and change negative thoughts that could be superhighways. By simply placing a hand on your heart and saying "Good Morning I Love You and reciting your name," is best done first thing in the morning when we wake up. Just saying Thank you and by letting it be your only prayer is enough. This book on keeping a journal by writing down first thing in the morning and by spending a few minutes in the evening by thinking of one thing you are grateful for and how it was felt by using your five senses is encouraged to do every night. This is simple and was repetitive by inserting the exact same nightly ritual every day was not necessary. Maybe the takeaway from this Author including it, and it is just my humble opinion--is that part gets deeper ingrained in our minds. I have long been a believer that by writing down three to ten things that I am grateful for can bring happiness and joy. All one has to do is simply look around and you can get a visual of what you are grateful for. Gratitude elevates mood and it can be as simple as feeling grateful for your family or material things that you possess if you are finding gratitude challenging. Another prompt which I am familiar with and Kristen Neff is known for is by showing ourselves compassion. This I am aware of but this reminder came in handy to me and is something I do for others but fail to remember to offer it to myself. I struggle with always feeling 100 percent responsible for when I have a painful setback. This is a great time to start to show myself compassion instead of feeling like beating myself up for whatever event or action that in hindsight I realize is self defeating. Like whenever I leave a bad review for a book that wasn't for me I feel a tremendous amount of negative emotions instead of remembering that my values reflect honesty and I cannot in good faith recommend something that I truly felt was torture to push myself to finish. This sometimes happens and hopefully with practice I will begin to show myself the same kindness that I usually bestow to loved ones or friends. I often beat myself up also when saying no to another person. Clearly I need to learn self compassion. It is not something that when we self reflect and want to make changes happens by merely realizing we would like to change. It often takes time and continued efforts by practicing this change is how it becomes automatic or in this Author's advice creates a new neural pathway in the brain from a superhighway in the brain's neural pathways. Start where you are at because we all have different goals. I find that by incorporating these many excellent ideas which for the most part are helpful--they are all helpful. There are too many to named but my biggest challenge will be actually keeping a morning and evening journal as it isn't something that I have done. If I want to continue to rewire my brain replacing new neural pathways I will find it a challenge to journal twice per day for three months. If I wish to evolve I will have to put into practice coming out of my comfort zone to do the work (I am a morning person) to benefit from these powerful journal prompts which I recognize from reading this wonderful Author's effort in finding more calm, clarity and joy by replacing a lifetime of habits with these exercises. Nobody is perfect and everybody can benefit from theses thought provoking insights. I would recommend this standalone companion to her previous book for anybody who wishes to build on their unique resilience, peace and a deeper understanding into ourselves. I have nothing to lose and wish to continue to evolve so I am going to try my best to investing in myself by keeping an open mind and doing what this Author suggests. Some prompts are direct quotes by Rumi, Harold Kushner, and Mother Theresa and many others. My gut tells me this will be helpful. I want to integrate the inspirational information I have read until I memorize it. This gave me a feeling of warmth and I am grateful that I have discovered this resource.

Publication Date: April 12th, 2022

Thank you to Net Galley, Dr. Shauna Shapiro and Sounds True publishing for generously gifting me with my ARC of this valuable resource in exchange for a fair and honest review. All opinions are my own and I wasn't required to leave a positive review.

#GoodMorningILoveYou #ShaunaShapiro #SoundsTruePublishing #NetGalley

Believe it or not, we all need this journal. We are really good at neglecting and ignoring ourselves, from the moment we wake up to the moment we hit the pillows. We lack mindfulness and we aren't doing anything about it.

As much as you want to ignore, it will hit you hard when things go out of hand, specially your health and peace of mind. You will find yourself overwhelmed and helpless even for the smallest things. This happens quite often than we realise.

Until and unless we try some mindfulness exercise, for example this journal, we will find it difficult to realise how we let go of each day just like that without much to do something good for ourselves.

Try this. I love the serene and spacious pages. I adore the calm and effective prompts.

Just go for this journal.

I will need the physical copy of this journal. Cannot wait!

I was given an ebook version via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is a good journal for those who want to start a daily journal habit in the morning and evening but also want to do some self exploration and spiritual growth. Each week you start a new subject to focus on and then each day of that week there is a prompt concerning that subject. The first day you want to set aside the most time to do a “deep dive” which usually involves a meditation. There are 12 weeks of prompts.

Some of the subjects are joy, forgiveness, mindfulness and self compassion.
At the core of this journal is the practice of being kind to yourself and being mindful of your inner dialogue.

This isn’t just a book to read and then put away, it is a book to experience and use for many weeks and days to come in the future. The author has broken the journaling sections down and 12 week segments including seems such as: Self-love, intention and change, mindfulness, joy, gratitude, connection, resilience, and more. There is a short journaling activity for each morning and evening of each of the 12 weeks, and the prompts are relevant and intriguing.

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and publisher for an advanced reading copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

I’d previously enjoyed Good Morning I Love You so was excited to be given the opportunity to review this new journal version. It didn’t disappoint. The journaling prompts gave ample opportunities to reflect and enough space in the journal to write Sian thoughts.

Calming reset book!