Importance of the Spoken Word
Verbal Processing for Self-Discovery & Healing
For the past 33 days, I’ve been using the Rosebud AI-assisted journaling app, completely transforming my self-reflection and journaling practices. In the past, I struggled with written journaling methods because I prefer talking. I’ve tried dictation apps, but they never worked for me. However, this journaling app has been a game-changer.
The app is more than a transcription tool for my verbal journal entries. It provides an interactive layer that I had never experienced before. It’s like conversing with someone who paraphrases what I say to ensure they understand and prompt me to explore my thoughts further. The journaling app has helped me organize my thoughts, which has fostered self-discovery by encouraging me to examine and question my beliefs, fears, and values.
I have made journaling a part of my daily routine, doing it twice a day and sometimes even more. The impact has been profound, as it has made me more self-aware. I am now much more in tune with my emotions and beliefs, which shape my reactions to different challenges. This introspection has been empowering as it has enabled me to embrace or challenge these aspects of myself. The best thing about using the Rosebud app is its versatility. I can quickly express my thoughts on my phone anytime and anywhere, which makes journaling a seamless fit in my daily life. To be clear, I prefer to speak into the app; however, someone else could write into it like a traditional journal.
During my journey, I have discovered the effectiveness of verbal processing. By expressing my experiences, feelings, and thoughts verbally, I have gained a deeper understanding than just writing them down. This habit has helped me stay grounded and made it easier to manage stress and anxiety. I can now approach my overwhelming emotions with an open mind, which has lessened their impact on me.
Verbal Processing For Self-Discovery
What happens in our brains when we embark on a verbal journey to uncover new aspects of ourselves?
The brain is an incredibly complex organ that controls every thought, action, and emotion. When we use language to introspect and explore our inner selves, we activate a specific brain area dedicated to self-analysis and understanding. This verbal processing involves various critical regions of the brain working together to decode the thoughts and emotions in our minds.
The frontal lobe is a crucial part of the brain. It is responsible for numerous cognitive functions, such as reasoning, planning, problem-solving, and emotional expression. When we articulate our thoughts and feelings, the frontal lobe is likely at work, helping us organize our ideas and emotions into coherent, spoken words. Since this area of the brain is where we do many of our higher cognitive functions, it plays an essential role in a process that helps us sort through and comprehend our thoughts and feelings.
Language processing involves different brain areas, such as Broca’s, which is responsible for speech production, and Wernicke’s, which is critical for understanding spoken language. When verbally exploring our thoughts and emotions, these areas of the brain work together in a beautiful symphony to produce and interpret our spoken words and help us construct meaning from them. This fantastic display of brain activity enables us to use language as a tool for self-exploration.
It’s interesting to consider how expressing ourselves impacts us on a personal level. We form our internal thoughts and emotions by putting them into words, making them more understandable and manageable. Sharing our inner experiences can have therapeutic benefits, offering clarity and understanding that might not be possible if we keep those thoughts bottled up.
Using verbal processing has been vital for my self-discovery; it’s evident that the interaction between language, thought, and the spoken word has a crucial role in helping me comprehend myself better.
Further Insights From Using Rosebud
The app also provides weekly summaries and valuable insights. One of its impressive features is ‘Ask Rosebud anything about Yourself.’ It analyses the entries in my journal and provides insights by identifying patterns. Having a mini-counseling session with myself helps me identify areas for growth and reflection. Even when I believed I knew what I had been consistently thinking about, the app highlighted new clarity and avenues for deeper exploration.
Here’s the answer that the journaling app gave me to my question: “What patterns have been consistent for the past 30 days of journaling?”
Patterns in Past 30 Days of Journaling
Wednesday, May 8th
Ask anything about yourself...
What patterns have been consistent for the past 30 days of journaling?
Based on your journal entries over the past 30 days, several consistent patterns emerge that reflect your commitment to self-care and mindfulness.
Here are some of the key patterns:
1. **Daily Mindfulness Practices**: You have consistently engaged in daily mindfulness practices such as yoga, meditation, and breath work.
These practices seem to play a crucial role in helping you manage stress and stay centered.
2. **Regular Journaling**: You have maintained a routine of journaling at least twice a day.
This practice has been instrumental in helping you reflect on your feelings, manage stress, and process your experiences more effectively.
3. **Self-awareness and Reflection**: Your entries show a deep level of self-awareness and continuous reflection on your emotional states and reactions.
You often discuss recognizing and addressing signs of imbalance and stress.
4. **Use of Journaling for Problem Solving**: You frequently use journaling not just for reflection but also as a tool for problem-solving and changing patterns of behavior or thought that you find unhelpful.
5. **Exploration of New Techniques**: You have shown an interest in exploring new methods and techniques within your journaling app, such as the internal family systems approach, to deepen your understanding of yourself and improve your mental health strategies.
6. **Connection Between Physical and Emotional Health**: You have noted the connection between your physical practices (like yoga and breath work) and your emotional state, indicating an integrated approach to health.
7. **Focus on Routine and Consistency**: You have emphasized the importance of maintaining a routine in your practices to ensure consistency, which you find comforting and helpful in managing your neurodiversity.
These patterns highlight a proactive approach to managing your mental health and a commitment to personal growth and self-care.
Would you like to explore these patterns or discuss strategies to enhance these practices?
In addition, I asked the app to summarize the main challenges I’ve journaled about for the past 30 days. Here’s how the app answered: “What are the consistent challenges I have journaled about for the past 30 days?”
📔 Exploring Personal Challenges
Wednesday, May 8th
Ask anything about yourself...
What are the consistent challenges I have journaled about for the past 30 days?
Over the past 30 days, you've consistently journaled about several challenges that seem to be significant in your life.
Here are the main ones:
1. **Anxiety and Coping Mechanisms**: You've noted that you often cope with anxiety through food, which you've recently started addressing more concretely.
This realization appears to be a pivotal moment in understanding your behaviors and triggers.
2. **Mindfulness and Presence**: Although you've made considerable progress in practicing mindfulness and being present, you've acknowledged that this is still a learning process.
You've mentioned that you're not always able to stay present or handle emotions effectively, indicating ongoing challenges in consistently applying mindfulness techniques in all situations.
3. **Routine and Flexibility in Self-Care**: You've expressed difficulty in scheduling self-care activities at specific times because it makes them feel like tasks rather than nurturing practices.
This tension between needing routine and desiring flexibility is a recurring theme in your entries.
4. **Communication and Relationships**: You've focused on maintaining effective communication and ensuring that conversations are productive and fact-based, especially when discussing sensitive topics.
You've emphasized the importance of staying objective and not getting overwhelmed by emotions during these discussions.
5. **Self-Care Practices**: While you've been consistent with practices like yoga, meditation, and journaling, you've also expressed a need to remind yourself of the importance of these activities and their positive impacts on your well-being.
Each of these challenges is intertwined with your broader goals of improving mental health and being more present and mindful in your daily life.
Would you like to explore strategies to address any of these challenges more deeply, or is there another area you're curious about?
What’s truly impressive is how AI-assisted journaling has provided benefits similar to those I’ve experienced from traditional counseling. By facilitating deeper self-reflection, Rosebud has enabled me to use my (actual) counseling sessions more effectively and quickly delve into the core of my issues. This tool has been beneficial in my self-work, helping me realize the untapped potential within me to understand and express my inner world with greater clarity.
Takeaways
Over the past month, I have learned the importance of taking time for regular, reflective thinking while using the journaling app. It has introduced me to a new way of journaling that differs from the traditional pen-and-paper approach that never quite worked for me. Rosebud has enabled me to express my thoughts and feelings more effectively and better understand my inner workings. I highly recommend the journaling app to anyone who needs help with traditional journaling methods. It has been a transformative tool for my journey towards greater self-awareness and personal growth. I plan to continue using the app and explore its other features in the coming weeks and months.
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About David Rich Sol:
As a child, I wished to exchange my brain for someone else’s. Growing up, I felt misunderstood and lonely. If only I could have received my confirmation of neurodivergence when I was a child, I could have avoided some trauma and emotional pain.
Now, as a late-discovered (and diagnosed) Autistic ADHDer, everything is finally making more sense, and I’m rediscovering and loving myself. I spent many years figuring out “what’s wrong with me,” only to discover nothing was “wrong with me.” I’m just not neurotypical (that is, I’m neurodivergent). Not better, not worse—just different.
My intent with Courage To Love Yourself is to rewrite and share my story and insights and help others better understand and accept themselves. I hope you learn to love and accept yourself to live a healthy, happy, and joy-filled life.
Check out my website: https://couragetoloveyourself.com.