Ep. 136 - Serenity Now - Finding Your Power In What You Can Control

Finding Your Power in What You Can Control: A Guided Journaling Journey

In this transformative episode of the Journal Party Podcast, we explore one of the most powerful concepts for personal growth and mental well-being: learning to distinguish between what we can control and what we cannot. This guided journaling session will help you reclaim your energy, reduce stress, and find peace through radical acceptance and strategic action.

Host Alex Gallner guides listeners through five thought-provoking journal prompts designed to help you identify where you're wasting energy on uncontrollable circumstances and redirect that power toward meaningful change in your life. This episode is perfect for anyone feeling overwhelmed by external pressures, stuck in cycles of worry, or struggling to find their sense of personal agency.

The episode begins with a relatable personal reflection about getting frustrated with traffic, illustrating how we often argue with reality instead of adapting to it. This sets the stage for a deeper exploration of how we can shift from resistance to acceptance while still maintaining our power to create positive change.

Through the guided prompts, you'll examine current stressful situations in your life, reflecting on which aspects are within your influence and which are not. You'll explore past experiences where you may have tried to change things beyond your control, learning valuable lessons about where to invest your energy moving forward.

The journaling session encourages you to envision what your life would look like if you focused exclusively on what you can control, helping you identify specific actions you could take today and behaviors you might want to release. You'll also explore the important distinction between acceptance and giving up, learning how to find peace with circumstances while still taking meaningful action where possible.

The episode concludes with a powerful visualization exercise, imagining yourself one year from now after consistently focusing on what you can control. This forward-looking prompt helps you connect with the long-term benefits of this mindset shift and motivates you to implement these insights in your daily life.

This episode is ideal for listeners dealing with anxiety, feeling stuck in challenging situations, or anyone interested in developing greater emotional resilience and personal empowerment. The concepts explored are rooted in ancient wisdom traditions while being presented in an accessible, modern context that makes them practical for everyday application.

Whether you're navigating relationship challenges, career uncertainty, family dynamics, or any other life circumstances that feel overwhelming, this guided journaling session provides tools for finding clarity, peace, and purposeful action. The prompts are designed to be revisited whenever you need to reconnect with your sense of personal power and release what's not yours to carry.

Join thousands of listeners worldwide who use the Journal Party Podcast to deepen their self-awareness, process emotions, and create positive change in their lives through the transformative practice of guided journaling. This episode offers practical wisdom that can shift your entire approach to life's challenges, helping you move from feeling like a victim of circumstances to becoming the conscious creator of your response to whatever life brings your way.

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Transcript

0:11

What's up party people? You're listening to the Journal Party podcast where every week we get together for a little guided journaling jam sash. My name is Alex Goner and I'll be your host. So here's how it works. I'll give you a journal prompt and a groove, and you just start writing. After a few minutes, you'll hear a little bell that sounds like this, and we'll move on to the next prompt. After a couple minutes, you'll hear that bell again, and we'll move on to the next prompt and we'll just keep going on like that. Until we're finished, feel free to write 'em whatever you like. And if you finish before the bell, you can try to dig deeper and elaborate or just chill out and enjoy the tunes. Don't overthink it. There's no wrong way to do this. So welcome to the Party Journal. Party. What's up? Party people. How's everybody doing this week? Doing pretty good. I think, you know, a lot of things to keep track of, especially when you're running your own business and you know, I'm trying to start my new family life sorta, you know, I just got married, lots of things going on, and I've realized that I'm a little bit of a control freak. This isn't like the first time that I've realized this. I've, I've, I've noticed this. I mean, when you reflect enough, when you write so many different journal entries, eventually you figure this stuff out about yourself, but what do you even do about it? Like yesterday, I caught myself getting frustrated about traffic on the way to an appointment, and then I realized that I was just arguing with reality. The traffic was going to magically disappear 'cause I was annoyed about it. But what I could control was maybe leaving earlier next time or maybe choosing a different route or using that time to listen to a podcast like this One. Journal party's awesome in the car, by the way. Just don't journal while you're driving, please. Anyway, so yeah, listen to a podcast, an audio book, or just breathe. Anything but obsess over these things that you can't control. And it got me thinking about the Serenity Prayer and this beautiful wisdom that it contains about accepting what we can't change and having the courage to change what we can. But most importantly. In order to do that, you need the wisdom to know the difference. So first off, I'm not trying to get anyone to believe in anything specific here, but I do think that ancient wisdom like this shouldn't be ignored just because it comes from a particular tradition. The psychological truth in these words is so powerful regardless of your beliefs, and there's so much freedom in that clarity. So I think it's worth paying attention to. When we stop fighting battles that we can't win, and we channel our energy toward the things that we can actually have some power over, then everything shifts. That's why today we're gonna be jamming through five journal prompts to help you find your power in what you can control. So open up that journal and let's get this party started. Here comes prompt number one. Think about a current situation that's causing you stress or worry. Write about what aspects of this situation are completely outside your control and what parts you might actually have some influence over. Prompt number two. Describe a time when you spent a lot of energy trying to change something or someone that was never yours to change. What did you learn from that experience? Prop number three, if you could only focus your energy on the things that you have direct control over. What would you start doing differently today? What would you stop doing? Prop number four. Write about the difference between accepting something and giving up on it. How can you find peace with circumstances while still taking meaningful action where it's possible? Number five. Imagine yourself one year from now, having spent this entire year focusing primarily on what you can control. What has changed in your life? How do you feel different? Write about it. All right. Party people. Hopefully enjoy that. Go ahead and take a deep breath. Finish your thought if you need to. Sometimes the most radical thing that we can do is stop fighting what is and start working with what we've got. There's incredible power in recognizing where your influence ends and where your acceptance begins. It's not about becoming passive or giving up on your dreams. It's about becoming strategic with your energy and finding peace in the process. Now I hope that today's prompts helped you identify some areas where you can reclaim your power and maybe release some things that were never yours to carry. Remember, you can't control the waves, but you can absolutely learn to surf. If you're loving this guided journaling thing, don't forget to check out our app for more guided journaling tools with mood and energy tracking, as well as our amazingly supportive community. You can also connect with me on Instagram at journal party, omg, and if today's episode resonated with you, I'd be so grateful if you could leave us a review. It really helps other people find the show, and as we grow, this thing just gets better and better. Now, for a limited time, you can also get a free journal party hard cover. A five notebook for journaling. All you have to do is cover the shipping and to get yours, you can visit journal party.com/free. All you have to do is cover the shipping and it comes with some really great free guided journaling programs. And don't forget to join us every Wednesday night at 6:00 PM Pacific Standard Time for Journal Party Live. It's a free livestream event where our community gets together and we journal through our newest programs, and then we share our insights at the end. It's been growing every week and. It's a ton of fun. You can tune in through our YouTube channel, our private Facebook group, or even directly through our app, and the links for all of those are in the show notes. Lastly, thank you so much for journaling with me today. Remember that the wisdom to know the difference between what you can and cannot change isn't just an idea. It's a superpower, so get it. Figure it out. Stop obsessing over the things that you can't control and do something about the things that you can't. If you want to, it's up to you. Either way, party on.