The Journal Prompt

Insightful Journal Prompts Delivered Weekly.

Good morning!

Welcome back to The Journal Prompt, your weekly companion for introspection and personal growth. 🌿

This week, we’ll dive into The Hope and Fear Illusion.

Let’s get started!

In This Week’s Issue (9-minute Read)

💬 Quote of the Week

🖼️ Framing Your Reflection

✍️ Three Insightful Journal Prompts

🧰 Life Improvement Toolbox (✨ New ✨)

🪞 Featured Photo & Affirmation

Framing Your Reflection 🖼️

It’s generally accepted that Hope is good and Fear is bad.

In reality…Hope and Fear are the same thing.

When we “hope” for something to go our way, or “fear” the outcome of a situation, we place our serenity in something outside of our control.

The result?…..anxiety that, no matter what we do, does not go away.

Because no amount of Life Force from us can move something that was never in our control to begin with.

In a previous TJP issue The Judgement Cage, we talked about how the cognitive bias called The Spotlight Effect kept us trapped in a guilt prison of our own construction.

Should be no surprise that several cognitive biases work together to create this Hope/Fear illusion.

Confirmation Bias + Loss Aversion + Availability Heuristic

=

Hope/Fear Illusion

Confirmation Bias

When we hope for a specific outcome, we put ourselves at the mercy of Confirmation Bias - the natural tendency to look for evidence that supports what we already believe/want to be true, and ignore evidence that contradicts our belief.

If we truly wanted to bring about our outcome, shouldn’t we pay close attention to the very things that derail our plan? Maybe even think of them in advance to prepare ourselves? More on this in the prompts. ✍️

Loss Aversion

When we’re fearful of a future outcome, it’s almost always tied to losing something. The bias of Loss Aversion says that we care way more about not losing than we do about gaining/winning.

Under its spell, we rationalize ourselves out of pursuing our dreams because they are “too risky”, and we “should be practical”, or “it’s not the right time”, or “I’ll wait for things to settle a bit”.

In truth: our evolutionary brain would rather suffer predictably than deal with the uncertainty of our powerful potential.

Availability Heuristic

This cognitive bias says that we tend to use information that comes to mind quickly and easily when making decisions about the future.

We let highly emotional memories (themselves created by another cognitive bias called Peak-End Rule) have a bigger say in how we think about our current situation, regardless of how different the circumstances are, or the statistical likelihood of them happening.

Okay….”cool science”….but what does this all mean….

Is the solution to abandon all hope and just live with the fear since that’s how we’re wired?

To a lot people, that’s exactly their default answer. 😳

We all know someone constantly hoping for things to change but too sacred to do anything different, blaming their circumstances and sometimes even world events.

The practical solution is to relentlessly focus (and re-focus….and re-focus….) on what we do control - our actions.

We first ask ourselves “what could I do that would indeed make things better and move me toward my desired state”?

Then, we focus on doing what we can, with what we have, in the time that we have.

If reality does not change in the way we want, then perhaps our inputs are wrong and we should adjust them.

But often, our impatient desire for immediate results makes us believe that doing the right thing is “not working” - and we go back to our illusion.

🚨 WARNING 🚨

Fully breaking this illusion is (probably) not possible - it’s more useful to think of it as a paradox that we manage, not a problem that we solve. Don’t. Crush. Yourself.

Instead, focus on getting 1% better at catching yourself when you slip, so you can re-focus your energy back on the things in your control.

Bring Serenity into the present by focusing on your actions, instead of hoping/fearing a future not in your control.

Three Journal Prompts ✍️

🔍 Un-accomplished Hope and Fear

Explore a time in the past where you deeply feared an outcome that never came to be. Think about how that experience could have been lighter (maybe even enjoyable) if you had not focused so much on fearing an outcome that never happened?

Conversely, explore a time when you hoped for a certain outcome from something and it didn’t happen, but what actually occurred ended up being a blessing in disguise. Could you have enjoyed life more at the time had you been able to focus on the moment, instead of comparing it to an intangible expectation you were hoping for?

Look for patterns.

🧠 Fear Setting

Tim Ferriss has a unique exercise. Instead of only doing Goal Setting, he does Fear Setting. It’s a great way to create space between you and your fear. Take a look at one of the videos and apply it to something you have yet to take action on because you are scared.

Short Version (3:17 min)

TED Talk Version (13:22 min)

🔭 Present-casting Dreams

What’s a big dream you hope will happen in your life? How can you channel that energy into actionable things in the present that can bring it to life. Remember - set the bar low enough.

Life Improvement Toolbox 🧰

📚 Reader’s Corner

In my limited life experience (I’m only 32), I have found nothing better at helping me re-focus on what I can control than Stoic Philosophy.

Philosophical texts can be dry, but Seneca is the exception - he distills his wisdom while in exile after serving to curb the psychotic inclinations of Emperor Nero for 15 years.

Letters from a Stoic - Lucius Seneca, the Younger

P.S.

While reading is something we pretty much have to actively do, listening is fair game for dog walking, dish cleaning, chores, and driving.

Make more progress on the things you want to learn with audio books from Audible - check out how it works here. 🎧

📝 The Journaling Craft

Speaking of illusions, my research for this newsletter led me ink blots. And I have found a total gem - an inkblot journal with prompts that go with the ink blots. Check out the inkblot journal here ✍️.

🧠 Mind + Body Connection

Journaling can help us reframe the mind, but we often underestimate the effects that our exercise and nutrition have on our emotional states.

A big feeder of anxiety and sleeplessness is caffeine. I share this because it’s a huge problem I am actively trying to curb (I average ~400-600mg of caffeine a day) - I love writing with a cup of coffee (that often turns into 2-4).

If you want to improve your relationship with coffee so you don’t betray your older self’s mental health, check out this super coffee made from the most nutrient-dense foods known to man (and tastes amazing) - check it out here 🌱

Featured Photo & Affirmation🪞

Affirmation for The Hope and Fear Illusion

"Hope and Fear are the same. Serenity lies in my actions”

As we dive deeper into understanding ourselves, let’s remember that we are not alone.

Writing is healing and healing can hurt - reach out to friends and family. They are there for you.

Sending Good Vibes,

Ivan from The Journal Prompt Team

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Happy Journaling!