My Diary Unlocked

By Janet Larson

What would your high school diary reveal to you? Mine opened the door to my life’s passion, and led me on a path of service to help us all reconnect to our soul’s truth.

Fifteen years after high school I came across my diary, which I hadn’t seen in all those years. Sitting cross-legged on the floor, I read it from cover to cover. I laughed, I cried, I cringed, I became angry; but more than anything, I wanted to stretch my arms back through time and give that girl a great big hug.

Unlocking my diary gave me a mile marker of my journey as a young girl who had lived in the fog of mistaken beliefs of self-doubt. They were beliefs based on messages scripted by alcoholic parents who unconsciously perpetuated their own misguided perceptions of fear and projected feelings of unworthiness. But I didn’t know that until years later.

Reflecting back as a woman who had been meditating, receiving therapy, attending personal growth seminars, and reading volumes of self-help books while getting my master’s degree, I was able to comfort that wounded inner child who had confided her secrets on paper. I had learned that we are all spun from the thread of humanity that too often compares our inner experiences with others’ external appearances, and that we are not alone.

It was in the instant I finished reading the last page that I had my aha! goosebump moment — I would write a book and share my diary entries. I decided to invite other women who had saved their teenage diaries to share their stories and reflections on how they overcame their own dark nights of the soul.

Ten years after reading thousands of entries, researching common themes posing as barriers to our greater good, and writing it all down, I published my book, My Diary Unlocked: Stories of Teen Girls Heal the Inner Adolescent of Our Soul. Its relevance is universal, as the real-life entries of teen girls represent the archetype of the adolescent within each of us searching for identity and belonging in an adult world.

In the process of developing my life’s work, I recognized that the recurring roadblock along the path to a fuller expression of our potential is a sense of disconnection with oneself and others. I’d experienced it firsthand as anxiety and depression. With that realization, I asked myself, “What if there were a compass to guide us home to our authentic self — to reconnect with our soul?”

Out of this question, the healing tool and process, The Freeing Your BEING Compass emerged from the depths of my own soul. Almost in a flash, my many decades of study of wisdom of the ancients, modern psychology, and 21st-century brain science fused together as I sketched out this model. It is now the foundation and blueprint of the series of workshops I teach to women, students, teachers and mentors. I’m over the moon about the ongoing development of the online courses I’m releasing this year.

The tensions in the world today are a sobering reminder to me that I’m on the journey for which I am destined. My mission is to teach others how to use The Freeing Your BEING Compass to enhance self-awareness, and to expand the dialog revealed through the power of real and raw diary entries in my book and beyond in my classes, both virtual and live.

In the spirit of moving forward on my mission, I’d like to close by sharing an excerpt from My Diary Unlocked, and provide a summary of how you can use the Compass in stressful situations, or when you simply want to move to the next level of awareness in your life.

Introduction to My Diary Unlocked:

I never had a Mrs. Duncan. You know, Oprah’s beloved fourth grade teacher who recognized her potential, shone a light in the midst of a dark and troubled childhood, and forever changed the trajectory of her life. Growing up, I saw no such light guiding me towards my authentic self or urging me to live my highest truth. I do, however, remember the junior high school teacher who came up behind me in class with a snow shovel and a metal wastebasket. He banged them together as loud as he could to wake me from the nap I was taking after I’d been awake all night listening to my parents fight… I almost saw stars, but in no way was I seeing the light. Little did I know back then there was a light; not one coming from an external source, but a source of illumination centered deep within my own heart.

 
Using The Freeing Your BEING Compass

The word “BEING” in the Compass is decoded as an acronym to highlight the five aspects that are essential to experience self-awareness and the personal power available through present moment awareness. To navigate your way to inner peace, and to practice being more aware, start by asking, “What is my state of BEING?” It’s a simple enough question to ask even in the midst of anxiety. From there, go through each aspect as identified in the Compass and reflect on your experience of each aspect, ending with the affirmation for each one.

BODY (Sensory/Physical): I am more than my body.
EMOTIONS (Feelings): My feelings are sincere.
IMAGINATION (Perception/Vision): I create my destiny.
NATURAL SELF (Action/Behavior): I express the best in me.
GENIUS MIND (Mindfulness/Thoughts): My mind is my frontier.

Little did we know that the secret to being at peace is hidden in plain sight of the word BEING itself. I’m having a blast unlocking the many layers of each aspect of BEING in keynotes and deep-dive classes with participants who choose to use this powerful Compass to navigate their lives in the direction of the true self, the SOULSELF.

Janet Larson, MS is the author of the award-winning book, My Diary Unlocked: Stories of Teen Girls Heal the Inner Adolescent of Our Soul, and its companion diary/journal, Diary: The Answers are Within. Her key message is that peace and joy arise from authentic self-awareness and mindful presence. Larson has pioneered a process called “The Freeing Your BEING Compass” to integrate the key elements we need as humans to evolve into the Age of Wisdom and Compassion in a simple, yet profound way.

She is available for motivational seminars, self-esteem and personal empowerment workshops and keynotes. In her trainings, she brings the compelling experience shared in real and raw diary entries together with tools for transformation with the Compass as a guide. Janet lives in San Diego, California with her husband, teenage daughter, and their cat. Click here to visit Janet’s website.

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