Episode 36 - Jo Hayter: Healing Through Words

What if the most powerful healing tool was already at your fingertips? In this profound conversation with holistic counsellor Jo, we explore how the simple act of journaling became her lifeline while raising a son with cerebral palsy who required round-the-clock care.

Jo shares her deeply moving journey from overwhelm to acceptance, revealing how writing helped her process the "cluster emotions" that arose from being thrust into roles she never expected, nurse, therapist and full-time carer. More surprisingly, journaling helped her recognise and heal from childhood emotional neglect that had caused her to disconnect from her body decades earlier.

"I was feeling disconnected from my body, as though I was living on my shoulder but not in my body," Jo explains. "For years I never told anyone about that because I thought I was the only one." Today, we understand this dissociation as a classic trauma response, but Jo discovered her path back to embodiment through putting pen to paper.

The beauty of journal therapy lies in its accessibility, it's free, doesn't require appointments and can take whatever form works for you. Whether through traditional writing, artistic expression like mandalas, or even voice memos captured while driving, the goal is creating space to process emotions that might otherwise remain stuck in our bodies.

Most touchingly, Jo reveals how her son now 40, became her greatest teacher by challenging everything she'd been taught about having to "be, do, or become" to have value. Through journaling, she worked through her fears and eventually reached profound acceptance and unconditional love.

Whether you're navigating caregiver stress, processing past trauma, or simply feeling disconnected from yourself, this episode offers practical wisdom about how meeting your pain on paper can transform your relationship with yourself. As Jo reminds us, what we do to heal ourselves today ripples forward to impact future generations.

Connect with Jo on Facebook here

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to Everyday Warriors
• 2:21 Meeting Jo and Her Journaling Journey
• 8:10 Childhood Emotional Neglect and Trauma
• 16:00 The Healing Power of Writing
• 22:51 Mothering a Child with Special Needs
• 30:00 Different Ways to Journal
• 38:17 Journal Therapy and Resources
• 45:22 Closing Thoughts and Gratitude

Transcript

Trudie Marie: 0:01

Welcome to the Everyday Warriors podcast, the perfect space to speak my truth and dive into deep conversations with others. This podcast is about celebrating everyday warriors, the people who face life's challenges head on, breaking through obstacles to build resilience, strength and courage. Join me, your host, trudy Marie, as I sit down with inspiring individuals who have fought their own battles and emerged stronger, sharing raw, real and authentic stories in a safe space, allowing you to explore, question and find your own path to new possibilities. Let us all embrace the warrior within and realise that, while no one is walking in your shoes, others are on this same path, journeying through life together. Please note that the following podcast may contain discussions or topics that could be triggering or distressing for some listeners. I aim to provide informative and supportive content, but understand that certain things may evoke strong emotions or memories. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed or in need of support while listening, I encourage you to pause the podcast and take a break. Remember that it is okay to prioritize your well-being and seek assistance from trained professionals. There is no shame in this. In fact, it is the first brave step to healing. If you require immediate support, please consider reaching out to Lifeline on 13, 11, 14 or a crisis intervention service in your area. Thank you for listening and please take care of yourself as you engage with the content of this podcast.

Trudie Marie: 2:01

Love the Everyday Worriers podcast. It would mean the world to me if you were to leave a five-star review to ensure that the Everyday Warriors podcast is heard by more listeners around the world. You can also support the show for as little as $5 with a one-time donation or by becoming a monthly subscriber. Your contribution helps me to continue bringing you inspiring stories of everyday warriors who overcome challenges to find strength, resilience and new possibilities in life. Head to the link to buy me a coffee and fuel the next episode. Every bit counts. Every bit counts.

Trudie Marie: 2:46

If you're looking for an inspiring story of resilience, healing and rediscovering yourself, then my book Everyday Warrior From Frontline to Freedom is for you. It is my memoir of hiking the 1,000 kilometre Bibbulmun Track, a journey that was as much about finding my way back to myself as it was about conquering the trail through the highs and lows and everything in between. This book is taken from my journals and is my raw and honest experience of overcoming trauma and embracing the strength within. Grab your copy now. Just head to the link in the show notes, and let's take this journey together. Welcome to another episode of the Everyday Warriors podcast, and today I have a guest with me, and for the first time in a while it's actually a guest, I know. So I met Jo here in the current town I am living in, so welcome, jo.

Jo: 3:51

Thank you, Trudie. Hello listeners.

Trudie Marie: 3:54

So we actually met through the local pop-up shop that we have here in our town of Mingenew and we attended both the stallholders last year.

Jo: 4:07

And a worthy visit too, wasn't it For six weeks Minganew opens its stores and there's so much talent in the farming region.

Trudie Marie: 4:15

There is, and we're looking forward to hosting it again this year, but we got chatting purely because of what you had at your stall. We got chatting purely because of what you had at your stall if you'd like to share about what it is that you had.

Jo: 4:31

Yeah, and I think that's where we clicked too, because you were going through the process of writing your book and I was selling my books and journals, and I guess that's where it all started for me, and I think you were looking at my book, specifically called your body relationship, which talked about my experiences with stress, anxiety and depression, which started primarily with my first son, when he was around six months old and started developing cerebral palsy, and probably by two years old it was. It was it was clear that he was still as dependent as a newborn baby and there wouldn't be much change, and in fact, he's still that that person today, at 40 years old. So I was thrust into roles that I wasn't equipped for nurse, mother, chauffeur, everything you know. My life revolved around hospital appointments and hospital stays and operations, and speech therapy is just a very, very busy role and with every one of them I was given tasks to do at home for my son. So I was no longer just his mother, and it wasn't long before I was feeling the effects of stress and, with such limited time, I drew on a technique that I had been introduced to when I was 18 at a youth camp, and that was journaling. I didn't know what I was doing, it was just probably an inbuilt sense of safe, safety and self-preservation, actually, and I just purged onto the pages all my thoughts, stress, fears, and I always felt better afterwards with hospital visits.

Jo: 6:15

I, a social worker, came by one day and suggested counseling, which the hospital offered, and I had two sessions, and the first one was really quite powerful. She said let's draw a timeline and have a look at what's been going on in your life. And I said but I've never had anything else happen. You know, there's not really been any trauma or anything. You know, this is it, this is what I'm dealing with. She goes no, no, no, let's just have a look. So we did a zero, starting at zero, to the age that I was and all the events I could think of along that timeline, and what it did for me was make me realise that what I was feeling at the time, coping with my son, was a feeling of being disconnected from my body, as though I was like living on. I was there on my shoulder but not in my body, and for years I never told anyone about that because I thought I was the only one that felt that and that I was weird and that there was something wrong with me. Today, of course, we know that that's a trauma response. You know it's disconnection from your body. Your body's holding all that emotion and stress and tension. It doesn't have an outlet and we do disconnect. It's a safety response.

Jo: 7:38

And when I realized that, I realized that I'd actually had that feeling right back in childhood, that I'd actually had that feeling right back in childhood and even though I hadn't had any trauma, it was a childhood of, yes, I had a roof over my head, I had clothes and I had food and I was attending school. But it was my parents parented with an austere kind of parenting style. There wasn't very much warmth. There was never any. Really, there was never any. Really there was never any hugs. I can't remember ever being hugged. There was never, uh, positive self-esteem building or anything. There's a lot of it like don't, don't cry, put that anger away, you're stupid or you know. Just just a lot, of, a lot of that style of parenting which actually did cause me to disconnect from my body because it was very fearful and I never had emotions mirrored to me, so I never. I couldn't name them and I wasn't allowed to express them. And so I realized that that disconnection was right there, right back in my childhood, and that it was actually in itself a form of trauma. In fact today it's called childhood emotional neglect, and it's not the fault of our parents, it's just the way society was at the time, and I remember my mum's generation. They were told they were having a breakdown if they cried and they were given Valium. So it's just a sign of the times.

Jo: 9:00

But fast forward to the time where I was dealing with my son. I quickly realised that trauma isn't healed just mentally, that I did have emotions. I was feeling the stress and the anxiety in my body and spiritually. I've never been religious and didn't have a faith, so there was nothing there for me to hold on to either.

Jo: 9:24

But what I did find in the journaling was that it did tick those boxes.

Jo: 9:29

It became a safe place for me to express emotion. If I felt anything in my body, any tension, stress, pain, I wrote to it and this is kind of a natural thing that occurred from connecting with my own inner wisdom. So really the journal was my healing place on all those levels. And spiritually. I think I was connecting with inner wisdom which felt like the spiritual part of me, and I grew strength from that and I had a lot of wise sort of advice come through from that place and so journaling became therapy for me and today journal therapy is the name of my business. And fast forward a few more years, I trained as a holistic counsellor and specialising in artistic therapies, but everything kept coming back to the journal therapy and I love it because it's free. Anyone can do it anywhere. It's not dependent on appointments. So if you're time poor, you know, even if it's night and you're really tired, you can always find a bit of space just to connect with, with yourself and I love that.

Trudie Marie: 10:43

I want to break down two things inside of that. The first one you said going back to childhood trauma. And people think that it has to be a big event, like whether there was some kind of abuse or a death in the family at a young age, or something really big. But so many people it can be something as simple as being left out of an event at school or missing an event at school or, you know, having something said to them at a young age that that trauma starts really small and what we perceive as adults as being insignificant, but for the child who's experiencing it at the time they don't know how to cope with that. They don't know how to cope with that. They don't know how to experience that, and then that's the trauma that they then take with them into their adult life and it can happen again in adolescence.

Jo: 11:31

And we experience all these tiny traumas along the way.

Trudie Marie: 11:35

And the second thing that I want to say to that, too, is that you said about journaling and writing things out, and I go back to when I was at school and I kept a diary. It was like when we were younger, it was this whole big thing of actually keeping a diary and writing down all our thoughts and our ideas and what was going on with us. But then for many of us probably most of us we get to adulthood and we're like, yeah, meh, that was a childhood thing. Yet you're literally saying that no, it's something we should be doing or could be doing on a more regular basis to regulate our nervous systems.

Jo: 12:15

I think you, you know that's a really important key. When you said something that happened in childhood, I had a memory that I only actually wrote about last week and that's why I laughed how many of us were chosen last for school sports teams. My hands up, my hands up too, yeah, and it was only last week. I experienced something and I realised you know what that had a huge impact on my confidence in putting myself forward today, because there's that fear I'm going to be chosen last. But the fear is really about feeling the pain of that which I didn't know about when I was a child and I didn't do as a child. So when I realized that, I was able to shed some tears that I'd been holding onto for many, many, many years over the humiliation and the shame and the embarrassment of constantly being chosen last for school sports teams, that is a little trauma that's followed me through. It's a perfect example of what you're saying, trudy. And the other thing I thought of when you said that was my other son and daughter were in year six and seven.

Jo: 13:25

The school put out a letter asking for parent help for some children who were struggling with literacy. And, of course, once you get into high school. They're saying they can get lost in the system. So if we don't offer these children some one-on-one today, we don't want that for them. So I put my hand up and we were given a sheet and we had to encourage the children, the young adults by this stage, to use the joiners and look at the way that they're putting sentences together. And after about six weeks I just threw my hands up in the air. There wasn't the interest and they weren't getting it. And I said to the teacher can I do some journaling with them? And she said do anything. And so I asked.

Jo: 14:12

I had one female and one male and I asked these two for a memory of their favorite holiday. So they both told me those stories and I said then how about you write that as a conversation on your page? Just write it as if you're telling me again which they did do. And I saw their you know their faces and their, their passion doing it. It was something that all the fear of not meeting those writing and literacy indicators had been removed for them. So they were able to just basically like write cathartically I guess.

Jo: 14:51

But what happened was when we read it back, all those joiners were there, naturally because it's the way we speak, but their brain was so conditioned that they couldn't do it or they were fearing the humiliation because they couldn't do it that it stopped them getting it on paper. That was such a breakthrough. So from then on, we, we, just we. We did the journaling and I just remember those two when I see them in the shopping center or in community over the next five years and the big smiles on their faces and how much that freed them up, and something that you said starting a diary in school. It just makes me think it's something in us that it's a natural thing. That we want to do is to reflect and, you know, just keep a record of how we're feeling and what we're doing.

Trudie Marie: 15:40

Yeah, and I think journaling is so personal as well, and what you said about the kids at school and helping them with you know a specific aspect of literacy.

Trudie Marie: 15:51

But with a journal it doesn't matter how you write, it doesn't matter how you spell it, doesn't matter your sentence structure. It is literally putting your thoughts into words on paper and you can do that in whatever way, shape, form it takes. And I think in the current climate of mindset, coaching and people doing all the stuff and like write down your gratitudes right, like start a journal, people think that there's this really specific way of doing things when it's a matter of picking up a blank piece of paper and writing a whole bunch of stuff out and you know, go burn it if you want to or go throw whatever, rip it up and put it in the bin if you want to. It's the actual act of writing. And I think, in the the current form of technology where everything is typed onto a phone or, you know, typed onto a computer, that we've actually forgotten the art form of actually just writing carefree. And I think that that's what journaling reintroduces to us, like we did when we were kids, that we just write about anything and everything.

Jo: 16:55

And I think you made a really important point when you said burn it. You know, if you want to, I um, there's a lot of that cathartic rising where we're just getting out our anger and we might be making judgments and project projections and it's just getting it out. It's not, it's it's safe doing it that way, you know, and it's still getting it out without hurting anybody. But it's not something we'd want someone to read. But, um, it reminds me of when I first started teaching journaling to some women and the conversation about hiding your journal come up and that was actually something that prevented people from writing. They didn't want anyone to read it.

Jo: 17:33

But you know, that's really just about not wanting certain aspects of yourself to be seen. But the interesting thing is when it, when you process it on the page and it's out and it's gone. It has no power over you and it doesn't really mean anything. So if someone does see it, it's like it won't trigger any pain because you've dealt with the pain, the pain's out on the paper and so that's a really kind of. That was a real measure for me when I got to that space, and not that I want anyone to to see that kind of writing, or that I really left it out, but I was no longer afraid to journal for the fear of that, if that makes sense.

Trudie Marie: 18:12

A hundred percent. I totally relate that with my book because, as you know, my book Everyday Warrior is my journals from hiking the Bibbulmun track. Now, when I started the Bib track and I was writing in my journal as part of my psychotherapy because my psychologist had suggested it so that we could go back and deal with anything or reflect with anything on the track when I went to my appointments afterwards, but I found it so cathartic to actually just whatever had come up on the day whether it was something emotional, something physical, something a memory that had occurred or something I dealt with that I could just get it all out on paper. And then when I decided to present that as a book for everybody else to read my journals, it was like that's okay. I mean, obviously I redacted a lot of the really sensitive stuff because I was like there are certain things you don't want people to read. But for most part I was like, like you just said, there is no power over the words anymore, like it doesn't mean anything.

Jo: 19:17

And I had so much healing, not just from the journey of hiking the bib trap but writing my book and making my journals public was a whole different level of healing because it was like anything written in there means nothing anymore and and also you know, if it did, if, for example and I've got my story out too Trudy and if there is anything that ever comes back as a result of aspects of that story, I find that it's a perfect trigger for something that still needs healing within me, and so I just take that to the page and then work with that, and so that's given me an opportunity. Because that's the thing with reactions and projections from other people All this stuff is invisible inside us. So unless it comes from outside, or unless we cry at a sad movie or get angry at something on the news, we don't know what's inside us. And so I kind of see I never tell anybody that, but I kind of see those, those figures and projections as healing opportunities and I use them as that. So I take that to the page and then process that. So so really, even if anything does come up from from the sharing, it's just another opportunity to heal, totally agree, yeah. So now.

Jo: 20:32

Now you said something before too about writing your journal, and when you said that, I thought of the Minunu Arts art exhibition last year. So I had my journals, but you also had some art, and it was the Zentangles, the mandalas, yes, and I'm looking at this array of art, and there was a journal there too. So my point is that it's not just writing. You know that, that your art can be a way that you express your feelings and emotions and thoughts. Your art can be a way to tap into your inner wisdom. So there's writing and there's art, and for someone else that might be making videos, you know, a journal doesn't have to be just writing no, I totally agree.

Trudie Marie: 21:20

I mean there are art journals, like there are people that actually keep art diaries or journals as part of, if they're an artist, like capturing sketches or you know, quick oil paintings or whatever, wherever they are. But that's exactly how it all started for me. I started doing the zentangles and the mandalas as part of my art therapy in my own healing journey and it's something that I kept going with. I even did macrame at one stage, because the therapeutic knotting of cord, I you know.

Trudie Marie: 21:53

But I got something out of it at the end and I think that's the beauty whether it's journaling and writing or journaling and art that when you're getting all those emotions trapped emotions often out of your body is that you have something then to show for it, whether it's a beautiful piece of art or a beautiful piece of writing, it's that result that I think, that gives you that validation in that moment that okay, cool, I've got something to show for it, whereas often, when you've done talk therapy which is obviously the traditional going to see your psychiatrist or your psychologist is that all you've done is talk for an hour. You may have cried or whatever, but there's nothing to show for it at the end. So you get stuck in this cycle of just repeated patterns, whereas when you actually can then reflect back over and look at that piece of art or look at that piece of writing, you've got something to show for it, which means you can then either put it to bed or move forward from that.

Jo: 22:54

It's well said, trudy. Very well said because, as I mentioned before, everything, emotion particularly is invisible inside us. Thoughts are invisible inside us. So if we can make them manifest, it brings them into reality and I think it helps with that feeling of actually connecting with your body. Again, you're seeing something tangible as a result of something you did, and even your walking walking when you're telling me that you're walking or you mentioned that before the thing with trauma and anxiety and, as I said, you know that feeling of disconnected, not being in your body, because the body is no longer a safe place. You actually walked yourself back into your body and that's a really important point too, because with the walking, you are releasing stress, you're releasing anxiety, but at the same time, your mind is processing things and getting clear and you're able to articulate when you stopped it, you know, at the end of the day, and started writing. I just think it's an important point. It makes me think well, that you know the body is a journal.

Trudie Marie: 23:57

It holds all our stories and it's really good to find a way, something physical that we can do that will minimize the stress and clear the mind and allow those stories to come up, to be heard and healed yeah, I totally agree and just going back to like your story and the aspect that this all came about for you in a big way once your son was diagnosed with special needs, how has that then helped you with that journey? Like you said, he's now 40 and in some ways he's no different to when he was two because of his special needs. How has the whole process of journaling helped you as a mother during that process?

Jo: 24:44

I think the situation created cluster emotions, and by that I mean it was so complex. It was very hard to say I'm sad or I I'm scared, because I was feeling everything. But going to the page was a natural process of unpacking it bit by bit, and so the fear would come out and then the anger might come out and beneath all that sadness, you know, so it was a great way to unpack that cluster emotion. But also it was there's a great way to understand exactly what it was that I was fearing, you know, because again the fear was clustered fears, you know, fear that I wouldn't cope, fear that he wouldn't survive, and, and challenging that and coming to terms with that. So that's obviously not just one journal entry, that that's a theme over a period of years.

Jo: 25:41

Eventually I got to the stage where I realised that he was my best teacher in life. What he couldn't do or things that I was triggered by not being verbal, not being able to feed himself, his complete dependency, triggered everything in me that had taught me that I had to be, do or become to be a person of value. So he was my child, completely dependent for every single thing in his life and I loved him unconditionally and that was such a good teacher for me. I still feel weepy when I think about that, you know, as transitioning from oh my gosh, I've probably walked the line of a breakdown several times over those years from that conditioning that I have to be, do or become and I have to deal with this and I have to cope with this without help, do it on my own. So it was just a huge. He's been a huge gift and I feel that I am who I am today because of his disabilities and his challenges and his special needs.

Jo: 26:50

Also, you know, there was always a fear he was not going to live by, he would not survive past five, and then then it was 12, then it was 21 and then it was just. Well, it's left up to him now and I didn't want him to die until I got to the point where I really really, really totally loved him for who he was and I just felt so fortunate to have been able to get to that place, you know, as his mum, and just accept him and love him as he was. I actually wrote a lot of that in my first book. It's the biography called my Body is my Liberation. So by working through what I was feeling in my body. I got to that freedom within myself, and so a lot of my stories are in that book.

Trudie Marie: 27:36

Yeah, that's such a beautiful journey to be on like.

Trudie Marie: 27:39

As a mother, we want to accept our children for exactly who they are, and I understand what it takes to be the parent of a special child not from my own perspective, but my niece has special needs and quite dependent special needs and you do learn through them of and I love what you said about.

Trudie Marie: 28:04

We're so conditioned to be something, do something or become something, because that's prevalent throughout our whole lives. Our parents want us to be a certain way or do a certain thing or become a certain thing, and when we're at high school, where you know what's next, what's university, what's work, what's next, and then when we're in that job, it's like, okay, you get married, you buy a house, you have a family, but there's all this conditioning. And when you can actually peel all that back and just accept a person for just who they are, as what your son is Like, he has a purpose in this world, even though he can't do a lot, he can't become a lot. He's a teacher, he's a teacher and he's a human being having this experience in this life and allowing everybody else around him to learn from him as well. I just think that's such a beautiful aspect that is so overlooked by so many people.

Jo: 29:07

I think so. And then you know, the biggest gift, as I said, I think is what is missing for a lot of us from childhood is to to feel that we are that cherished child. Certainly, to be able to give that to him meant that I recognized I was missing that in my own foundation and that really there's only us that can bring that to ourselves as adults, just learning to cherish ourselves, be that person, you know, just be that person for ourselves as well.

Trudie Marie: 29:36

I I love that and I will ask you, inside of you, doing your own journaling as part of your therapy in coping and you said that you had other children as well. Did you also introduce that to them to help them cope with their life of living with a sibling with special needs?

Jo: 29:58

They do journal and it has inspired them. They've had their own journey as siblings and that's a kind of that's a very personal journey again and I think it manifested differently for my son and my daughter but I definitely instilled and my daughter but I definitely instilled journaling and they keep it up and it's a go-to for them. I find that it's quite moving to see that, particularly that my daughter's developed that habit processing her own challenges, but that my son has when he's in a place where he needs to look then he goes to the journal and I really like that.

Trudie Marie: 30:45

Yeah, it must be like a proud mom moment that you've learned this therapy yourself and you've been able to pass it on and just especially talking about your son. I'll then ask about your husband to see if he does the same thing, because I know that for many of us in society it seems to be a natural thing for a woman to do, but not so much for a male to do.

Jo: 31:08

Unfortunately, you are right. But having said that, I'm sure there are men out there who do journaling and and maybe not even realizing that they're doing it, and that's probably where my husband is at today. It's just so beautiful to watch when he does sit down and do it and that he starts reflecting on his own life and things that happened years and years and years ago come up to be seen, and that he didn't really realise that they were still impacting on him today. So it's a very powerful medium for anybody anywhere at any stage in life.

Trudie Marie: 31:45

Yeah, and I think, if we can get into that practice earlier, like we said, remembering that we all kept diaries as kids at school.

Trudie Marie: 31:54

Or you know and we are taught about it from a very young age, like I think you know, going back to the early stages of writing you would write in your daily workbook and, yes, you draw a picture with it and, yes, you would write about what you did on the weekend or the day before. Or you know, even kids that have time off school and go on like holiday adventures with their parents are told to keep a travel journal so that they've got something to bring back and that's their education while they're away. And all this happens so naturally when we're younger. Yet when we get to adulthood, we're so scared of picking up a pen or a paper because we want it to be perfect or we're afraid of being judged by it. And if we can strip all that back and remember what it's like to be a five or six year old at school, writing in our daily workbooks and drawing a picture or, you know, some kind of doodle to go along with that, then there are so many aspects of life that would be so much better.

Jo: 32:58

You're so right, and we've grown up in emotionally phobic societies, and I think that's probably why there's some resistance, because it's going to connect with our emotions. But that brings me to the point where what I just thought of when you were saying that is that we do have two sides of us. We have a logic side and we have a creative side, and the journaling nurtures the creative side it's that expression that we're talking about whereas we are predominantly we've been brought up in logic society. So, and I think that's why journaling is so healthy, because it nurtures and brings both those sides into balance.

Trudie Marie: 33:39

It does, and even in the logic of actually writing words on paper, because there is a natural logic to that, like you're forming letters and words and that whole logic, part of our brain, is coming into play, but being creative to just get whatever those thoughts are out onto paper, like I said, without any judgment or criticism, or sentence structure and spelling mistakes, like who cares at the end of the day, and I think there is a certain freedom in that that for many of us we've forgotten.

Jo: 34:17

I think it's a natural part of expression because you said it yourself when you were keeping a diary as a kid, you were drawing some drawings as well. So that's your nonverbal side coming into play and it's integrating with the logic side.

Trudie Marie: 34:32

Yeah, so true, and I think many teachers would probably agree that there's this whole forgotten activity that we did and that it's yeah, it's something that anybody at any age can pick up a pen and paper and start to do.

Jo: 34:50

Again, we're seeing that globally in cyberspace today there's such a big rise in creativity, so much on offer now.

Trudie Marie: 35:00

Yeah, and I think, like you said earlier on, that it doesn't matter whether it's the art of writing down or the the art of actually creating an art piece. But you did also mention video and I often think that you look at social media like whether it's Facebook or Instagram or TikTok especially TikTok is often people's journals of like, actually sharing their thoughts and their expressions and their creativity and telling the world how it is. But inside those spaces we then are opening ourselves to the judgment and criticism, because everybody wants to comment or opinion on it, but people need to feel safe in being able to express themselves freely. So I often think that when you can do it in private, like the art of writing a journal is so much more cathartic because it is for your eyes only and it's just you being able to process your own thoughts, emotions, what's going on.

Jo: 36:06

For you it's authentic and you're in integrity with yourself, whereas sometimes, when it, when we're putting out on social media, we have this idea that we've got to live up to something or, you know, it may not be as authentic, but it also made me think of learning styles, that somebody whose logic is going to write, somebody who's more creative, might draw somebody who's more like the video drama, that kind of thing, you know, is that that's I forget the name of that intelligence, but they're the people that'll be really good at videoing their life. You know, we've all got a strength, that is that comes naturally to us, and so if we can find that, that's going to be our best form of expression.

Trudie Marie: 36:51

I tend to agree. I think it's working with your strengths in whatever shape or form that takes. But and I think that goes back to, like I said, it doesn't have to be this perfect journal that you buy from the shop and that you write in every day and it takes on a certain format. It's like pick up a scrap of paper, go to your printer and, you know, grab a blank sheet or you know, scribble something on the back of a receipt. If you have to like whatever it is like, the point is to just do it regardless of that when I'm out.

Jo: 37:25

When I'm out, judy, and inspiration hits. I've been known to write on the back of a receipt.

Trudie Marie: 37:30

You just grab whatever comes to hand voice memo has become my friend on my phone because if I'm, especially if I'm driving and you can't I always before I do a long distance drive because, like, obviously from Minganew to Perth it's four hours but I always open up the voice recording or the voice memo section on my phone because if I'm driving for four hours and things cross my mind, I can't stop and write it down. So I just like flick from my google maps to the voice recording, hit record and write and speak exactly what I'm thinking, and then I can always go back and journal on that. I can go back and create on that. But I've got it there as a reminder because so often we forget, like you, something will cross your mind and as quick as it's crossed your mind, it's gone again and there's another thought there and sometimes somebody will say something that go and you go ouch, that hurt, you know, not outwardly, but inwardly.

Jo: 38:24

I always write those down as well because I would forget by the time I got home. But there's something there for me to work with, because I heard, heard, so there's that, and I've even heard conversations in passing that have had a message for me. It's just when you start looking it's really inspiring about how much is out there that can help you on your healing. Just take yourself for a walk and see what it is that you take notice of. There's so much to write about.

Trudie Marie: 38:52

Totally true. I mean, mean, even when I was hiking the bib track, like there would be days where you know it'd be stuff that was about the track because the trap tested me in ways that I didn't realize it would. But then other days it was like total thought patterns and things that had come up for me so you never knew what you were going to write down. At the end of the day it was.

Jo: 39:13

It's all part of the process it's a surprise, and I love networking those dots, because that's where the story is. What someone says today, or what you notice today, is relevant to something that you will notice or write about in a week. It's that's where your story starts, isn't it?

Trudie Marie: 39:30

it is like a big jigsaw puzzle and I think that's the beauty of it is that we all have a story to share. So many people are afraid of sharing their story, but we're all here on earth at this one time and place, all having this human being experience, and yet we're all so scared of how that experience rolls out.

Jo: 39:53

It's like just enjoy the ride yeah, so it's just our conditioning, isn't it? But I think that's what's so lovely about what you're doing, about sharing stories, because they normalize things for each other. Even the when I spoke about the disconnection and that you know, not feeling connected to to my body, I know that because someone shared it and I went there's me, you know. So there's the story.

Trudie Marie: 40:17

Sharing stories certainly normalizes things for ourselves it does, and that's why I love the podcast for sharing stories of so many different people from so many different aspects, because somewhere in everybody's story you will find a little piece of yourself. So I mean and I take for example today not everybody will have a child with special needs, but there are many of my listeners who are parents and who have had to deal with something about their children inside of that and could go oh well, if I just journaled it out, I would feel much better about myself.

Jo: 40:52

So it's it's in that sharing and in that realizing that we're not alone here, that we're all enjoying this or going down this path together, that we can take what we need from each other and and learn from each other along the way and I think, uh, saying not everybody has or has access to a child with special needs, I certainly have been triggered by somebody in community who may have special needs and in processing what's triggered me, I often think I'm the one with a disability, to be honest, ability to be honest.

Trudie Marie: 41:33

There's many a time that I have thought that with my niece. She is my little grounding being. That brings you back to reality and to what's really important in life really quickly. I understand yeah, so what are you doing now? Like you said that your business is obviously about journaling, what is it that you actually offer to any of my listeners?

Jo: 41:57

I have an introduction to journaling program Trudy, for $27 to anybody that hasn't been exposed to journaling before. And then I have a journal therapy program where you can download about five different journals and they're on different topics and one is the emotional healing formula that grew over the years that I've put together that really get to your staff and help you process it. At the core, one is basically they're answering those questions who am I, what is my purpose, what gets in my way and how can I live inspired? The second journal course that I mentioned I think that's $125, it's Australian dollars, and from there there are other longer programs people can immerse themselves in, like a membership and 12-month support and being part of the community. So they're good places to start, but there's so much online too. If people start, my distinction is journal therapy. That's probably what I should mention, as opposed to, perhaps, art journaling or other forms of journaling. Mine are designed to help people uncover and heal repressed issues and emotions.

Trudie Marie: 43:16

Yeah, and I think that's a really beautiful thing to like take a note of too is that anybody can pick up a pen and paper and start journaling. But then it's often what do you do with those things that you're writing down or dealing with and how do you process that information? And what you do as part of your business and obviously you said you're a holistic counsellor and you offer this journaling therapy is that you can then start to not just journal but start to process and analyse what you're journaling and how that actually affects or impacts your life.

Jo: 43:51

I think that's a natural transition, because anybody picking up the journal and just writing about this moment is going to get some relief. But I think eventually you get to that part of yourself that is looking for a deeper experience to be able to really process and take things to completion. But certainly just sitting down with a journal and doing writing, however it comes out, that is very cathartic as well. It's a good, good place to start and it's a good place to start feeling confident that you can feel safe in your body, that you've got tools and inner wisdom that will help you and hold you in any space.

Trudie Marie: 44:31

I will definitely put your website and links to your journaling therapy in the show notes so any listener who wants to get in contact with you can do that.

Jo: 44:43

Thank you, trie, and thank you for what you do.

Trudie Marie: 44:47

Thank you, I really do love it. For me, this is an absolute joy of bringing people together, bringing listeners in communication with other people's stories, because I think, like I said before, we are so scared of sharing our story, of feeling like we're all alone in the world, that nobody else knows what you're going through and it's actually part of my intro in the podcast is actually saying we may not be wearing the same shoes, but we're walking on the same path, so we all experience the same types of things, just in our own personal way. So I love the connections that I get to do here.

Trudie Marie: 45:28

I love it, well done so thank you so much for coming onto the podcast today and having this very, very inspiring conversation.

Jo: 45:37

Thank you, Trudy, and all the best to all the listeners on their healing journeys.

Trudie Marie: 45:43

Thank you, and I always finish the podcast episode by asking what is the one thing you are most grateful for today?

Jo: 45:51

You know what comes to my mind straight away when you ask that question. It's my why it's healing lives and changing generations, because what we do today to heal ourselves impacts on the future generations.

Trudie Marie: 46:04

Thank you for tuning in to the Everyday Warriors podcast. If you have an idea for a future episode or a story you'd like to share yourself, then please reach out and message me, as I am always up for real, raw and authentic conversations with other everyday warriors. Also, be sure to subscribe so that you can download all the latest episodes as they are published and spread the word to your family and friends and colleagues so they can listen in too. If you're sharing on social media, please be sure to tag me so that I can personally acknowledge you. I'm always open to comment about how these episodes have resonated with you, the listener. And remember lead with love as you live this one wild and precious life.