If you’ve ever looked back at your journals and realized you’ve been writing a lot… but not actually getting anywhere, this video is for you. I talk through why my old approach—stream of consciousness, brain-dump style journaling—often left me with the same ramblings on repeat. It wasn’t that writing didn’t help; it’s that I wasn’t really contemplating. I wanted my notebook to be something I could come back to as a reference, a repository that actually supports me when the same emotions, thoughts, or life events show up again. So I share the practice I’ve gravitated toward: contemplative journaling. It’s structured, intentional, and designed to help me emotionally regulate and get to “deep clarity”—meaning I try not to leave a session without a strategy, a lesson learned, or a next step I can implement. My simple workflow is: (1) frame the problem or prompt at the top of the page, (2) dig for the root cause, and (3) write out strategies/what I’m trying next. I also show how I keep an index so I can flip back to topics like self-doubt, fear, or “turn the page,” and actually use my past thinking to move forward.