Journaling is impactful because it creates a unique space where multiple powerful psychological processes converge:
It externalises internal chaos. The simple act of moving thoughts from your mind to paper transforms abstract worries into manageable, concrete problems. This shift from internal rumination to external observation gives you psychological distance and clarity you can’t achieve through thinking alone.
It activates neuroplasticity (brain’s ability to change and adapt due to experience). Writing engages both analytical and creative brain regions simultaneously, literally rewiring neural pathways. The physical act of writing (especially by hand) strengthens memory formation and emotional processing in ways that typing or just thinking cannot match.
It breaks the illusion of permanence. When you write down fears, anger, or confusion, you often discover they’re more temporary and changeable than they felt in your head. Seeing “I’m terrible at everything” on paper reveals its absurdity in a way that thinking it doesn’t.
It creates a witness to your life. Journaling makes you both the observer and the observed, developing a kind of compassionate self-awareness. You begin treating yourself with the same curiosity and kindness you’d show a friend telling you their story.
It builds emotional resilience. Regular journaling literally practices the skill of processing difficult emotions. Each time you write through pain, confusion, or challenge, you strengthen your capacity to handle future difficulties.
It reveals your authentic voice. Without audience or judgment, your true thoughts, values, and desires emerge. Many people discover who they really are through journaling, separate from who they think they should be.
It creates forward momentum. Writing clarifies not just what is, but what could be, naturally leading to insights about next steps and positive change.
“The most important thing you learn from writing is about yourself.” — Ray Bradbury
When asked about his biography for the sake of publishing this book, Kiran Baba immediately gave us a straightforward answer:
“I have no biography. This body has a biography but this is not very important. Why insist on that? You can give your reflections about how it was when you met me and what you have seen here. That much you can share, but there is no need of describing what kind of dreams I was into, what kind of dreams I carried, now that the person to whom you are talking has no history, has no past and has no future. This person is just living into this moment and this is the expression of life. It is like a beautiful flower. You don’t have to ask anything to a flower. You enjoy the beauty and the fragrance of the flower, and that is enough.
If you ask me, I am a businessman, I go to the factory, I am a husband to my wife, I am a grandfather and father to my children, and that is it, that is all!
The cacophony of modern life can be deafening, leaving us feeling frazzled and uneasy. In this warm, wise book, Prem Rawat teaches us how to turn down the noise to “hear ourselves”―to listen to the subtle song of peace that sings inside each of us. Once we learn to truly “hear ourselves” and the voice of peace within, then we can hold that within us as we face all the noise of the world. The culmination of a lifetime of study, Hear Yourself lays out the crucial steps we can use to focus on the voice within. Take a walk in nature and listen for the sounds of harmony, Prem Rawat suggests, or set aside a few minutes each day to feel gratitude, which comes from the core of our being. He challenges us to embrace our thirst for inner peace and let go of expectations for how it should feel. With one straightforward yet deeply profound question, he helps us to focus―to be present: Am I conscious of where I am today and what I want to experience in this world?” If we allow ourselves to listen, what we hear is the extraordinary miracle of existence―an experience that transforms our relationship to life and everything in it. Packed with powerful insights and compelling stories, Hear Yourself introduces readers to an ancient line of practical wisdom that enlightens us to a simple way to listen. By doing so, Prem Rawat reveals, we can “profoundly change our understanding of ourselves, those around us, and our lives. ”
Where do thoughts come from? A questioner engages Rupert in a discussion about the consciousness-only model, the origin of thoughts, the nature of the mind and how we can go beyone the limitations of the mind.
Rupert explains that in the consciousness only model infinite consciousness is the medium within which literally everything arises. Thoughts may be conditioned from individual experiences that we have like a toothache, by events that take place outside your mind like the coronavirus or your own past conditioning through experiences you had as a child. The more we explore our experience the more we realize that the self of each of us, is the self of infinite awareness.
And at some point the personal thoughts and feelings tend to die down because there is no longer a clearly defined personal self or ego for them to revolve around. The mind expands until it loses its limitations and is recognized to be one with infinite consciousness or, in religious language, with God’s presence.
