5-Day Journaling Exercise: Are you suffering, and not doing something about it?
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: Are you suffering, and not doing something about it?

Theme: Are you suffering and not spending time to help yourself?

Day 1 – What Is Suffering?

  • If you look in the mirror, where does distress or heaviness show up in your body, mind, or relationships?

  • What are your most common patterns of suffering?

  • What made you feel that way?

  • Write about how your inner critic describes your “distress.”

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: The Marathon I Didn’t See Coming
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: The Marathon I Didn’t See Coming

Theme: From Bystander to driver, personal growth, intention, invisible turning points, transformation through others, and long-term emotional and physical wellness. 

Day 1 – The Moment Before the Moment

  • Think about a moment in your life that seemed ordinary at the time, but changed everything in hindsight.

  • What was happening? 

  • Who was involved? 

  • What shifted? 

  • How does it live in you now?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: Angst or Freedom, Your Choice
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: Angst or Freedom, Your Choice

Theme: Internal dialogue, truth-telling, emotional patterns, and choosing personal freedom over emotional stagnation.
Day 1: Conversations in Your Head

  • Think of a recent time you had an argument or unresolved issue playing out in your mind.

  • What was the situation?

  • What did you want to say?

  • How did keeping it in impact your mood, body, or relationships?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: Your Basement Box
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: Your Basement Box

Theme: Unpack old emotional habits, become more self-aware, and cultivate inner peace. 
Day 1 – What’s in Your Box?

  • What patterns or emotional reactions keep showing up in your life, despite your best efforts to "throw them out"?

  • Think of one recurring pattern. 

  • Where did it start? 

  • What’s it protecting you from?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: Choose Your Adventure, Because You Can’t Choose Others
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: Choose Your Adventure, Because You Can’t Choose Others

Theme:  Explore choice, control, relationships, personal narratives, and how we rewrite or reframe moments that define us. 
Day 1: The Illusion of Control

  •  Write about a time when you thought you had control over someone else’s decision, and you didn’t.

  •  What did you learn?

  •  How did you respond in the moment?

  •  What would you do differently today?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: So It’s the Laughter We Remember
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: So It’s the Laughter We Remember

Theme: “The Way We Feel” – Building a Life of Meaning, One Moment at a Time

Day 1 – Rewriting the Details

  • Choose a story you often tell about your life.

  • What are the core “facts” of the story?

  • What are the emotional truths beneath it?

  • How does that moment shape your sense of self?

Read More
5-Day Journal Exercise: I Have an Unclassified Mental Disorder
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journal Exercise: I Have an Unclassified Mental Disorder

Theme: Awareness, Acceptance, and the Power of Pause
Day 1: What’s Bubbling Beneath the Surface?

Think of a recent interaction where you felt the need to be heard immediately.

  • What triggered that urgency?

  • Was it about the moment—or something deeper?

  • What would you have said if you had taken a breath?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: Are You Trying to Control the Wind?
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: Are You Trying to Control the Wind?

Theme: How are you trying to control the wind? What are you trying to control, accept, change, ‘bang your head against the wall,’?

Day 1 – Control vs. Acceptance

What areas of your life do you feel compelled to control, but can’t or it’s very challenging?
How does trying to control these areas make you feel?
What would it mean to “study the wind” instead of trying to control it?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: The Boy in the Raft
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: The Boy in the Raft

Theme: Explore your childhood innocence, the impact of life-changing events, trauma, self-awareness, and healing.

Day 1 – Innocence & Joy

Recall a time in your childhood when you felt completely carefree and joyful.
What sights, sounds, or feelings come to mind?
What did “innocent, childlike fun” look like for you?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: Finding Light in the Darkness
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: Finding Light in the Darkness

Theme: Explore forgiveness, fear, inherited stories, the complexity of ancestry, and compassion for self and others—especially when beliefs are challenged.

Day 1 – Facing the Unimaginable

Has life ever presented you with something that deeply challenged your identity or beliefs?
How did you respond?
How do you hold space for both the discomfort and the potential for growth?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: Are You Making Pies for Everyone?
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: Are You Making Pies for Everyone?

Theme: Focus on people-pleasing, emotional boundaries, identity, and self-compassion. Gently shift your focus from over-catering to others toward honoring the self.

Day 1 – Your Emotional Pie Chart

How much of your daily energy goes toward making sure others are okay (emotionally, mentally, physically)?
What would your “emotional pie chart” look like right now?
What slice is missing or too small?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: What if C-A-T Really Spelled D-O-G? 
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: What if C-A-T Really Spelled D-O-G? 

Theme: “What if C-A-T Really Spelled Dog?” — a beautiful reflection and reframe on perspective, perception, time, and narrative.

Day 1 – Your Inner Narrator

What is a story you've been telling yourself lately—about who you are or what you're capable of?
Is it helpful or limiting?
How would your life change if you rewrote this narrative today?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: Can I have an Extra Helping of Poison, Please?
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: Can I have an Extra Helping of Poison, Please?

Theme: What poison are you swallowing? Identify, explore, and heal toxic internal narratives and emotional patterns.

Day 1: Naming Your Poison Pills

What negative beliefs do you repeat to yourself that you know are untrue or harmful?

  • Where did they come from?

  • Which one is the loudest in your head right now?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: Manage the Heartbreak
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: Manage the Heartbreak

Theme: “From broken to beautiful, resilience, heartbreak, beauty in imperfection, and reconnection to self and earth.

Day 1: What Is Broken

What part of your life or heart feels broken right now—or has felt that way recently?

  • Name it without fixing it.

  • What does it feel like to hold space for that without judgment?

  • What is a simple act that would allow you to patch what needs fixing?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: Just Getting Started
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: Just Getting Started

Purpose: Just start where you are, and from within.

Day 1: What’s Holding You Back?

  • What’s one thing you’ve been avoiding starting—big or small?

  • What stories, fears, or expectations are attached to it?

  • What would it feel like to just begin imperfectly?

Read More
5-Day Journaling Exercise: Shed Life’s Emotional Weight
Peter Dopkin Peter Dopkin

5-Day Journaling Exercise: Shed Life’s Emotional Weight

Theme: “Shed Life’s Emotional Weight”
Purpose: An exploration to unpack emotional heaviness and re-center yourself.
DAY 1: Mirror Check-In
  • When you look in the mirror, do you see who you really are—or what you think others see?
  • What emotions come up when you’re honest with yourself?
Read More