Journaling as Inner Alchemy (Ft Oliver Mann)

What if the most honest conversation you’ll ever have is the one you write to yourself?

Depression cycles, chasing highs, and the quiet power of contentment — Oliver Mann shares a practical journaling approach that actually creates change: Reveal → Reclaim → Rewrite, plus the underrated technique of dialogue writing (a Jung-inspired way to talk with parts of yourself) and why community turns a private practice into real-world transformation. We also explore “success compounds, mistakes disappear,” how to stop outsourcing self-worth, and why you don’t need perfect handwriting to heal.

Show Notes

00:00 – 03:15 · Who is Oliver? From cyclical depression to contentment; “success compounds, mistakes disappear.”

03:16 – 05:45 · Catching yourself “hunting for highs” vs living from contentment; decoupling self-esteem from external validation.

06:00 – 08:30 · Journaling as “self-interrogation” and why the medicine tastes sour before it helps.

08:31 – 12:10 · What journaling isn’t: against “tick-box” diaries and mechanical gratitude.

12:11 – 15:59 · Beyond polarization: journaling → self-awareness → empathy.

16:00 – 19:30 · Jung’s psychological alchemy: blackening → whitening → “golding” → (redness).

19:31 – 23:40 · The hard part: leaving dopamine insights for uncomfortable behavior change.

23:41 – 31:30 · Owning dualities (greed and generosity); honest self-ownership without ego spin.

31:31 – 41:00 · Reveal → Reclaim → Rewrite framework; curiosity prompts and rewriting with kindness.

41:01 – 46:30 · Dialogue writing 101 (active imagination roots), set-up, and the “7 minutes of BS.”

46:31 – 51:10 · Make journaling normal; building community (Barcelona Journaling Festival).

51:11 – 55:59 · Spiral, not circle: process over “the one truth.” Close: be curious, be honest, be kind. 

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Special props 👇

Music: Clouds - Joakim Karud

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