Re:Journaling

[Guest guest]

HI all – I am brand new to this group. I am a big journaler and it has helped me a lot over the years. I use the “morning pages” method from Cameron’s “The Artist’s Way.” We just commit to writing three pages every morning and what I write can be anything, and is often supposed to be nothing important. “Journaling” is often squelched when we start thinking what we write needs to be insightful, or that someone might read it. “Morning pages” sound much less literary. They are designed to be a brain dump where you just write whatever comes into your head. It’s okay to write “I don’t know what to write” ffor three pages if it gets you into the habit. It ends up being random, stream of consciousness, surface stuff, but often real feelings pop out onto the page and then you might be getting somewhere. Eventually i got to the point where I would go to my notebook and write when I needed to work out how I felt about something or needed to vent, even if it was not morning or if I’d already finished my three pages. I can’t tell you how many times I looked at what I wrote and had a light bulb go on or figured something out that I had not seen before.

I keep my notebooks very private and the few times over the years someone has found or glanced through them (unintentionally, usually) I have broken out in a cold sweat. I take comfort in the fact that it’s usually a bunch of boring stuff about what I ate or stuff that nobody else would understand at first glance.

Lots of people throw the three pages away when they’re done. I use an ordinary spiral notebook (not full size, something in the 6x8 range) and I usually throw the notebooks away when I’m done with them. I also build the habit by writing everything important in that one notebook – phone numbers, lists, whatever I’m writing or taking notes on... and then the notebook become my go-to place for everything. I never go back and read what I wrote if I can avoid it – it often feels really painful to see my own intimate struggles even if there has been a lot of growth. It helps to write down what I eat, even if I’m now keeping track with more compassion and not counting calories or whatever.

I hope that helps... journaling is definitely the glue that holds my fragile life together.