Keeping A Journal
Can Be A Pathway To Spiritual Insight
The very process of writing in a journal can help you find more joy and spiritual insight in your life.
This may sound strange, but after many years of keeping a life journal, I began to discover a benefit that I would not have been able to imagine when I began. That is the benefit of keeping a journal that naturally emerges in your emotions and perspective by the process of journaling.
To help you achieve the maximum benefits of how to write in a journal and take advantage of the wisdom gained over the many years of my experience I have prepared some tips on how to journal.
What lies behind you and what lies in front of you,
pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.
– Ralph Waldo Emerson
Keeping a journal can be a pathway to spiritual insight and awareness. It is a discipline much like meditation. It is a technique to help you get in touch with your Higher Self (what is also called the Soul) and gain mastery over life’s everyday emotions. The very act of writing in your journal can become a gateway to help you calm your mind and gain a perspective of deeper understanding. Journaling can become a way to open your awareness to your inner wisdom.
10 Tips on How To Write In A Journal
1.) I have found that having a special book for your journal is important. This helps you develop a mindset (trigger) that when you sit down to write in your journal you are engaging in a special and important activity.
2.) I have also found that having a special pen is helpful. Personally, I prefer a fountain pen for journaling. I also like the look and feel that using a consistent ink color brings. These little rituals are not important but have a subtle impact on the experience of writing.
When I look back over old journals, I realize that even the color of ink I choose during a particular period in my life can be significant. The color often followed a theme of the issues I was dealing with at a particular time of my life. It is symbolic of a mood or tone with which I faced my growth and challenges.
3.) Making a daily entry seems essential. We all live busy lives, but for me, it seems the discipline of making an entry in my journal on a daily basis is important. Even if all that I write on a given day is “too tired to write today” or “too busy to write today,” those little entries keep the continuity in a way that helps maintain the discipline of keeping a journal. It is all too easy to drop away from the practice of maintaining a journal, especially in times of stress when the writing is often of the greatest benefit. This little technique helps show you are in control of your life and supports the process.
4.) Do not be concerned about ending the journal entry because of interruptions. Keeping a life journal can be an integral part of your being. Interruptions happen, and it may not always be easy to return to your journal. Depending upon the nature and scope of the disruption you may well be in an entirely different mindset when you do return. A series of three dots can symbolize that the thought needs further exploration. It demonstrates that your process was not finished.
5.) As you write, suspend judgment. Let your thoughts flow free of your internal censorship. It is more important to record your thoughts and feelings than you spell things correctly or don’t leave a participle dangling. If you choose to use what you have written for another purpose, give yourself permission to edit it later. While journaling, you are looking for a stream of consciousness that is an energetic flow.
Journaling is by its very nature a work in process,
not a final product.
– Genevieve Gerard
6.) As you write in your journal, you often find that your understanding of the events about which you are writing begin to shift you into a greater wisdom, a greater understanding. Expand into this greater awareness. Let this insight guide you.
7.) The process of taking up your pen and writing helps you be the detached observer of your life, inviting the insight and perspective of your Higher Self. As you write, you naturally begin to resolve any uneasy feelings you may be having now as the very act of writing shifts you into a state of greater awareness and understanding.
8.) Keep your journal in a private place and make sure that those around you understand that your journal is for you, not to be shared with even the most intimate other.
9.) Allow your journal to become your closest confidant and advisor. The freedom from criticism and judgment it can offer will open you to a greater insight and understanding of yourself that reveals more clearly than a conversation with another, the deeper issues behind your thoughts and feelings.
10.) Over time be sure to return to your journal and read past entries to get a profound confirmation of your growth. When I began to journal, I resolved to keep a journal so that when I was old, I could look back on my life and smile. Re-reading old journal entries often showed me how I had developed and evolved over time. Recognize you have the capacity to grow and develop and rejoice in it.
With the wisdom of hindsight realize you will now be able to see that much of what concerned you in the past just did not matter in the long run. This is a lesson that helps when you think about the issues you face now. This is a way to encourage you to trust in yourself to weather life’s challenges.
Learning how to write in a journal will become a pathway to letting you experience the joy inherent in all the little pleasures and adventures of life.
Namaste,
Genevieve
The Blessing of Love on All That You Do!
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Last updated 5-8-2019
Copyright © 2011-2019 Genevieve Gerard and Touch of the Soul LLC. All rights reserved.
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Thanks for being the type of person to help visitors as well as teach us how to write a journal. Most people only think women write in journals but men can gain mastery over life’s everyday emotions also by learning how to keep a journal.
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Regards,
Brett
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