By Eliza Wing
I’ve been keeping a journal for most of my life. My little notebooks are full of the scribbles of my life. They have carried me through disappointment, despair, joy, love, anger. You name it – I’ve written it down. I’m a firm believer in the power of the practice. But I find that some of my clients are a little, shall we say, journal phobic.
The most common objection to the suggestion that people pick up pen and notebook? –they don’t know what to write. I get it. I never have a plan when I begin my next entry. The writing unfolds, it emerges, it becomes as you become.
You can use your journal anyway you please. It’s yours! So, not knowing “what” to write is kind of a cop out. You might choose to do little more than observe the weather conditions and brief notations on what happened during your day as my Great Uncle did throughout his life, even when stationed in the South Pacific during WW2. I was going to write that I thought one ought to go beyond this style of record keeping. But, in fact, I bet that Great Uncle’s journal was an important touchstone for him during all that chaos, death and long stretches of unmitigated heat and boredom.
But if you choose to go a little deeper, you can widen your experience of life, solve problems, uncover new approaches to what feel like intractable issues just by opening your journal and beginning.
Here are three useful journal techniques you can use to gain inspiration:
Shifting perspective, Big Sky Dreaming, Gratitude Practice
Shifting Perspective. When you are stuck in a mind loop about a specific person, issue or situation, try this exercise. Write about it from an entirely different perspective. Take on another’s voice. This technique is particularly great if you are feeling a lack of self-confidence and are beating yourself up a lot. Write out a narrative of yourself from the perspective of another, supportive person. What successes would they highlight? What qualities would they point out and value? Write it and then read it back to yourself. Remember those things are also true about you and other people do see them.
Big Sky Dreaming. Your journal is a private space. No one needs to know what you write in it. For that reason, it is a great place to write down private thoughts and dreams. Have you always wanted to live overseas for an extended period but know that saying anything aloud will create a panicked response from your partner or spouse? Just put it down on paper. And flesh it out. Make it as real as you possible can. Describe the morning walk to the local bakery, the setting sun over the calm blue sea, the tangle of foreign words slowly becoming intelligible. Giving strength and voice to your deepest desires will help guide you towards a life that is more connected and truer to what you really want.
“In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself. The journal is a vehicle for my sense of selfhood. It represents me as emotionally and spiritually independent.“
— Susan Sontag
Gratitude Practice. I’ve written about this before and it is a big part of what sustained me following a critical motorcycle accident. Expressing gratitude daily is one of the top measures of personal well-being according to research from the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology School. It’s simple and effective. Just identify three things you are grateful for (Three Blessings) and why. They can be big “the clear sky”, “my breath” or quotidian “my coffee mug” “my cozy blanket” or quirky. Doesn’t matter. What DOES matter is that you are noticing and appreciating what is lovely about your life. This expands your awareness of the world around you and, even in the most difficult times of your life, it offers solace and truth. You are alive. You are paying attention to this chaotic, beautiful existence.
You will notice that throughout this post, I have used the words “pen” and “paper” and “notebook.” People ask if they can just do voice memos on their phones or if they can type out notes on a digital device. Not really. It’s just not the same. There is something important and generative about physically writing something down.
“Fill the paper with the breathings of your heart.” Williams Wordsworth
Happy scribbling……