The Importance of Journaling
Every time I feel my mood slipping downwards into depression I have to check to see if I’m doing a few basic things.
- Moving my body (this can be gentle movement)
- Taking my vitamins
- Journaling
I find that these are the non-negotiable things I have to do daily in order to keep me a functioning human being.
I can’t tell you how many times a therapist or a friend has suggested that I should be journaling and OMG I have so much resistance to it! So, I dug into that resistance and maybe you’ll resonate with some of these things.
- OMG I don’t want to have to feel this feeling
- The journal can sometimes be a little too truthful and I don’t like what I see
- I don’t have time (FYI I wrote a post on this one)
- What if I die and someone reads them
- I get tired of having documentation of all my venting
Understanding what I was dealing with helped me talk myself off of the fear of journaling ledge. The reality is that I need to feel those feelings and I need to face my truth. Um, Dan if you are reading, if I die could you toss my journals (K thanks).
I went to a great class through Creative Mornings (highly recommend their Field Trips) and it was about Julia Cameron’s Artist’s Way. If you haven’t read the book it has a lot of useful ways to get connected with your creativity. If you haven’t and want to jump in there are two things from the book that I’ve incorporated into my day-to-day: The Morning Pages and The Artists Date.
Morning Pages are a way to do a massive mind dump. You are supposed to write three pages every morning first thing. These are not precious words or words that you are going to save. They are meant to clear out the crap and emotions you are holding onto and get them out on the page. It then opens you up to be present and creative. And it works. Until it doesn’t, which is because you’ve stopped doing them.
Why did I stop doing them (and FYI this has happened multiple times throughout my life)? I am not a morning person. The idea of getting up and rushing to do my morning pages hurts my very being. I need to wake up, shower, get my day started and then I can dive into my morning pages. Although, sometimes my day gets away from me and it’s evening. That’s fine. I’m still getting all the muck out of my head. Julia Cameron does not believe this is an effective use of the morning pages, but I figure done is better than perfect.
Since the morning pages are not meant to be saved I just use a cheap composition notebook. Once this one is filled up, I’ll toss it and get another. I actually use a different journal for my business and yet another journal for personal day dreaming and goal setting.
The other thing I will continue to do is the weekly artists date. I love setting aside some time on the weekend to indulge in play and creativity. I’ve done some weaving, gone to the Garfield Park Conservatory, sewn, and taken photos over the last couple of months of doing my dates.
So how do you incorporate journaling or the ‘morning’ pages in your life. First, what comes up for you? What is your resistance? Acknowledge it and work through it. If you don’t, then you aren’t going to move forward.
I’ve find there are two ways to incorporate something into your life and make it a habit. One is to make it part of your routine. Find the routine trigger that works for you. If you do your journaling in the morning it may be having a cup of coffee signals time to journal. If it’s the evening, maybe it’s lighting a candle to signal it’s time to write. The Second way to get something done is to schedule it and put it on your calendar. That way the time is set aside for you.
What are you waiting for? Go get journaling!
If you want to talk about how to incorporate journaling into your life then please schedule a free coaching consult with me.
