Are you coming along?

Where is your journal? How many times did you visit it this week? How many pages did you write? Was it easier with a quote to germinate your on? Did the quote spark thoughts to consider? Did the prompts spur you on to more writing.....or did you find yourself journaling away without any outside stimulation? Was it still a quite meditation; you, the journal before you, the pen in hand and consideration vs. writing? Whatever the week was for you (I would love to hear about that if you choose to post) observe and keep coming back to your journal.

Since the quote I shared with you last week that talked about going deep enough to find a bedrock of truth, I will jump to the end of week one's benefit list and talk about personal truth seeking in your journal. Revealing and Resolving Your Personal Truths. I must admit I have not had many clients sit across from me and profess that they want to find their personal truth and reconcile it with the actions of their lives. But that is indeed what all of us that seek to do when we choose to grow, learn and change. Journaling is a fabulous tool on the journey to achieving that goal.

Most people who put pen to page with the hope of revealing and resolving personal truths, finding bedrock if you will, are trying to resolve some internal conflict, or doing so in an attempt to figure out how to say something out loud that they perceive will be so hurtful they can never speak it.

A good way to make journaling beneficial to you in a case like this would be to write the conflict across the top of the page so you clearly see what is bothering you. Then allow what ever comes to flow right onto the page. Just write!!!! You might be surprised at what comes out of your pen. This is a good thing, your journal is a safe place to spill whatever is bothering you without hurting anyone else. Get all the thoughts out of your head and onto the page.

If this is not free flowing and easy, then prompt yourself with questions like: Why does this bother me? Why am I angered about this? Why are my feelings hurt? etc. Sometimes we have to hold our own hand to get the process started.

When the "whys" of your journaling seem to be waning, then ask yourself the "hows". How can I make this better? How do I change what I am thinking and/or feeling about this situation? How do I communicate what I need?

You will be amazed at how a pen and piece of paper and a little commitment from you can change your experience of the world. I invite you to post questions, thoughts, successes with your jouralning and/or struggles with your journaling here so the growing group of followers can get a sense of how journaling is working for others.

I want to share a journaling snippet from my week. On Wednesday afternoon I was driving to a training session and talking on the phone (hands free of course) with my sister. We were in the mist of joking, playing seeminglynonsensical diatribe when out of my mouth came .. "Now that you know the end is obtainable what are you going to do with the rest of your life?" It was a joke in response to something she said about how old we we're getting to be but it stopped us both dead in our tracks. I immediately knew it was the title of the next workshop I was to create. While I was driving I said I have to write this down so I don't loose it before I develop it. (This is another way a journal serves us well to capture ideas so we don't loose them.)

The moment I was seated at my training and opened my book to take notes, I wrote across the page "Now that you know the end is obtainable what are you going to do with the rest of your life." Thursday morning when I sat to journal I wrote about why that phrase spoke to me, why I like it so much, what power I perceive in that combination of words, how that headline will impact my clients, how that headline could attract new clients, etc. Thursday afternoon I had another conversation with my sister about the possibilities of that sentences. Then again in journaling on Friday morning the outline for the workshop was born.

So watch for an upcoming workshop announcement :) and know that once you start journaling the practice can and will foster a connection to ease and abundance in your life that you would have never imagined.

Until next Friday's installment .. post a comment here and Journal On!!

Wendy!

Visit my website to read about
Deep, Deeper, Deeper Still
A guided journey for those who journal and those who wish they did. http://www.wendymwarden.me

Journal On

So, it's been a week .. do you have pen in hand and paper at the ready? Did you spend any time playing with the options and endless combinations? It really does make a difference in the flow of your writing when the pen feels good in your hand and the ink marries well with the page. An ease is created that fosters the flow of writing.

I will assume you are on board and perhaps even wrote this past week. If so how was it? Was it easy? Did you find yourself emptying things onto the page that surprised you? Did you write more than you thought you could or would? Or was it more difficult? Hard to get started? Did you think about what you "should" write about? Did you worry about getting it right?

Post comments about your experience and let me know how you are progressing.

Whatever your experience was it is okay! Journaling really has no rules. There is not a right way or wrong way to do it. There is not a right time or wrong time to do it. It really is a Nike .. "Just Do It" kind of thing.

Like with most new habits you attempt to establish in your life it may be helpful to carve out a time and place that has some stability about it to foster your new journaling practice. For me, it is generally early in the morning before my brain has engaged in the world. Before phone calls, before email, before conversations with my partner, before TV, etc. I have a favorite place in the family room, a favorite pen, and the spiral note book of the week and off I go. The dogs snore away near me and I journal stream of consciousness for at least three pages. Jouranling masters far wiser than I believe that there is magic in the three page system. That if you actually write for three pages you get past your internal editor to what is really going on in your head/heart/subconscious. This is when journaling becomes productive.

So in the coming week I hope you continue to dance with the practice of journaling. Find your tools (pen, paper), find your supportive structure (location, time of day), carve out your dedicated 15 minutes to write three pages at time and then "Just Do It". (I say that with a encouraging smile not a drill instructor's tone.)

In the coming weeks I will delve deeper into the specific therapeutic benefits of journaling as well as sharing some stories of: who journals, why they journal and how they foster their practice. As well as sharing some of the amazing successes that have been born on the pages of journals. I can and will address your questions if you submit them as comments. I can do this privately or as part of the next week's installment so please share your preferences when you comment.

For now I will leave you with a bit of inspiration to get you writing:

It always comes back to the same necessity: go deep enough and there is a bedrock of truth, however hard. - Mary Sarton

• Journal about what the quote means to you as you read it. What thoughts were provoked? What feelings were provoke? Did you exhale and think WOW? Were your confused by her meaning? Do you feel resistance to considering the quote? Journal .. pen to page and just write what comes.

Some additional journaling prompts:

• How does know your bedrock of truth make you a better* person?
  
• Have you ever considered your personal bedrock of truth? What is it?
  
• When has knowing your personal bedrock of truth sever you in making life choices/decisions?

*You define "better" for yourself. It could be stronger, more understanding, able to comprise, able to make hard choices, etc.

Until next Friday's installment .. Journal On!!

Wendy!

Visit my website to read about Deep, Deeper, Deeper Still: A guided journey for those who journal and those who wish they did. http://www.wendymwarden.me

Let's Get Started!

Why should I journal? I hear that question often. There are a million and one reasons to journal and a million and one ways to do it!

Journaling is a unique as each of us. There is no right way or wrong way to journal, there are no rules!!!

So let's get started!

Find a writing utensil you like. Do you like the weight and shape in your hand? Do you like the flow of the ink or lead? Do you like the color? This may all seem like silly stuff but finding the writing utensil you enjoy writing with will really help you overcome resistance to journaling.

Now paper, find paper that accepts your writing utensil, that allows "pen" to glide across the page. Do you like white paper? Lined paper? Cardstock? Bound paper? Explore your options.

Next consider where you might like to journal and then try all the locations you think of! Do you like to sit at a desk or table? Are you comfortable curled up in your favorite chair? Or propped up in the bed? In the bathtub? Perhaps it's the local coffee shop?

Finally, what do I journal about? This is a popular question. Journal about anything and everything! Just write .. put "pen" to page. Start with your name and let your mind wander to what comes next. Start with a problem and journal the "what ifs". Start with your joys and journal, journal, journal!

The options are endless for writing utensils , for paper, for location and for subjects. This really is a just do kind of thing. Just start writing. For me it is a papermate pen and a spiral bound notebook and any place on the planet. That is after 12+ years of journaling and knowing that resistance is futile. Journaling makes everything better.

So just remember what you write, when you write, doesn't matter .. just write. I doesn't have to make sense, you don't have to re-read what you write if you don't want to. The only rules that apply to journaling are the ones you place upon yourself.

So until next week .. Journal ON! Post your comments and/or questions and I will response!


SOME OF THE BENEFITS:

Stress Reduction
Personal Growth
Capturing Your Life Story
Problem Solving
Enhancing Creativity
Developing and Tracking Your Intuition
Enriching Your Spiritual Practice
Assisting In the Healing Process
Revealing and Resolving Your Personal Truths

visit my website to explore my new book
Deep, Deeper, Deeper Still
A guided journey for people who journal and those who wish they did

http://www.wendymwarden.me