Here’s my dirty little secret…

I have recommended journaling to many high achievers.

Many take up the practice and cherish it. 

A book I enjoyed recently and recommended in another newsletter (How To Do The Work by Dr Nicole LePera) has journaling as the cornerstone of it’s Self Healers work.  

Journaling is the wellbeing practice backed by the widest range of good quality scientific research and many therapists the world over recommend it.

Here’s my dirty little secret….

I’ve never been much of a journaller…

I often say, sheepishly, that journaling is my ‘parachute practice’ because I turn to it when times are really tough. 

Three weeks ago, in the final scene at a camping weekend in the British wilderness with 12 men from the mens circle I am a member of, the wizard-like facilitator recommended we journal about our experiences. 

I took the opportunity to offer my dusty, leather bound journal a starring role in my morning routine, ahead of my sacred meditation. 

What I’ve learned has kind of blown me away…

First week, nothing much happened. 

Second week, even less happened. 

Third week, unconsciously, I started to open my heart

I grew tired of the usual ‘I’m feeling like X’ and ‘I’m troubled by Y’ and I started digging for the real GOLD. 

I began to curiously notice that when I opened my heart and scribbled furiously about my deepest fears and longest healed wounds, insights were delivered. 

Hours, sometimes DAYS, after I’d journal about something DEEP, I began to get a response in the form of a thought, a solution, a change in perspective. 

Whenever the insight came, I ALWAYS feel more energised. 

Even if the insight meant taking action I perceived might leave me vulnerable, uncomfortable and/ or exposed…as it often did. 

I’ve started to make long overdue progress on challenges I have held close in heart for a LONG time.   

It’s empowering AND enlightening! 

Einstein said “we can not solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.”

Journaling is a practice that changes the level of thinking.

It requires patience AND faith. 

Perhaps two of the rarest and most intangible qualities of them all, especially in a tough time. 

It takes faith to post your heart onto the pages, not knowing whether anything will be posted back. 

‘Am I being ghosted by my own heart?’

It takes patience to continue writing, unsure when the emotional investment will pay dividends. 

“Is my heart crashing, 2008 style?”

‘Can I keep this practice going?’ is the wrong question to ask. 

The correct questions are;

Do I want to heal? 

Do I want to grow? 

Do I want to let go of the weight? 

Do I want to serve from my highest self?

Much easier questions to answer, no?  

So I’m a journaller now! 

If you have any questions about how to journal, what to journal about, when to journal, just hollar!