Journaling The Way

Journaling is one of the (if not THE) most important tools for self-improvement and personal / spiritual growth. It's also one of the most rewarding practices you can engage in, one that "pays off" ten thousand times over the small investment of time and effort that it requires.

Let me point out just a few of the major benefits of journaling:

- Clarify your thoughts. Nothing clarifies and focuses your thinking like taking the time to put your thoughts into words and write them down. Journaling gathers our scattered thoughts of the day together, and allows us to record them in an organized fashion. A million different ideas may come to mind if someone poses the question to you, "What do you want to do with your life?", and if the question just comes and goes, they're all scattered to the wind again within minutes. But if you just take a few minutes to think about, and actually write down, an answer to that question, your goals and dreams take on a focus and clarity that most people usually lack in their lives - the kind of focus and clarity that enables us to actually achieve our dreams.

- Learn from your life experiences. I recommend re-reading your journal at least once every 3-6 months. The first time you do this, I guarantee that it will be an amazingly eye-opening experience. Changes in your thinking and attitude about certain things in your life will jump off the page at you - changes that occurred so gradually that you had no awareness of them at the time - but that your journal allows you to look back and see a time when you thought much differently. You'll recall ideas that you had, but have forgotten all about (and that might have been lost forever, except for your journaling). You'll be amused to re-read passages about something that, at the time, had you so upset that you could hardly think straight...but that now, just a couple of months later, is mere unimportant trivia to you.

- Motivation. Everybody loses track of their New Year's Resolutions. Everyone, that is, except people who journal regularly. Sure, you might not have gotten around to hopping on that exercise bike back in January, but in March, when you read about your fervent resolve to get back into shape, you'll be newly motivated to get going. If you don't start in March, well, you'll get reminded again in June or July. Finally, if nothing else, you'll be embarrassed into getting on that exercise bike, just so you can stop feeling silly every time you read that you once again "absolutely promise" to "start tomorrow morning".

- Document your growth and development. You know, sometimes we actually do some things right and accomplish some pretty important stuff. Unfortunately, we tend to minimize and forget our successes, and this becomes an obstacle in maintaining our self-esteem. Part of your journaling should definitely be recording your successes along the way. Often, it may feel like we're not making any real progress in our lives at all, not getting anywhere. But when you go back and re-read your journal 3-6 months down the road, your self-esteem will receive an instant boost when you're able to see that you really have gotten some things done. This will also freshly energize you to work on new accomplishments in the coming weeks.

Give journaling a try. It's something that takes only a small amount of time, and that can actually help you wind down and relax at the end of the day. I'm confident that you will find keeping a journal to be one of the most rewarding spiritual practices in your life.

JBM
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