Journaling is one of the most powerful and transformative ways of working with our unconscious, our subconscious, and our consciousness. It is a way of exploring what we are unaware of, what we are aware of, and what we would like to create.

In my life, I have found that journaling is one of the ways that I can understand what common themes are coming forward in my life. It is one of the ways that I can release tension and anger, shifting them, before dealing with situations. I call these “Journal and Burn” days. I have a relatively inexpensive journal, like a shorthand typist journal, and use phrases like “I feel very annoyed about this” or “I feel hurt about that”. I express my emotions from a perspective of what I am feeling and experiencing, what my perspective of a situation is, and I avoid blaming somebody else. I accept responsibility for my feelings. I then tear it out of the book, burn it, come back, and write about gratitude, what I love, what I can do, where I could have done things differently and what was the underlying hook for the challenge to come forward. Common mantras that I use for this are:

● “What else is possible?”
● “How can life get any better than this?”
● “Where can this be for the highest of good for all?”

Through this exercise, I can feel my energy shifting, even when it takes a few days. People think you journal once and it is done; I have discovered that it is more often the case where you journal, get rid of that layer, journal, and get rid of the next layer. Here, meditation is immensely helpful. You can do this in different ways. You can sit in stillness, being the observer of your thoughts. You can go for a walk, contemplate, and reflect. Or you can allow yourself to pick up colouring-in pencils and colour in while you just focus on your breathing. All these methods help us to come back into our centre.

When we journal, it allows us to look at things from different perspectives and different ways of being.

When my husband and I have a point where we are growing, we avoid calling them fights and refer to them as growth points and challenge points. When this happens, I will sit down, pour out my thoughts and experience about it in my journal and then burn it. My husband is very sweet about this and will ask me “Have you finished writing yet; can we make friends now?” This is one of the very helpful things about journaling. It helps us to identify wounds and traumas of previous experiences. We each have our points of focus on what we prefer to create in our businesses and in our lives, as well as common purposes and targets that we are aiming for. We come to understand that we have points of difference as individuals and how to pivot those differences. While those differences are pivoted to different perspectives and points of view, we allow the healing, and build the capacity to absorb more knowing, rather than knowledge. We allow ourselves to step forward in a more aligned way into where we are going.

Some of the benefits of journaling:

1) It releases stress so that we can recognize tension for what it truly is and how we can grow and expand. Rather than stepping back into our comfort zone, we expand the boundaries of our zone with attention.
2) It lets us come into a deeper awareness of what it is that we are truly asking ourselves to create and to have.
3) It helps us to start recognizing where we’re telling ourselves a story of discontent and discomfort rather than of dreams, desires, and destiny.
4) Journaling is a way of expressing ourselves.

Journaling is not just about release, it can also be about creation, creativity, and understanding. Once we come to understand that there are different forms of journaling and that we can use them for different areas, it opens a lot of new possibilities. My calendar is a journal, it keeps track of my appointments, of the things that I choose to do. It is an example of a different form of journaling. I also love to use art journaling, where I slop the paint on, or pick up a pen, write down quotes that have brought me joy, understanding, or realization, and decorate them. A journal can be anything that allows you to become still, reflect, order your thoughts and emotions and move forward in a more aligned way.

Let’s look at journaling from different perspectives, different angles, and for different uses. I would love to know your thoughts on this; please reach out and let me know.

Have a grand and glorious day!
Janine