journaling as ritual
Journaling is a form of magic.
It is a way to capture unprocessed thoughts, feelings, reactions, hopes, dreams, doubts, insecurities, ideas and questions and turn them into deeper understanding and self-knowing. A journal is a path to insight, perspective and truth. And it is arguably the most tangible form of communication between you and yourself.
Journaling is a sacred relationship.
I’ve been keeping a journal since I was 10-years-old. Through middle school, high school and college there was always a journal hovering in the background like a loyal friend, ready to capture my most intense feelings and experiences. I turned to my journal whenever I paused to reflect, which is to say, inconsistently. It mostly served as a place to react when big things were happening in my world, and I often wrote with a filter, as if someone else would find and read it one day.
Over time, the purpose of my journal has shifted. Nowadays, my journal is my closest ally, most trusted sidekick, and the place I go each day to simply express myself. I write without any kind of filter, unselfconsciously, and I depend on its steady presence to clear my head, check in with my heart, capture my rawest thoughts and feelings, and ask my biggest questions. Turns out it’s helpful to process thoughts and feelings every day, not just when big things happen. The act of writing in my journal teaches me how to bring order to chaos by articulating my thoughts and feelings, and encourages me to explore the world within me and around me in a conscious way, each and every day.
Journaling is a form of mental hygiene.
Daily journaling is the most effective tool I’ve got to help me clear my mind. When I start my morning with stream-of-conscious, unfiltered written expression, I get to clear out the noise - anything swirling around in my mind that’s causing me to fret, worry or wonder. The act of doing this daily ensures that there isn’t an accumulation of noise. In this way, I think of journaling as “releasing the steam valve.” Life’s pressures can’t build too intensely if I’m releasing them regularly.
It’s also kind of like brushing your teeth. Why start brushing daily after you’ve been struck with gum disease? You brush your teeth every day to prevent gum disease. Plus, clearing your mouth of gunk makes you more pleasant to be around.
So why would you wait until you’re overwhelmed to clear your mind? Why not make a practice of clearing it out each day? I don’t know about you, but I’m definitely more pleasant to be around when my mind is clear, not to mention more productive and more impactful.
Journaling is an empowering practice.
Beyond clearing out whatever we’re reacting to, journaling enables us to see more clearly. A journal is a place to explore our hopes, dreams and visions. In this way, journaling serves as an inner compass that helps us chart the path and steer the course as we live our lives, informing decisions big and small along the way.
As we journey, the voices that come from outside - society, advertisements, our parents, our friends, our bosses, social media, etc - are so loud, it can be challenging to know our own true beliefs and desires. The “inner whisper,” that intuitive place inside each of us that knows what’s best for us, gets crowded out by all that noise. If we can get quiet enough to hear the inner whisper, it can guide us to operate from a place of authenticity rather than reactivity.
To listen to yourself then write down what you hear is to empower yourself. It is a way to find your voice.
Journaling is my favorite ritual.
Every morning, I pour myself a cup of hot water with lemon and meditate while it cools. During meditation I listen for my inner whisper. What is on my mind? What’s causing me to fret, worry, or wonder? What am I excited about? What am I scared of? Who am I thinking about? What do I feel towards them, and why?
When my meditation is complete, I curl up in my favorite chair with my favorite mug, my favorite pen, and my journal; I locate yesterday’s entry, write the date at the top of the blank page beside it, and I write. I write stream-of-conscious, unfiltered, anything and everything that is on my mind. Most mornings I write three full pages; when I have more to say and I have the time, I write more; when I have less time, I write less. But every day, I write in my journal.
I rarely go back to read what I’ve written.
I write to find my voice, to locate my truth, to express myself. I write to process the happenings of my life. I write in order to build a relationship with the person I’ll be with every waking moment of my life for the rest of my life. The person who determines every move I make and everything I say, the person who impacts all my choices and all my other relationships.
I write to build a relationship with myself.
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If you’re interested in exploring the role journaling can play in your life, I highly recommend checking out morning pages, a concept coined by Julia Cameron, author of the cult classic The Artist’s Way, which has served as a catalyst for the deepening of my relationship with journaling.
