Every morning I start my day off with one of my favorite
self-care practices and that is writing in my journal. Journals come in various
shapes and sizes. Some are elegantly designed, some are cute and pocket-sized.
Some are known as “secret diaries”. I remember being about twelve years old and
having one that had a lock with a special key on it so no one could read what
was written inside. Heaven forbid anyone would read about my first kiss with my
cute “first love”, Jon, where I ran all the way home because I was SO in love
(and by the way, we never kissed again – I think we were both too embarrassed
by the whole experience).
Okay, so I digress…. Back to my favorite self-care practice.
My journals are very simple. I just use 3-ring spiral notebooks, the kind that
you can get four for a dollar at the back-to-school sales (That’s when I stock
up!) I used to do all of my journal writing on the computer, but there is just
something about letting the pen move across the pages, that is so relaxing and
makes me feel like I’m in a whole different space, a different world. It’s a
feeling you have to experience. Just try it out!
I so look forward to this time that I have to spend with
myself. As most of you know, and those of you who don’t know can read my story
here, after I lost my memory, it took me several months to dive into my
journals, as sporadic as they were. It was a very traumatic thing for me.
What I learned about the old Cathleen (this is who I refer
to pre-brain injury), is that the only time I spent writing in my journals was when I was
upset, angry, or was just having a bad day. So when I read the journals, all it
did was help me to remember bad times. Not a fun experience. I decided from
that time on that I wasn’t going to use my journal writing that way and that I was going to become an every day journal writer.
About that same time I was involved in ARTbundance
Certification and Training with Marney Makridakis of Artellaland and was introduced to Julia Cameron’s “The Artist’sWay”. What a blessing. I went to her website and learned that she had a
practice called “Morning Pages” What Julia says is “In order to retrieve your
creativity, you need to find it. I ask you to do this by an apparently
pointless process I call the morning pages.” On the website it also says this:
“Morning Pages are three pages of longhand, stream of
consciousness writing, done first thing in the morning. There is no wrong way
to do Morning Pages– they are not high art. They are about anything and
everything that crosses your mind– and they are for your eyes only.
Occasionally colorful, more often than not Morning Pages are negative,
fragmented, repetitive or bland. Good!
Worrying about your job, the laundry, the weird look your friend gave
you – all that stuff distracts you from your creativity. It eddies through your
subconsciousness and muddies your day. Get it on the page first thing in the
morning and move on with your day with a freer spirit.”
Julia does say “negative”, however I didn’t want to have to
read NEGATIVE again if I ever lost my memory, and I still have trouble with my
short term memory, so as I try to live JOY every day of my life, I do try to
keep it more on the JOYful side. I am human, so there are times, when I do have
to let off steam, and so this is a great outlet.
But then I changed this up a bit. There has been so much
talk about how important it is to have a gratitude journal and how when you write
and talk about gratitude, it grows. So I take the last page, the third page and
write about those things that I’m grateful for. There are days, when I have so
much to say that I spend 3 pages writing about other things, but then I spend
the next page writing about those things that I’m grateful for. When I first
started this practice, I had to think real hard about the things I was grateful
for, but as I did this every day, those things grew, and grew and grew and I
look forward every day to writing about all those things that make me happy,
the things that bring me JOY and the things that make my life what it is today!
So what about you? Do you have some experiences with writing
in journals? I’d love to hear about your experiences and what has transpired
for you! Leave your comments below! And if you’ve come from the newsletter,
Brain Be Happy Notables, don’t forget to go back and read the rest of the
exciting info!
Many hugs,
Cathleen
