Journaling for joy by Sue Matthew – Life Coach
Once upon a time when I was 15, I was given a brown paper package – inside was a lined hardback notebook. It was like a pebble starting an avalanche.
Slowly at first and then gaining momentum – I wrote and wrote and wrote. I was fascinated, like a small baby discovering they can move their hands in front of their face – with who I might be – what my life was about and the wonder that I could write about it all. I decided my life might as well be about joy – noticing the beauty around me, the quirky things my family and friends said…
I wrote, talked and read and eventually taught classes about journaling. Along the way I discovered a few basic ‘road rules’…
You can write anything you want to write – you can even write what you don’t want to write. A journal is a notebook for you to write/draw/express/ create/play/record/explore/celebrate/complain/be curious/be passionate/be silly/be honest/ learn…
The notebook it’s self: There are all kinds of notebooks on the market, many of these are so beautiful you may never write a word in them! Choose a notebook you can feel at home in. Pajamas rather than tuxedo/twinset & pearls. Unlined notebooks give you space to be playful – to write at all angles, write in different colours, doodle and draw. Though I wrote in lined notebooks for years, these days I write/draw/do poems/mind map etc in softcover blank Moleskine notebooks.
http://www.moleskine.com/catalogue/classic/soft/plain_soft_notebook__large.php
You can make your own, buy cheap school notebooks, try different formats, stick pictures on the covers: make it yours.
Landscape direction: Try turning your page in a landscape direction with the longest part of the notebook facing you – this helps you to step into your creativity. Your hand has longer on the page before ‘carriage return’ – ahem – the next line. I recommend ‘Your handwriting can change your life’ by Vimala Rogers.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/0684865416/integralhandw-20/ref=cm_sw_su_dp
You can write everyday and you can leave large eloquent silences between writing. Both are fine.
It helps to write the date, especially if you are interested in keeping track of when something was written.
You are free to write anything. Protect your privacy or burn pages you don’t want others to read. Give yourself permission to write about what is really going on for you. What is important for you? What are you passionate about?
You can relax about spelling and punctuation. Once again, a journal is like pajamas: comfortable and reassuring.
Keep your hand moving – this helps out distance the voice of the censor the voice that says: “argh, you can’t write that!What will people think” “Oh you did write that”..”Oh I see”…
Morning pages: years later, I still find writing for myself grounding, centering and useful. I often do ‘morning pages’, thanks to Julia Cameron and her book ‘The Artists Way’ – three pages of whatever is on top. This helps me to connect with what’s really going on for me and to find inspiration, clarity and my way forward.
http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Way-Spiritual-Creativity-Workbook/dp/0874776945
You are here: If you want to locate yourself on the map of your daily life, a simple mind map can be helpful in finding your own ‘you are here’. A circle with the title in the center of the page, with radiating spokes like branches, each with a word or phrase. you can mind map for a day, week – a period of time, or for a whole year. When I look at my mind map of last year, I can read at a glance the highlights and themes of the year.
As I write this I’m about to make a mind map of the year in review. Last year I wrote a new year ‘bucket list’ – what I want to do/create in my life before I die. Many of these have already come true for me in ways that are more wonderful than I could have imagined.
It’s been a great ‘avalanche’ from that first notebook…a place to practice joy, to celebrate the beauty in life, a place to ask for joy and a place to reflect on joy…
Wishing you joy in your writing and creating!
