Guided Journaling
Every stroke of my brush
Is the overflow
Of my inmost heart.
—Sengai, Seventeenth-Century Zen Master
The original Anglo Saxon word writan, from which we get the word write, meant to score, scratch or cut. Writing was accomplished by scratching wood with a knife. Many remember seeing the names of lovers cut into a tree trunk with a knife. There is an indelible, even artful quality about letters cut into the piece of bark. The same indelible and artful quality can be experienced when we "cut" with a pen the words of our heart onto a blank piece of paper.
Journaling as a spiritual practice is a way of creating a legacy of your life. The poet Ranier Maria Rilke wrote, "Everything is gestation and then bringing forth." The practice of journaling invites that gestation that will bring forth the most important and meaningful aspects of our inner life. In so many arenas of life we are called upon to produce quickly, consume quickly, think quickly, talk quickly, act quickly, create quickly. Perhaps, for our own sense of well-being and wholeness, we need to reclaim the privilege of thinking deeply and feeling fully. Like a seed breaking forth from its pod, our thoughts and feelings deserve to break forth from the pod of our soul. And there on the waiting page they can be given voice and form, shape and image.
The empty page is always ready to receive the contents of your heart without judgment. Because of this, we can be free to speak truthfully and as the legacy is gradually formed, we can read again the movement of life through our veins. We can see where we have come from and how life and the presence of the Holy One have fashioned and formed us into who we are. So try writing your life in order to find your life.
Journaling suggestions for...
EMBRACING FORGIVENESS
When we take a scan of our own thoughts and behavior and know
that we have been forgiven, we find it harder to judge someone else's
thoughts
and behavior.
EASTER
Taking time
to reflect in your journal
about your feelings
during the Easter season will
help you keep alert
to the signs
of resurrection and wholeness outside and
within.
WHEN YOU'RE FEELING LONELY
When we
experience pain, struggle, and despair, we feel so terribly
alone.
JOURNALING DURING LENT
Lent is a time to look seriously and intentionally at our lives— who we have been, who we are, and who we are becoming. Journaling is a way for us to embody this intention, because it gives us an environment for delving deeply into the bottomless well of our souls.
JOURNALING WITH C.S. LEWIS
Eight weeks of journaling guided by quotations from C.S. Lewis.
PURPOSE IN LIFE
Our purpose is always something that makes more
of us. It
increases our capacity for bringing goodness, for deepening our love
and compassion, for filling empty pockets in our soul.
DISCERNMENT
When prayer is the foundation of discernment, we
are emptying our souls
into the hands of heaven and having them filled again
with the presence
and direction of God.
JOURNALING DURING THE HOLIDAYS
This 8-week offering of journaling reflections and questions will take you from Thanksgiving through Advent and Christmas and into the new year.
JOURNALING ABOUT TIME
By pausing to write about the different times in our life, what they
mean to us and where God’s fingerprints can be found, all time becomes
more
precious.
WORKING THROUGH CONFLICT
The very practice of writing can move us to
reconciliation and the ability to embrace those who have seemed so
separate from
us.
TRANSFORMING DOUBT
Imagine if we lengthened the vision of our eyes,
brightened the
room of our faith, and injected courage into our heart.
SUMMER
While verbal prayer is a way for us to communicate the contents of our heart
and soul with the Holy One, recording our life of prayer in a journal
makes it possible for us to
delve more deeply into the inner core of
our being.
AUTUMN
With the end of summer, there is a feeling of quiet loss and budding anticipation.
