Daily Musings

A friend of mine suggested first thing every morning to write down whatever comes to mind. She got this from reading The artist’s way by Julia Cameron. I haven’t as yet read this book but the idea is to put down on paper your feelings: good and bad. She found the exercise useful because she would write down the negative feelings, get the angst out and now it has changed to more positive writing. I suppose it is like a self-healing process; identifying what has been making you unhappy or feeling particularly down and by expressing them, you are giving them a voice and in a way dealing with them. So I have begun writing a journal.

The last time I did anything like this was back in high school where the English teacher had us write in an exercise book – the journal. You could put in anything you wished. To be perfectly honest, I didn’t find this useful. All I really wrote about was the music I was listening to, the movie stars I thought were hot and pretty much inane stuff. I was never one to put down my feelings about anything, only when something or someone ticked me off. I watched movies where the female protagonists, usually a teenage girl, would write incessantly in a diary. Never really saw the attraction. I was more interested in reading, being outdoors and playing sport. Now I understand what the teacher was trying to do.

It is an interesting form of expression, just writing anything that comes to mind. I’m not exactly following what my friend has done but am expressing what I think and feel. My first entry was very positive because that is how I am feeling. Seeing the words come out as I wrote them also made me feel great because I have realised what has been missing for a long time. I had been telling myself what I wanted to know but never really felt it. My head rules my heart and now they are in sync… finally.

I don’t write pages and pages, it would defeat the point of the exercise but enough to get my point across… to me. It is also a good place for reflection and I know I certainly don’t do enough of that!

Does anyone else keep a journal? If you do, what impetus made you start?