Journaling to Resolve Life's Big Issues

Almost Like Magic

Writing the Mind Alive, while it didn't cause Disney-like bluebirds to sit on my shoulder and a purple unicorn to nuzzle my neck, it did help. A lot. I've been journaling my whole life, and this book provided one of the best on-going self-discovery and recovery experiences I've ever had.

It's very specific, and there are rules. I had to be disciplined to do it right. But the core idea is that as you journal, you keep asking yourself questions that take you deeper and deeper into your subject matter. Like a little kid who asks "Why?" all the time, you write a statement and then ask a question about the statement, and then journal the answer. Then you ask a question about your answer and journal the next level down into your consciousness. The authors use the term proprioceptive in a metaphorical way, meaning "...the capacity to enter your thoughts in an interested, nonjudgmental way and gain awareness of yourself from them."(p.16)

Journaling can be a huge help in resolving life's big issues. I try to write in one every day, but find that I turn to my journal mostly when I have problems to solve, horrible unresolved angst about something from the past, or fears and catastrophic thinking. That's okay. It's not like, say, God, where you feel guilty about praying only when you're in trouble. Your journal will unconditionally take you in when you need it and leave you alone, without judging, when you don't. (Maybe that's what the real God, not the guy on a cloud with a long beard, does, too.)

The Intensive Journal ®

Another journaling technique that I've used to sort out some of the Big Things is called the Intensive Journal® , summed up nicely in the book At a Journal Workshop  by Ira Progoff. People, be prepared. This is huge. Gather up all your colorful highlighters, colored pens, notebook dividers, and flow charts, because this will put your whole life together into a cohesive whole - after it takes it apart, piece by piece. It's a big commitment, and it's FUN. I would set aside about half an hour a day for this technique, and it's not a quick fix. But over time, as I did this, I started to see patterns emerging that I had never seen before. Dreams were tied to events, songs were connected to people, symbols appeared across the boards, giving me direction. I just loved it. This is for you if you are not in an immediate crisis, but you have long-term stuff to resolve.

Don't Forget Julia!

Of course many of us have tried Morning Pages from Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way. This is where you get into the habit of writing 3 pages first thing in the morning (or, if you're a writer or musician, at the crack of noon), before your mind has a chance to re-establish its myths and hallucinations. You just pick up the gel pen and start writing - anything. Sometimes you'll write about the weather for a page before good stuff starts coming out, but that's okay. You don't let your pen leave the paper until 3 pages have been written. Then you go over what you've written and what I do is weed out the weather reports and just leave the good stuff. I don't think you're supposed to weed anything out, but the beauty of journaling is hey - you can do whatever you want. It's not school; no one's going to grade you; no one will even ever see what you've written!

A Technique for Every Personality

I started long ago with the wonderful, creative, and fanciful The New Diary: How to use a journal for self-guidance and expanded creativity  by Tristine Rainer. Tristine was a friend of Anais Nin's! Talk about knowing what you're doing. She doesn't have one specific technique, but rather describes many ideas and styles, has tons of fun exercises to do, and always inspires me to write when I'm feeling lazy.

Journal to the Self  by Kathleen Adams is also a fabulous, all-around inspirational journal how-to book. She describes cool techniques such as dialoging, and she has a "journal tool box" with all kinds of marvelous ideas. One chapter is called Journals To Go: 19 Ways to Write for Under 15 Minutes Each. She also has some ideas for indexing your journals which is very important. You need to be able to find stuff in order to work with it later.

If you can't get a guide book, don't worry. Just get a spiral notebook and a come-hither pen, and write. Write anything. Write details. Write stuff you're ashamed of, proud of, frightened of, and go deep into it. Ask yourself questions. Answer the questions, even if you don't know the answer. Keep writing. The process is magic.

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