Journaling - A Key to Joy

Are you interested in finding your authentic voice? Would you like to be more confident? Does the sound of personal freedom tickle your fancy? Would you like to learn more about yourself in a very compassionate way? Do you suspect there may be treasures hidden inside you that so far you've been unable to identify and put to use? Are you looking for a way to systematically make positive changes in your life? Is there a book or an invention inside you just crying to be made manifest? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, read on.

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The Write Way to Self-Discovery...
Who are your heroes? Who are the people you've read or heard about whose stories stay with you, inspire you? Have you wondered how they were able to achieve greatness? For me, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin and the explorers, Lewis and Clark, strike a chord. And I am struck by the fact that all of them kept a journal.

The question is, "Did these men start journaling after they became famous, or did they become famous after they started journaling?" I don't know for sure, but because of my own experience, I believe that journaling helped to guide their journeys - both outer and inner.

When I first began my quest to discover who I am, I found journaling quite painful. I was angry. By giving myself permission to write about my feelings, I opened the floodgates. Repressed and pent-up emotions spilled out onto the page. These outpourings gradually transformed over time. As I grew in understanding of myself, I was prompted to change some of my bad habits.

I saw that I had been listening to my "stinking thinking", which resulted in poor choices and an unbalanced life. In truth, I was only able to see this clearly when it was right in front of me in black and white. Because journaling has been such a rewarding tool for me, I strongly recommend it to my clients.

I am not alone in my respect for the journaling process. The author, Sara Ban Breathnach, asks her readers to keep a gratitude journal. She says, "Write ten things every day that you are grateful for." In a fabulous book called, "Writing the Mind Alive", authors Linda Trichter Metcalf, PH.D. and Tobin Simon, PH. D. encourage their readers to sit at a table with no distractions, play Baroque music, light a candle and write on unlined paper for twenty-five minutes whatever comes to mind. Weight Watchers also asks participants to journal.

Is it just a coincidence that these successful agents of change all use a journal? Is there a pattern?