Change is at the Heart of Journaling

In the process of journaling for self-discovery, you may find tons of new ways to appreciatewho you are and what you do. As you journal over some months, exploring with a receptive mind the various methods and prompts for writing out, in, under, and through your experience, you are going to come to see yourself in new ways.

Change can be thrilling

The first change in your self might be your realization that instead of bottling up, holding in your impressions and reactions, you can always express them freely in your journal. In other words, you always have a counselor and friend close by. Knowing this may produce in you an unaccustomed confidence.

Perhaps you spend a lot of journaling time with your memories. It used to be that these thoughts clouded your days in a vague, uneasy way. Once you start journaling about them, though, the pictures and feelings become clearer. And maybe you find that by writing your memories, they become less obsessive for you. Once you thoroughly tell the story, perhaps you can leave it behind.

If you tend to journal more about hopes and dreams, the same sort of process works in reverse. That is, you used to focus on your dreams only when your hectic life allowed, which was about once a year for five minutes. Now that you're journaling these thoughts, by writing them down you are making them more real, more possible. You allow them more of your brain space so they have a chance to take root and grow.

And change can be terrifying

Not all changes that journaling entails are easy and charming. Some are much more difficult, even scary. The kind of reflection journaling involves may bring up realizations about your self that are not so complimentary, and maybe they are downright ugly. You may begin to see and feel how you've been wrong or how you have wronged others.

When your tone turns bitter and accusatory and you are the object of your own disgust, you may decide journaling is too hurtful. Nonetheless, keep writing.

Trust that it is the writing and not You that is the vehicle.

Your pen-to-page will carry you through to the other side. Keep writing, moving straight through the middle of your angst. There will be light on the other side, because the process of writing is that powerful.

If you are persistent despite your fears, once again you'll realize that journaling has changed you. You have gained a greater acceptance and understanding of your human predicament.

Journal writing is a habitual practice, but it is absolutely all about change, transitions, and growth.

How has your journaling practice changed you? Please comment!

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