Where are the Edges in Your Journal Writing?

Experiences like journaling or creativity, physical training or attaining goals for self-improvement are activities we engage in because we're interested in being the best we can be. Though sometimes participation can be challenging, it can also be refreshing, rejuvenating, and even relaxing.

I had a jolt of awakening that still is with me many years later, when a teacher spoke of "playing with your edge." When involved in any activity or learning process, you soon find your edge, the place where it's not simply fun anymore, where it gets a bit hard for you. What had been fun and nothing but encouraging suddenly becomes difficult, a little scary. You consider quitting.

My teacher's brilliance lay in the combination of that scary edge with the concept of play. The idea of playing with your edge struck a new chord with me. Play with it, don't deny it, run from it, or try to find a way around it; just play with it.

A friend was talking about Julia Cameron's Morning Pages the other day, saying she had been writing two pages each morning, but not quite getting to three. I urged her to stick to the three-page rule. There's a reason for it.

You write what comes naturally until you decide you're done, but you have written only two pages. That’s your edge. That’s the place where you can grow. Start playing.

I know, I know. It seems ridiculous to resist your fatigue, boredom, or whatever is causing you to want to move on to other things. But Cameron is quite explicit in her instructions.

Until you stay with it - exploring, teasing, and dancing with your edge - you're just being entertained. When you begin to play with your edge, you open the door to revelations, success, and growth.

This applies in myriad areas, when you think about it. You might play with the edges of your tolerance for cold, your ability to resist temptation, or the top range of your singing voice. Just about any endeavor will bring you to a level of challenge sooner or later. How you respond in those key moments makes all the difference.

In regular journal writing, here are a few ways you might play with your edge; and I'd love to hear your ideas in the comments.

• Pursue an idea. Whether it's physics, relationships, or needlework set an intention to journal about it every day and find out what's beyond the urge to skip a day.

• If your journal begins to bore you, press on to the other side by writing even more. Dissect the boredom to discover its pearls.

• Refuse to let things slide in your journal. If you don't understand or can't accept something in your life, drill past resistances to the very root. Stubbornly persist, and the writings will teach you.

Your turn! How do you play with your journaling edge? What revelations have you had as a result?

Image from http://www.flickr.com/photos/wwarby/5110093584/