Spiritual Matters: Co-Create with Spirit

My experience is that spiritual journaling helps me stay in this frame of mind, while I am journaling AND after. While journaling, I concentrate in order to put words on paper. This tactile work of putting pen to paper can help me stay there (likewise, typing on computer keys, or holding the phone while I dictate, works just as well in this regard). I write what’s in my head and on my heart, freeing up space by putting stresses, worries and tensions on the pages. I ask Spirit/God* what else I should know and put these thoughts on the pages. I learn from the writing immediately and also later, by looking back at writings, and I can be freed from stress, worries and tensions each time.

How can this happen? I believe that journaling helps us realize that many of our thoughts are judgmental, not based in truth and not helpful. Journaling helps to get these things out of the way. Then, when we are free of these things, it can put us in open space, during and after journaling.

It is here that I create stories and poetry. It is here that I provide the best massages. It is here that I create mosaics or a list of fun things I want to do. It is here that I create what has never been created before. It is here that I weed and plant a garden that looks like no-one else’s garden. It is here that I marvel at what has been created and it feels good. It is here that I am grateful and giddy. My thoughts are not judgmental. The “work” feels good, even if I never share it and even if I do share it. When I look at the creation, it brings me back to this joyful wonder of being free and creating.

I believe this is available to all of us. Here are some journal prompts to move you in this direction.

JOURNAL PROMPT:

What thoughts are perseverating in your mind today or over the last few days?

Put these stresses and thoughts on paper, in your journal.

Once you’ve drained your brain, write in the left margin next to each thought, “Is this true?” Add your answer; a simple “yes” or “no” next to this question for each thought will do.

In the right margin next to each thought, write, “Is this helpful?” Again, add “yes” or “no” next to this question for each thought.

Hopefully, most of the answers are “no,” and you can leave these thoughts behind. For any that are “yes,” you may want to journal about this more. If not, you have probably freed your brain up enough to consider co-creating with Spirit. Start with these journal prompts:

JOURNAL PROMPT:

How are you creative?

JOURNAL PROMPT:

What have you been thinking about creating lately?

Write about whatever comes, no matter if it feels creative or not. It may be very specific, like about baking or cooking, such as wanting to bake/create a cake for a friend’s birthday (even if you use a box mix), or it may be general, like wanting to make/create healthy meals for yourself. It could be something very general, like wanting to learn how to do something new, but you don’t know what. Just write whatever comes.

JOURNAL PROMPT:

How do I feel when I am creating?

JOURNAL PROMPT:

What one thing can I do today that moves me towards creating?

JOURNAL PROMPT:

God*, what else do you want me to know?

Don’t second guess yourself on this one. It is what makes the journaling a spiritual experience. Write whatever comes to you, even if you think it is just your own mind’s voice speaking. In this way, you are getting a two-way conversation started.

For me, sometimes I hear an answer immediately and I write it down. Sometimes I wait in silence until an answer comes and I write it down. Not often, but sometimes I hear nothing, and sometimes I am inspired to use a tool. Tools often include meditation cards, the Bible, a daily devotional, or a spiritual book such as Nan Merrill’s Psalms for Praying (The Continuum International Publishing Group Inc. 2006). If you are not sure what to use, use the tool which pops up into your head first. It could be the first thing you see, something random like a magazine on your coffee table or a book in front of you. Don’t pass judgment. For example, if you feel a nudge to open a children’s book, or something else you have deemed as irrelevant, do it anyway. Write down whatever you read or see which seems relevant. If it doesn’t seem relevant, I write it down anyway because it will most likely become relevant at the current sitting, or another time when I am looking back over my journal entries.

At this writing, I have used the following tool on some days over the past week: Handbook of the Soul by Richard Carlson and Benjamin Shield (Little, Brown & Company, 1995).

*For this column, I want to define God by not defining God. I suggest that each of us use the term which feels most comfortable. I use God as a universal term. You may decide that Spirit, Great Spirit, Higher Power, Sensibility, Best Self, or SOMETHING else better suits you. It is not for me to decide what term you use. It is only for me to decide which term I use. I often use the term God.

Author bio: Marie Higgins left corporate America after more than 15 years in human resources management to pursue life. Before long she found massage therapy and became a nationally certified, state-licensed massage therapist. At the same time, she felt a partial hardening of the heart, figuratively and spiritually, so she found a spiritual coach to help, and became an active journaling person. Included in her journals are the gratitude lists that helped her heart soften and moved her to write poetry. In 2017 she included these poems in her debut book, Sprouting Spiritual Growth: A Memoir and a Guide to Spiritual Journaling. Since then Marie maintains a journaling practice that includes writing poetry whenever inspiration strikes. Marie lives in suburban Philadelphia with her husband, two young adult children and an active foxhound.