Wednesday 18 February 2015

THE BENEFITS OF KEEPING A JOURNAL

Days and weeks go by without my even thinking of blogging till a certain inner nagging gets me to sit here and say something, anything, mainly a sort of State of Soul address. It's really important to do this for oneself periodically, if not daily. Daily, of course, is much better than periodically, because doing so helps you navigate the days in a meaningful, aware way, which, after all, is THE purpose of our being here on this planet. The first step here is to acknowledge your feelings about where you are: I'm tired, confused, afraid, anxious, etc etc. I know I have been in all these places even though I am at rest this morning. The second step is to try to uncover the causes, which is not an easy thing to do. This is where the magic of journalling comes in. Even as I write the word 'journal' I am reminded of how it means 'a personal record of experiences and reflections,' day, daily, and the root of the word, deiw, is also the root of god, deity, divine, rich, 'fortunate, blessed, divine,' luminous, shining, deodar (my favorite tree), journey, sojourn, and also, demon.

I will go so far as to say that at its very basic, journalling has helped me to survive by curdling the chaos in my brain and heart into some sense. Lately, to give you an example, I have been through a cycle of very bad sleep, and all its consequent angst. I hadn't even thought about journalling through that demon storm, but no sooner did the thought come 'I must journal about this,' a lot of the anxiety was quelled. AND, in the process, I discovered what was happening deep down in my soul (I can't make total sense of it and often I just have to endure the journey as consciously as I can) and the steps I needed to take to get back on course.

But a word about demons: if you stop and face them, they give you a gift.

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