Journaling

The fountain of personal wisdom may be closer than you think. As close as your nearest pen actually. That's because the single most essential instrument for nurturing your spirit is a personal journal.

Journaling is a remarkable tool to help you discover the wisdom you already possess. Sometimes, this wisdom will surprise you. Other times, it will challenge you. Always, it will come directly from you, empowering you to trust yourself and to take action by giving you the deep-seated knowledge that you know more than you think you do.

This feeling of power and self-trust will translate into a more confident you. You will already know where to turn when faced with difficult decisions. You will have found the answers within yourself, and you will return there for further instruction.

Now, there a few rules to the game of journaling. You should write quickly, allowing the words to freefall form your subconcious. Keep writing, no matter wat. Don't edit, erase or cross-out any words. If you're heading in a direction you would rather avoid, start a new paragraph. Date each entry in your journal. Note that time, place, and any details regarding your mood and emotions that will be necessary for context when you read back on your work.

After you have finished a journal entry, take a walk or get up for a glass of water before you reread your entry, and remember to reread this entry with compassion. Then, write an insight Line - a sentence or two about what you think the piece is trying to tell you.

Get creative with the techniques you use. We all have a subconscious mind that communicates to us in a different way. If you are stuck and have nothing to write, try recoding snippets of conversations, facts, feelings, fantasies, descriptions, impressions, quotes, images, and ideas. Draw pictures. Make a collage from a magazine. Use the technique that best suits the way in which you express yourself.

One method that works well is called clustering. Put the central idea in the centre of the page and circle it. Then, without any pause, make associations, placing them in new bubbles and tying them to the main idea. The result is a complex matrix of ideas, many of which you didn't even know you had.

Whether you set a time for writing each day or you do it on the fly, make sure the time you spent writing in your journal is time solely devoted to you and your task. Your journal is designed to nurture you.

---

Eugine Loh, 938Live, MediaCorp Pte Ltd