keeping a Journal

This next section is a little deeper and here I want to work with you on developing the Encyclopedia of you. Building your Personal Skills knowledge and toward a deeper understanding of what makes you tick. Dip in and out, take what suits and leave the rest for another time. Maybe skim read first and then come back to what you need for you right now.

‘The Unexamined Life is not Worth Living’ Socrates

Creating A Journal: Welcome to you.

A Journal can mean many different things to people. For you it can be a tool for self-analysis, it may be a notebook for ideas, jottings, thoughts, it may become a daily diary or a log of your actions, thoughts and feelings.

Your Journal is the Encyclopaedia of you and your journey of self-discovery, creating insight into who you are, your potential and how you can attain it. Your Journal will develop over time to become an in-depth look into you, your past and your philosophy.  The process of writing something down will help you to think things through until you understand your processes. When you’ve done this for a while you will recognise that storing knowledge and your experiences saves you from repeating mistakes or patterns that get in the way of you being everything you can be.

Your Journal will help you see the wisdom you already possess and this wisdom may surprise you or challenge you. However, this wisdom comes from inside you, in addition to revealing your personal insight and wisdom, this process will help resolve feelings of confusion by helping you solve problems. This comes from seeing your own ideas validated and applied as you share these ideas with yourself.

You may be surprised by what you learn when you look at the encyclopaedia of you and your life. This is the book where you record your feelings about your life and where patterns emerge that will make sense to you. Enjoy surprising yourself, enjoy catching yourself out too. Use your journey to witness yourself in the world.

Witnessing is watching what is happening and watching with curiosity. Can you remember as a child how you watched how things worked, watched for clues to the world? This is much the same but now you’re watching yourself for clues.

Being a witness or observing is about observing yourself as you begin to make changes in your life, it is learning to dissociate yourself from what is happening, to step back and watch. As you learn to do this you will become aware of how you create obstacles for yourself in creating new ways of being or doing ‘things.’

Watching yourself is a useful tool for meditation, here you can begin learning detachment and curiosity, detachment of emotion from your acts and curiosity, much like a child, I wonder why I did that?

This is the beginning of awareness. When you begin to track down they whys and hows of your life you will learn to stop fighting with yourself and learn how you’ve built discomfort or resistance into it.

When you write, note the time, place, your moods, emotions and thoughts, these are useful for context when you read back.  After writing take a break, read what you’ve written, then if you have them, write insights into what you’ve just written.

Draw pictures and if you can’t draw, write the picture, use stick figures.

Make collages. Use magazines, newspapers, photographs, anything that attracts you with beauty.

Draw spider grams, draw a circle in the middle of the page, write your idea or thoughts in it, then any thoughts that arise, draw a line from the circle (these are the arms or spider legs) until you’ve exhausted your process. These can help you make connections, resolve problems and show your thinking processes to you.

Your journal then becomes a learning log that keeps track of the progress you are making.

Your journal is a record of your activities and explorations of how you solved problems, showing how you found solutions, making plain your thought and other processes.It will become good practice for you, reminding you of you, building up a picture of your inner world.

Keeping a journal is something you will learn to do for yourself because you will come to recognise the value of seeing the process of your growth and the unfolding of your life. 

Before you begin, I want you to spend a day, maybe two and read this part through. Read it again and again. Read the rules I’ve suggested, read the ideas I’ve put forward, begin to think of some of your own, so then and only then, after you’ve recognised the commitment you are making with yourself, Begin.

(—O—)

 

Rule number one

Stay with writing your journal for a while before you make a decision about stopping it. Empty journals have no value, depending upon how much you write, so you need to give yourself at least three weeks before you will recognise any benefits.

Rule number two

Make it easy for yourself to write, don’t set yourself up to fail by saying you will write everyday. Instead, take time each day to go over your notes. Do you still understand what you wrote? Is there anything you need to add? Do you need to write today?

Rule number three

When you start writing become organised about what you write. You may need sometimes to just jot down the jumble of thoughts, that’s ok too, write them down and allow your confusion to become clearer the next time you read your notes, though, do be organised by putting in context, those involved etc.

Rule number four

Even if you feel there is nothing of importance to write, keep yourself up to date about you, your thoughts, feelings, the smaller events in your life and how you are. You will be surprised what these supposedly minor things reveal to you about yourself.

Rule number five

Before you start writing or reading your journal, begin with a centring or quieting exercise to help you come to you.

(—O—)

Below are some simple guidelines, not rules, to help guide your thinking and writing processes. These are designed only to help you, if they don’t work for you, ignore them.

1. Date your entries.
2. Tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
3. Start writing, keep writing, and write as fast as you comfortably can.
4. Use your senses. Include thoughts, feelings, actions, and reactions.
5. Include any critical thinking and decision making processes. 
6. Include your relationships and any feelings of dependency.
7. Keep what you write-don’t cross out or remove and do review from time to time.
8. Leave the last couple of pages in each journal for summarising the entire volume.
9. Remind yourself when feeling empowered and of your processes. 
10. Write of conflicts, stresses and your coping strategies. 
11. Write when and how you want. 
12. Be honest with yourself about addictions and any anti-social behaviour. 
13. Think of your communication processes, what does and doesn’t work. 
14.  If you go off on a tangent, follow it.
15. Protect your privacy; only share these thoughts when YOU want to.
16. Keep your journal safe.

(—O—)

Some other ideas:

1. Tell your family story; this helps to order and understand your life. Create a memoir of your life growing up, the branches of your family tree or create a Life scrapbook.  

2. Organise yourself emotionally, spiritually and intellectually. Maybe write a paragraph on each of these for a while, discover how each informs or interacts with the other. Your Journal will help sharpen your vision of your emotional and spiritual life as well as your functional needs.

4. Track emotions, experiences, moods, the everyday and you will begin to see the patterns of you.

5. Let go of old hurts; all the grief and grievances since childhood, old jobs, old bosses, let it go. Release them into your journal and say goodbye while learning from them.

6. Achieve your dreams, goals and aspirations; to succeed in life you need clarity of Goals, Dreams and Ambitions, here you can begin to write for yourself what they are.

7. Write your mistakes here so you don’t do them again. When you feel you can share these thoughts, do, maybe others will see your wisdom too.

8. Let your Journal challenge your beliefs and enrich your life, when you write as honestly as you can about yourself, you will see yourself as a different person when looking back at your writing.

9. Your Journal is you, making it your friend, making your thoughts visible, creating a way to interact, elaborate on and expand ideas. In this way; you are not alone.

(—O—)

Beginnings;

Name:

Age:

Date of Birth:

Eye Colour:

Hair Colour:

Hair Style:

Weight:

Body Type:

Physical Condition:

Race:

Ethnicity:

Religion:

Distinguishing Features; scars, tattoos, piercing, etc

Physical Features, happy, unhappy with:

Interaction Characteristics; voice, tone, gestures;

Ancestral, Family Background:

Allergies:

Educational Level:

Areas of Study:

Degrees:

Occupational Training:

Career now,

Career desired:

Occupation:

Income:

Past Occupations:

Areas of Expertise:

Miscellaneous skills, abilities, and awards:

Military Experience:

Goals, Short term:

Goals, Long term:

Desires, Short term:

Desires, Long term:

Needs, Short term:

Needs, Long term:

Money;

Applying ideas of achieving personal power:

In what areas of your life do I want to feel personally powerful?

Is money involved in the attainment of all these, some of these or none of these?

How much money?

What words best describe my feelings about achieving personal power in my life?

What two activities do I love to do that make me happy?

How much does it cost to do these?

Do I do these alone or with others?

Odd things about me:

Positive Traits:

Negative Traits:

Good Habits

Bad Habits

Sense of Humour:

Fears:

Phobias:

Prejudices:

Opinion on Others Prejudice:

I talk easily about

What embarrasses me?

Money equals:

Freedom

Happiness 

Love

Power

Self-Worth

Security

Or:

Favourite Moments:

Least Favourite Moments:

Psychological Scars:

Political Party:

Social Issues you are against:

Social Issues you are for:

Hobbies:

Interests:

Pets:

Favourite Pet:

Favourite TV show:

Favourite type of music:

Favourite Song:

Favourite Colour:

Favourite Movie:

Favourite Actor:

Favourite Book:

Favourite Author:

Favourite Sports:

Favourite Pastime:

Do you drink?

How often:

Favourite Alcohol:

Favourite Meal:

Favourite Restaurant:

Diet: healthy, unhealthy:

Clothing Style:

Heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual:

Sexually Active:

Love interest:

Favourite characteristics in love interest:

Least Favourite characteristics in love interest:

Close Friends:

Acquaintances:

Acquaintance you wish to be a friend:

Where do you live?

With who:

City:

Assessment of living style

Where would I like to live?

Favourite saying:

Favourite quote:

My Philosophy of Life:

(—O—)

Other areas for thought;

Weather today:

I spent most of my day…

Interesting bits of the day…

I accomplished…

I plan to do tomorrow…

I talked to…

I learned…

Things to remember…

Past moments I remembered…

I wish…

Ever been arrested:

Have I been convicted of a crime?

If yes, for what:

How long in prison:

What did I learn there?

Favourite Type of Music:

Favourite Song of the Moment: (why?)

Favourite Painting:

Hobbies:

Words or Phrases I overuse:

Favourite place to visit:

What is my worst time of day?

Favourite Time of Year:

Favourite Team:

Favourite Subject in School:

Least Favourite Subject in School:

Humiliating Moment:

Favourite Holiday:

What is different about me?

Facts About Childhood

School Years:

Calendar Years

School/s I Attended:

Favourite Teacher(s): (why?)

Classes:

Favourite Subjects:

Least favourite Subjects:

Best Friends:

Where we lived:

Family Members:

Neighbours:

My Room:

Interests:

Favourite Toys or Hobbies:

Where I liked to play:

Jobs:

Chores:

Worries:

Life Events

Biggest Events:

News stories I remember:

What I Did That Summer:

What I did on holiday:

What I Did On My Birthday:

Holidays:

Religious Ceremonies:

Books Read:

Comics:

Magazines:

Music I listened to:

TV:

Movies:

What I usually wore to school:

Favourite clothes:

Favourite Foods:

Least favourite Foods:

Height/Weight:

Most vivid memory:

More Recent Times

This Year

My Age:

Employment:

Co-workers:

Supervisors:

Employees:

Projects:

Duties:

Work Memories:

Where I’ve lived:

Who I’ve lived with:

Significant Others:

Friends:

Enemies

What I usually wore:

Problems or Worries:

News Stories that affect me:

Fads:

Books Read:

Comics:

Newspapers:

Magazines:

Most vivid memory:

Biggest Life Events:

What is more important to me: success, chance, or hard work?

How much of a role has fate played in my life?

Has hard work and persistence paid off in projects I’ve been involved in?

If I put my mind to something, can I get what I want out of life?

 When I fail, what are the reasons?

When I’ve succeeded, what were the leading factors?

Hope this helps you to keep your journal which is intended as your record of your growth

regards

Neil

(c)neilbenbow