Gay Ingram's Blog - Posts Tagged "journaling"
My Experience with Journaling
Reading a back issue of Personal Journaling, I became aware that there are several reasons why I journal every day.
My serious effort to be consistent came about as a result of Julia Cameron’s influential book, The Artist’s Way. I connected with what she had to say about being committed to what she called ‘daily pages.’ It wasn’t so much her urge to write every day, but the reasoning she gave for doing these daily pages. She pointed out that in doing so every day at the approximate same time, in an identical location each day, your objective was to form a new habit, to train your brain and hand into a cooperative effort to write. As this repetitive exercise became more familiar and the routine established, the act of sitting down to write for a specific length of time would become an almost automatic practice.
And I have found it so.
But there have been other benefits derived as a result of establishing this routine into my daily schedule.
I’ve found it true that just the act of settling myself at the desk in my bedroom, lighting a nearby candle, opening the spiral 5-subject notebook I’ve chosen to use and picking up my pen seemed to open a floodgate, causing the words to flow effortlessly as my writing strives to keep up with the thoughts that come to me.
I’ve found whenever I have an assignment or an article that’s due, there isn't any doubt about having words come or any hesitation to begin the work.
You've probably all been part of a mini-workshop or writing presentation where the person in charge announces: “we will now write for ten minutes on...” Somewhere over the years of keeping up my daily pages, I’ve eradicated that ‘freezing up’ feeling that used to grab me whenever required to attempt spontaneous writing. Those instances, when they happen, no longer bring on a sense of terror and frustration.
Another discovery: there are times as I’m writing along I find myself reeling in thoughts that are resolutions to dilemmas I’d considered unsolvable. So, I just keep on writing, saying to myself, “Isn’t that interesting?”
Another way these daily pages help me, is in providing a place to express my frustrations and anger about situations over which I have no control. My journal pages give me somewhere to rant and rave without doing damage. And writing about the circumstances usually brings me a degree of acceptance once I’ve expressed my feelings.
I highly recommend every writer set aside a small portion of their day–perhaps just ten minutes to begin with. I can almost guarantee the writing time will expand to longer periods as you become more comfortable with the activity and it becomes a more familiar routine. Try it; I promise only good results.
My serious effort to be consistent came about as a result of Julia Cameron’s influential book, The Artist’s Way. I connected with what she had to say about being committed to what she called ‘daily pages.’ It wasn’t so much her urge to write every day, but the reasoning she gave for doing these daily pages. She pointed out that in doing so every day at the approximate same time, in an identical location each day, your objective was to form a new habit, to train your brain and hand into a cooperative effort to write. As this repetitive exercise became more familiar and the routine established, the act of sitting down to write for a specific length of time would become an almost automatic practice.
And I have found it so.
But there have been other benefits derived as a result of establishing this routine into my daily schedule.
I’ve found it true that just the act of settling myself at the desk in my bedroom, lighting a nearby candle, opening the spiral 5-subject notebook I’ve chosen to use and picking up my pen seemed to open a floodgate, causing the words to flow effortlessly as my writing strives to keep up with the thoughts that come to me.
I’ve found whenever I have an assignment or an article that’s due, there isn't any doubt about having words come or any hesitation to begin the work.
You've probably all been part of a mini-workshop or writing presentation where the person in charge announces: “we will now write for ten minutes on...” Somewhere over the years of keeping up my daily pages, I’ve eradicated that ‘freezing up’ feeling that used to grab me whenever required to attempt spontaneous writing. Those instances, when they happen, no longer bring on a sense of terror and frustration.
Another discovery: there are times as I’m writing along I find myself reeling in thoughts that are resolutions to dilemmas I’d considered unsolvable. So, I just keep on writing, saying to myself, “Isn’t that interesting?”
Another way these daily pages help me, is in providing a place to express my frustrations and anger about situations over which I have no control. My journal pages give me somewhere to rant and rave without doing damage. And writing about the circumstances usually brings me a degree of acceptance once I’ve expressed my feelings.
I highly recommend every writer set aside a small portion of their day–perhaps just ten minutes to begin with. I can almost guarantee the writing time will expand to longer periods as you become more comfortable with the activity and it becomes a more familiar routine. Try it; I promise only good results.
