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Spiritual Journaling: Writing Your Way to Independence
A guide for teens and young adults on the power of creative journaling and its role in enhancing self-discovery and self-awareness
• Provides encouragement for creative writing, self-expression, and self-dialogue
• Includes journaling exercises to inspire creativity and cultivate self-esteem
• By the author of Teen Psychic and The Thundering Years , winner of the 2002 Independent Publisher Book Award for multicultural juvenile nonfiction
Most teens and young adults search for ways to express their individuality and to discover who they are, without being judged. In Spiritual Journaling Julie Tallard Johnson shows that journaling is an informative and supportive outlet for the joys, frustrations, and questions that arise for those making the transition toward their own independent ideas and lives--and a powerful tool for awakening creative potential.
Johnson encourages young people to discover their own unique voices by offering guidance on writing and other forms of self-expression and self-dialogue and on learning how to listen to inner wisdom. As readers move through the book and write in their own personal journals, they gain insight about themselves--knowledge reflected in their own words and the writing of other young people included in the book. The journaling tools provided include meditations, consulting oracles, writing poetry, visualizations, writing rituals, and problem solving around spiritual questions.
• Provides encouragement for creative writing, self-expression, and self-dialogue
• Includes journaling exercises to inspire creativity and cultivate self-esteem
• By the author of Teen Psychic and The Thundering Years , winner of the 2002 Independent Publisher Book Award for multicultural juvenile nonfiction
Most teens and young adults search for ways to express their individuality and to discover who they are, without being judged. In Spiritual Journaling Julie Tallard Johnson shows that journaling is an informative and supportive outlet for the joys, frustrations, and questions that arise for those making the transition toward their own independent ideas and lives--and a powerful tool for awakening creative potential.
Johnson encourages young people to discover their own unique voices by offering guidance on writing and other forms of self-expression and self-dialogue and on learning how to listen to inner wisdom. As readers move through the book and write in their own personal journals, they gain insight about themselves--knowledge reflected in their own words and the writing of other young people included in the book. The journaling tools provided include meditations, consulting oracles, writing poetry, visualizations, writing rituals, and problem solving around spiritual questions.
- GenresWritingJournaling
272 pages, Paperback
First published February 23, 2006
6 people are currently reading
43 people want to read
About the author
Julie Tallard Johnson
16 books33 followersPraise for The Zero Point Agreement
“In this beautiful book, Julie Tallard Johnson--a gifted teacher and writer--brings fresh insight to an ancient truth: each of us must live from the inside out. This book--full of resources that range from heart-deep insight to helpful, practical exercises--can help us reclaim the treasure-trove of our own experience and being.”
Parker J. Palmer, author of Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, and The Courage to Teach
“In this resource-rich book of practical wisdom and wise practices, Julie Tallard Johnson offers readers multidimensional insights, inspiration, and skills for living with greater authenticity, creativity, and happiness. Integrating science, spirituality, and art in an engaging and deeply thoughtful approach to becoming who you already are, this gifted teacher demonstrates how each of us can create more meaning and joy in our lives--in ourselves, in the world around us, and for our power to create and shape the stories we tell ourselves and others.”
Amber Ault, Ph.D., clinical sociologist and psychotherapist
“In The Zero Point Agreement, Julie Tallard Johnson intelligently presents elegantly simple yet remarkably powerful practices for personal and societal transformation. Through the masterful weaving of teaching stories that touch the heart and inspire, she helps foster the development of an authentic identity. This is what our children, our families, our communities, and the land need.”
Corinna Stevenson, ecopsychologist and creator of Dragonfly Healing
“Julie Tallard Johnson’s The Zero Point Agreement is full of wisdom. We are invited to challenge our beliefs, habits, and assumptions and make ourselves vulnerable so that we can easily access the truth within our lives and experiences. Julie teaches us that by becoming our own meaning maker, we transform ourselves and the world in which we live. A true gift!”
Amy DeLong, M.D., Ho-Chunk Nation Department of Health
“I was captivated by Julie Tallard Johnson’s accessible treatise on how we are all charged with making meaning in our daily lives. I found The Zero Point Agreement dazzling because it is so packed with actual, practical wisdom. I can honestly say it has already changed my life.”
Meg Cox, author of The Book of New Family Traditions
“I love that the big beautiful zero is a central tenet of this book. What I see is a big round open door through which we can all walk on our journey toward wholeness. It’s a journey with no destination, of course, since wholeness is not a place as much as a perspective, ever-shifting. Put on your dancing shoes; this is not a book to be read propped up in your La-Z-Boy!”
Claudia Schmidt, singer-songwriter
“The Zero Point Agreement offers a clear, practical path to taking control of what you are able to and living the life you want to live.”
Dinty W. Moore, author of The Mindful Writer: Noble Truths of the Writing Life
“Julie Tallard Johnson’s The Zero Point Agreement is a brilliant resource for deep and lasting change. I have used the zero point agreement in my own life and have shared it with clients and students. It is not another pie-in-the-sky promise of change. It is straightforward and effective.”
Tamar Zick, LPC, RYT, licensed psychotherapist and registered yoga teacher
“What a generous, wise, and useful book this is! Each chapter is so filled with quotes, anecdotes, hands-on exercises and more that help and inspire us to fully claim our own lives. There’s enough here to guide and inform you for many years to come.”
Ruth L. Schwartz, Ph.D., award-winning poet, and author of Soul on Earth: A Guide to Living & Loving Your Human Life
“A delightful companion for those of us seeking greater levels of balance, meaning, and joy--this book offers many gems of inspiration as well as the welcomed reminder that the journey toward wholeness always begins within.”
Karen Horneffer-Ginter, Ph.D., author of Full Cup, Thirsty Spirit
“In this beautiful book, Julie Tallard Johnson--a gifted teacher and writer--brings fresh insight to an ancient truth: each of us must live from the inside out. This book--full of resources that range from heart-deep insight to helpful, practical exercises--can help us reclaim the treasure-trove of our own experience and being.”
Parker J. Palmer, author of Healing the Heart of Democracy, Let Your Life Speak, and The Courage to Teach
“In this resource-rich book of practical wisdom and wise practices, Julie Tallard Johnson offers readers multidimensional insights, inspiration, and skills for living with greater authenticity, creativity, and happiness. Integrating science, spirituality, and art in an engaging and deeply thoughtful approach to becoming who you already are, this gifted teacher demonstrates how each of us can create more meaning and joy in our lives--in ourselves, in the world around us, and for our power to create and shape the stories we tell ourselves and others.”
Amber Ault, Ph.D., clinical sociologist and psychotherapist
“In The Zero Point Agreement, Julie Tallard Johnson intelligently presents elegantly simple yet remarkably powerful practices for personal and societal transformation. Through the masterful weaving of teaching stories that touch the heart and inspire, she helps foster the development of an authentic identity. This is what our children, our families, our communities, and the land need.”
Corinna Stevenson, ecopsychologist and creator of Dragonfly Healing
“Julie Tallard Johnson’s The Zero Point Agreement is full of wisdom. We are invited to challenge our beliefs, habits, and assumptions and make ourselves vulnerable so that we can easily access the truth within our lives and experiences. Julie teaches us that by becoming our own meaning maker, we transform ourselves and the world in which we live. A true gift!”
Amy DeLong, M.D., Ho-Chunk Nation Department of Health
“I was captivated by Julie Tallard Johnson’s accessible treatise on how we are all charged with making meaning in our daily lives. I found The Zero Point Agreement dazzling because it is so packed with actual, practical wisdom. I can honestly say it has already changed my life.”
Meg Cox, author of The Book of New Family Traditions
“I love that the big beautiful zero is a central tenet of this book. What I see is a big round open door through which we can all walk on our journey toward wholeness. It’s a journey with no destination, of course, since wholeness is not a place as much as a perspective, ever-shifting. Put on your dancing shoes; this is not a book to be read propped up in your La-Z-Boy!”
Claudia Schmidt, singer-songwriter
“The Zero Point Agreement offers a clear, practical path to taking control of what you are able to and living the life you want to live.”
Dinty W. Moore, author of The Mindful Writer: Noble Truths of the Writing Life
“Julie Tallard Johnson’s The Zero Point Agreement is a brilliant resource for deep and lasting change. I have used the zero point agreement in my own life and have shared it with clients and students. It is not another pie-in-the-sky promise of change. It is straightforward and effective.”
Tamar Zick, LPC, RYT, licensed psychotherapist and registered yoga teacher
“What a generous, wise, and useful book this is! Each chapter is so filled with quotes, anecdotes, hands-on exercises and more that help and inspire us to fully claim our own lives. There’s enough here to guide and inform you for many years to come.”
Ruth L. Schwartz, Ph.D., award-winning poet, and author of Soul on Earth: A Guide to Living & Loving Your Human Life
“A delightful companion for those of us seeking greater levels of balance, meaning, and joy--this book offers many gems of inspiration as well as the welcomed reminder that the journey toward wholeness always begins within.”
Karen Horneffer-Ginter, Ph.D., author of Full Cup, Thirsty Spirit
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
December 12, 2012
Even though I wrote this book, I borrow from it regularly for my classes and writing . . . Is it wrong to include your own books? :-)
September 15, 2017
This is a superb book for writers--and not just for teenagers! Julie has tremendous insight into many aspects of Life and I love the exercises and examples she uses to help readers open their hearts and let the words flow.
"Spiritual Journaling" sits right next to my beloved copies of "Bird by Bird" and "Writing Down the Bones"--it's THAT special!
"Spiritual Journaling" sits right next to my beloved copies of "Bird by Bird" and "Writing Down the Bones"--it's THAT special!
September 26, 2018
DNF- both overly simplified & culturally appropriative, far as I can tell. i'll probably end up skimming it for journaling prompts at some point.
December 24, 2025
DNF- both overly simplified & culturally appropriative, far as I can tell. i'll probably end up skimming it for journaling prompts at some point.
Read
March 18, 2016This book is really hippy-dippy. I mean, it's like wooo-woooooooh. But I read the whole thing so it wasn't a total dud. There was some stuff in there I liked about African baby-naming customs.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews