It’s not too late to join the journaling challenge I offered ten days ago. It’s never too late to start journaling. Period! The mind-body-spirit benefits abound: a greater sense of well being, reduced stress, lower blood pressure, deeper personal awareness, greater emotional intelligence, the list goes on.
I shared this information and more with attendees at my talk about Your Journal Companion at Changing Hands Book Store in Tempe, Arizona late last month and ended with the invitation to try the process, daily, for 30 days and then share with me any challenges, changes and successes they observe. I offer the same to you.
Here are important tips to get started:
- If you are new to journaling, begin with just 5 minutes of writing for a few days; then increase your time, incrementally, to 15 or 20 minutes.
- Use the prompts from my Your Journal Companion book or app to help you enter into the writing process.
- Begin by using the “free writing” technique, which is key to all the other writing tools I share in the book. Here is an excerpt from YJC that explains this technique:
Free writing is the heart and soul of journal writing, the unedited, un-judged, openly expressive, unabashed thoughts and feelings you let flow freely from the mind, heart, spirit, subconscious on to the page … The only way to learn to free write is to practice! You must discover how to welcome your words with open arms. To do this, the first task is to get rid of the editor that sits on your shoulder (tell it to get lost!) … (and) begin writing by copying the prompt into your journal and then without lifting your pen from the page, start writing the first thing that comes to your mind in response to the prompt – No Matter What It Is! – and keep your pen moving with words and thoughts – No Matter What They Are! – remember, NO EDITOR. If your mind goes blank, still keep your pen to the page and scribble, make circles, or doodle until another word or thought (any word or thought) comes and continue to write from there until the timer goes off.
- Be patient with yourself. You are beginning to build your free writing muscles, which are the gateway into your subconscious, the collective conscious, God/Spirit wisdom or Higher Self. Whatever you choose to call it – it is there, waiting to speak to you, commune with you, teach you about yourself and the world around you.
- Set a goal to find the best location and time of day to journal, as this will help you develop your writing habit. However, if your personal schedule does not allow a set routine, don’t despair. Do it when you can, just commit to Doing It Every Day!
Join the conversation about this process on the Your Journal Companion Club Facebook page. And, please be sure to let me know what results for you from 30 days of journaling. I would happy to help address your challenges and most certainly would love to celebrate your successes!
Onward to 30 days of Heightening Your Awareness of Self and Others!
Blessings, Plynn
Plynn Gutman 