Jul 30

Jul 30 Soul searching with words

“I don’t journal to ‘be productive.’ I don’t do it to find great ideas or to put down prose I can later publish. The pages aren’t intended for anyone but me. It’s the most cost-effective therapy I’ve ever found.” – Tim Ferriss

In the fantasy film directed by Jim Henson in 1982 called “The Dark Crystal” we see the main character Jen trying to explain to Kira, his newfound friend, the definition of writing as they look at old prophesy drawings on the walls of some ruins. Kira asks about the funny marks. Jen says to Kira: “This is all writing.” Kira looks to Jen puzzled and asks, “What’s writing?” Jen’s response stuck with me until this very day as his answer was “Words that stay”.

Writing has been a part of human culture for thousands of years. Whether in drawings in caves as the paleo nomads or on computers like today, language is a vital part of how we learn from our past and from each other because the writing we read are words that have stayed with us. Words that tell us what history was like or what fashion or food there was centuries ago with people we will never meet, but we can travel in time and know them by their words they left behind for us to read now. This is how I see journaling, as my words that will stay long after I am gone.

I don’t view journaling as a task but as a way to search deep into my soul, because it lets me see me as myself. I can be myself in my writings. My doodles, and brainstorming, my mind maps of visions, dreams and ideas and even stages of my depressive state in which I try to coach myself to just keep going forward. Journaling is me telling a story to myself about me. It’s like looking into a mirror and seeing someone I truly want to help when in need, or encourage when in doubt, or cheer up when sad or ashamed or even laugh at when quirky.

As we continue down the path of transformation, writing about yourself can help you establish a track record for yourself and your progress. Remember, we’ve already discussed in part 1 “Jump Start Your Transformation” about how to easily start, but it doesn't end there, it’s actually where it begins. However, you must not look at journaling as daunting or a cringing thing to do, its actually fun. Especially when you start doing it for years and get to go back and read the things you have gone through, yet you still remain sane. It’s like going back into your old closet to look at photos of good memories or people you miss and remember. Words that stay are photos in language form describing the condition of your soul in a moment in time that you will never get back. The epiphany of a breakthrough or change of heart that changed your path in life that you probably wouldn’t have remembered otherwise.

Have you looked at an old photo of yourself and thought “Wow! I’ve really changed!!”? Well, that’s what journaling does for you but with words, it allows you to see yourself as you are in the aftermath of life, including happy or sad events. You can go back and remember where you failed, how you made a bad decision or felt regrets, betrayal, yet while you read you realize all the ground you have covered since then and what you have learned from that experience. Journaling helps you heal, as you see yourself letting go and morphing into a better you. You can connect the dots of the time you were bitter up until the time you found the answer. How you lost the weight, started school, went to church, found a lover, or even started a business.

It’s everything and anything because it’s a safe place to write about how you feel at the end of each goal or endeavor. Helps the honesty in you come out when you realize the absolute truth about yourself. It challenges you to explore your life in depth to look at the world with a different lens once you realize who you truly are. You were beautifully and wonderfully made, isn’t it time that you care enough about yourself and others to make the effort by keeping track of yourself? By doing it, you are saying to yourself you want to be accountable. That you are no longer in denial of your fears and failures and that you truly want to move forward in your life the right way. This is called self-awareness and it begins with loving yourself enough to care about the life you have been given to live and learn from as long as you are on Earth. And there is even better news, for those of you that don’t like to write, you can journal with drawings too. You don't have to write every single day, but if you do, it will change your life.

Next week - Victim versus Creator Mindsets