Anonymous:
What are the benefits of keeping a journal?
The Seer:
One of the primary inner causes of personal stress, is the disruption in communication between the subtle and overt information sources of mind; between the unconscious and conscious minds. The conscious mind's obsessive need to know the origin of, and justification for, our motivating impulses, leads to the dismissive attitude that denies the validity of the unexplainable. This causes an undefinable inner conflict. Journaling allows our subtle feelings to formulate themselves into comprehensible expression, thereby reducing the stress of this inner conflict.
In multicultural spiritual lore, the psyche's facets of feminine expression, are represented by female deities. These archetypes indicate areas of expression that should be present in a fulfilled and happy, balanced life — often incorporated into tribal life through ceremony. Invariably, the deities of storytelling and the celebration of the high points of life are represented. Journaling assuages these needs that have been present in man since the dawn of time.
The journalling of hardships, reduces them from overwhelming proportions to manageable parts of our life's story. We are able to express pent-up feelings, compare and contrast the challenging times of our life, and gain courage from remembered times of overcoming. The recorded victories and celebrations, provide continuity through a linear progression of reference points throughout the journey of our lives.
The need for reference points, is a primal and basic one that is too often overlooked by behaviorists. During self-examination, man invariably encounters his most profound fear: the absolute terror of the vastness of his being. It is in finding himself to be so much more than just a body with thoughts and emotions, that he reaches for reference points. Unfortunately this quest for certainty in the vast unknowable presence of himself, leads to the formation of identities — affirmed by the tribes of like-minded individuals he gathers around himself.
Identities become the prison bars of awareness and the death knell of an extraordinary life 'outside the box'.
The continuity journalling provides, can help fill this need and serve as a repository of wisdom well-learnt…
Wow, this is such an incredible explanation! I have always found this, but never have I thought to identify the exact "why" in such a delightfully succinct and articulate way!
This raises some questions I've been pondering over the last year (supported by my own journalling practice):
Is it really true that we've arrived point where it's time to simply enter into the undefinable experience of life, without the same life of ruthless mental self-examination that's been present previously? I've felt this, and any time I slip into automatically through fully surrendered living it feels like deep peace and the new "higher way".
But my mind regularly snaps me back because I *think* I "should" be mentally picking things apart like we did 10 years ago, and then I have a do a little dance of releasing resistance again and shifting back in to what simply feels nourishing to whole being. It feels like in this new way, you couldn't possibly miss if there was something amiss because it shows up as an effortless knowing in some way. Yet for some reason, this has been so hard to fully trust. It has struck me many times that it feels like simply a program of the mind to not trust it… this post seems to be something of an affirmation of that.
Secondly, should we actually be supporting this primal "need" for reference points? Again this post seems to affirm that perhaps it's something self-nurturing to do, like feeding our bodies, even though technically we don't really need to eat food.
Sometimes I find myself beating myself up that around feeling psychologically de-stabilised by an absolute lack of reference points, and wonder if I'm going backwards by doing little rituals to give myself things to hang onto throughout the day, such as writing the daily tasks in my journal and summarising the day in the same way…
This is a good thing then, and not something to try to "get rid of" or "have go away"?!
It can be really confusing being a God Being among men sometimes…
My mother just passed away from cancer on Thursday. It was very quick and everyone is telling me to start journaling again. At 42 I was very reliant on her. I have now begun the process of becoming more independent. This post was very helpful.
Our condolences, Alex
My younger self had written journals, diary daily until last senior yr of undergraduate.. and stopped, when the troubled inner conflicts came out and wreaked menace as I stopped writing.. it started manifesting in the world stage instead heheh 😏 🤭
Please don.t vor get one impotant things by every pointing or good referenc……I do right now not confict or something others….I try only out come with my last say we enemy…..that for sur is not visible by you…….whats ever I must over come that last enemy part ……alivr or not……t.y
The Pantheon of Storycraft slithers It's way through the cosmos. Sometimes shedding it's skin so a new story can be told.
"The novelist (or journalist if you like) does not long to see the lion eat grass. He realizes that one and the same God created the wolf and the lamb, then smiled, "seeing that his work was good". – André Gide
OK! Just yesterday I bought a journal!! Thank you Almine for the deep explanation. Now, I must form a habit of using it!
Thank you for these deep thoughts and insights. Will take it to my journal…..;)