Journaling: Journaling For Awareness

By Jean Maurie Puhlman

How would you like to have a friend or a therapist who would always be available to you no matter how you treated them and no matter what mood you were in? This pal would be at your side any time day or night, in any kind of weather, and would always be your confidante. You could also rely on this buddy to keep your secrets and not gossip.

 "That would cost a fortune," you might say, but this friend/therapist wouldn't bill you. Of course, the friend I'm describing here is a journal you can buy for a couple of dollars at a store that sells pens and wire bound notebooks.

 I started writing in loose-leaf notebooks in 1963, right before President Kennedy was assassinated. It all began with a book I read in which the author wrote about the four seasons and all the special experiences she had and the preparations she made on her little farm in New England. She compared the migrating birds of fall to the migration of children back to the classrooms.

 Her book was homey and described ordinary life in such a warm way that I was inspired to begin a journal of my own, the book of my life. I wasn't writing for publication, but because I wanted to document what I thought of my "ordinary" life. After filling 15 notebooks, I realized my life wasn't so ordinary after all. I have reread parts of these books and am now aware of how much I've grown and how far I've come.

 I advise most of my psychic reading clients to begin keeping a journal, for many reasons.

 When you write in a journal, you discover truths about yourself that you might not ordinarily be able to see. You begin to explore your fantasies, dreams, beliefs and values. You can face your fears. Writing in a journal and knowing that your confidences will not be betrayed will help you talk to yourself about your fears as you've never been able to with another human.

 When we write about our fears, we bring them out of the darkness and into the light where we can see them more clearly and release them more easily. I often recommend a "burning bowl ceremony" where we write out problems that are bothering us and burn them in a safe place, preferably outside. As the fire burns up our writing, we focus on the symbolic release of our problems. As we watch the smoke, we imagine our problems being transformed into another energy that empowers us and leads us to new potential and solutions. Sometimes we have to do this ritual more than once, but it does work. When we change our old ways of thinking into new wonderful and joyful ideas, we become more creative, happier, healthier. Our lives begin to unfold in harmony with our desires and goals.

 Have you ever seen the Book of Questions? It came out a few years ago and everyone was talking about it and discussing the questions with their friends and at parties. Your journal can be your own book of questions: Who am I? What am I here for? Where am I going? What did I learn from that experience? On and on you can question yourself privately with your own friend/therapist, your journal. Every time you change the way you think, you become a new person. Really think about this. Every day you get to change something about the way you think and every day is another opportunity to become who you want to be.

 Your journal is truly your friend and confidante. It never judges, never criticizes. Your journal is always patient. You can ignore it for days at a time and it will never call you up whining, "Why didn't you come see me today?" Your journal never gets bored and never says, "Are you writing about that again? Get over it." You can write the way you feel about someone at work and your journal will never tell on you. What you write will hurt no one. You can ask yourself how you feel about everyone in your life and dialogue with yourself about how they mirror you. What do you learn from them? What do you learn about yourself when you think about them?

 Journaling allows the child within to come out and play. We can be creative and draw pictures in our journals. We can write stories and cut out pictures to illustrate our stories. I often recommend that clients write out and release their worries and problems and then move directly to writing about their hopes and dreams.

 Sometimes it is difficult to put into words exactly what we want for ourselves. To get past that block, write the story of the most exciting life you can think of. In other words, you don't have to write about your own goals and dreams, just make up a character and put him/her in the story in a setting. What do they do for a living? Do they have to work or did they win the lottery? What kind of home do they live in? Do they travel, have hobbies, or do they just lie in the pool all day on a raft, soaking in the sun? It's your story, so have fun. When you are finished, put it away and later when you come up with some new ideas, add to it, change your story. Give the character a special name. If you want, you can use your own name. Writing this story of the most exciting life you can think of will help to clarify your own life and goals.

 Deep within us is a wonderful, creative, loving soul who wants to express himself or herself. Journaling can help awaken this divine part of us. Do you have memories of your childhood that made you laugh or cry? Write about them. This helps us love ourselves and realize how precious we really are. By writing to this dear child self and allowing it to trust us, we can begin to gently and lovingly touch this part of ourselves that we have forgotten.

 Writing to the child within can help us heal the past. By feeling the hurts and writing about them, we can help make peace and forgive those who hurt and disappointed us. We can begin to understand the contract we came into this lifetime to learn and why we attracted those troublesome people to us. Writing about these issues helps us to come to grips with and release old hurts that have stopped us from accepting more love and abundance in our lives.

 It may sound radical, but we can actually rewrite our pasts! Take as an example an unhappy incident from your childhood and rewrite it so that the outcome is different from the way you first experienced it. Write about your childhood as you wish it had been. This is very healing.

 Our lives belong to us and nobody else. Sometimes it seems like everyone is demanding a part of us, but truly, our lives are ours alone. When we begin writing in our journals we can get clearer about what we are really doing with our lives. Are we happy with the way our lives are going? If not, what are we going to do to change it? Or are we just going to accept things the way they are and stay miserable? The choice is ours. We can accept responsibility for ourselves and begin to trust ourselves more.

 Who else can we trust if we cannot trust ourselves? Think about this. As we continue writing in our journals, and as we change, grow, release our past pains, rewrite our pasts, discover what we really want in life, we become empowered! There is nothing more exciting than to become empowered. This means we give ourselves the go ahead, the green light, to create the lives we want to live. We begin to realize our strengths, our vitality, and reclaim our energy. When we begin to take charge of our own lives, we naturally let go of trying to control others.

 There will be times when we seem to be only writing about sadness and sorrow, the stormy, cloudy days. These are important times of releasing, and out of the pain the rainbow will glow, showering us with healing and uplifting colors of awareness. Those will be the "Aha!" times, which we will look back upon as major personal breakthroughs. Do not despair or give up, but continue to write all of your emotions out. Love yourself through it all. When you begin to realize your divinity, your uniqueness, you will be more gentle with yourself. You will finally be able to stop beating up on yourself mentally and emotionally. This will be truly liberating!

 I include dreams in my journaling because a lot of deep issues are revealed in dreams, they point toward matters that we should be giving more conscious attention to. I like to add angel writings to my journaling too. I love the book, AngelSpeake by Barbara Mark and Trudi Griswold, two sisters who were awakened by their angels and told to write. The angels dictated the book, Angelspeake, and it is filled with writing exercises to help us get messages from our angels. I use these exercises in my workshops on journaling, along with a guided meditation that awakens long buried desires within.

 How do you start your journal? There are a number of ways. You could begin to talk to your family, helping them to remember their important memories. You could write their stories and see if anything they say triggers intense emotions in yourself, which you could write about. You could just write what happened at work today or what you wished would happen. You could write about your vacation, the one you just had or your hopes for a future getaway. You could write a letter to your boss, letting out everything you ever wanted to say. You could start a gratitude journal, writing down five things you are thankful for each night. There are all kinds of ways to start journaling, but be sure to enjoy yourself, express yourself and write!

 Jean Maurie teaches journaling classes and is a certified Voyager Tarot Consultant. She combines Astrology and messages from the Angel Guides in her readings. See her website at http://angelsloveyou2.com/about.