WHEN I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO JOURNAL: A JOURNALING HINT, TIP, AND HOW-TO
{My Personal Journaling on October 21, 2015 @ 813 a.m.}
What should you do if you don't know what to journal? Try this:
I stare at the blank page in front of me. I blink. I try to come up with something... anything to get on the page. Nothing comes to me and I am blank. The beautiful thing is I know it is short-lived. It is my habit to sit here until something happens; therefore, it always does. It's inevitable. I just need to give it time and not stress out about it or feel frustrated. I always write it out when I struggle to find the words, as I am now. And as I write how I cannot write, something happens... the words come. Something will pop into my brain and I capture it on the page.
And... When nothing comes... like now... I try to either use a journaling prompt, I count my blessings, or I go to an old journal entry... and I see what happens.
Huh. Usually by now something comes to me and it's usually by accident.
I don't know what to say.
What do I want most to capture on the page right now?
Answer: Words.
Well... That sure didn't help.
If I were to write the perfect journal entry, what would it be?
Answer: It would be lengthy and deep.
Lengthy? Why? Length doesn't bring sleepiness. Lengthy does mean better.
(See... It is starting to happen. Words are coming.)
But, oh, on the contrary! For me, it is true. I have to ramble on the page until I come up with something to expand upon and go deep with. I have to stumble upon it. A brilliant, captivating, A-HA thought moment doesn't come to me except to stumble upon it by accident after trying many words. Needless to say, I have to try a lot of shallow, rough journaling until I come up with a jewel by accident.
I stop. I think. Huh. I scratch my head and let that sink in for a moment. Isn't this an apt description of me? In general? I have to try a lot harder at things than those around me. It takes me a lot more work. But, I know this about myself and know that if I put in enough work, I will harness the sunbeam. The jewel. The diamond in the rough. And then I will soar. For a while. Until I need to try again... And the process repeats itself.
As I journal, I have to get a lot of words on the page before I can find and harness that sunbeam and shine. Journaling does not come easy. It challenges me to bring my best, even when I don't feel like it one bit. I know this... And this knowledge propels me forward... I know that if I don't journal... if I don't try my hardest... if I don't get several words on the page, I won't find that sunbeam in the midst of the initial fluff of extra words.
I also know this. That extra fluff and what seems like unnecessary words at first... they later are precisely what help me stumble upon another sunbeam to carry me to new worlds and depths in my journaling. That extra fluff of extra shallow words is important later and bring me more sunbeams, not just one. It just needs to be put on the page and thought through. It needs to simmer. And in time, I will find the sunbeams in that fluff. Some sunbeams I find right away and other times it must take as long as a year or two. But, if I keep reviewing my journaling and keep re-reading it, I will get even more out of the fluff and will find multiple sunbeams along the way.
Hence, I capture it all on the page. Even the senseless and shallow. In time, it will pay great dividends of lots of sunbeams to harness and carry me to the next sunbeam as I soar through the sky fully free, blessed, and deep with great meaning.
And, I wrote all of this when I had nothing to say.
Give it a try.
Journal that you have nothing to say--and see what happens. Write the fluff and find your sunbeam(s).
You did it again...never a loss for words, that's why you are so good at what you do.
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