This past week I remembered the importance of a lesser known but very valuable spiritual practice: journaling.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t want to dump on all of you, so let\u2019s just say that the last few weeks have been rather stressful for me, in a way that\u2019s made me question some things I thought were settled. The good news is that I\u2019ve been here before \u2013 and I wrote about it. I have records in my own words about what was going on, how I felt, and what I did about it.<\/p>\n
It took me a bit to find those journal entries. I thought they were from 1994, or maybe 1997. Turns out they were from 2001 \u2013 just a few months before my Pagan epiphany<\/a> (are those two things connected? I never considered it, but looking back on them now, how could they not be connected?).<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what\u2019s important: when I read through what I wrote 22 years ago, my current situation became far more clear. The needs and desires I had then are the same needs and desires I have now. The insecurities I thought were gone were just being managed \u2013 the stress of the last few weeks has interfered with that management and allowed them to rise to the surface again.<\/p>\n But how I handled \u201call this\u201d in 2001 worked. And so I know what I need to do now\u2026 with a few tweaks. I have learned a thing or two in the past 22 years, after all.<\/p>\n And part of what I need to do is to share what I\u2019ve learned \u2013 about the importance of journaling as a spiritual practice.<\/p>\n Just start writing.<\/p>\n It really is that simple \u2013 even I can\u2019t overcomplicated it. If writing in a fancy blank book with a special pen makes it feel spiritual to you, then get a fancy blank book and a special pen. Three-ring binders and loose leaf paper make it easier to organize by dates and\/or themes. My earliest journals were written on lined tablets and placed in manilla folders. I still have them, stored in a metal filing cabinet.<\/p>\n Once I got my own computer I started journaling in text files. I still do. While there are benefits to writing things by hand, almost all my writing is done on a computer \u2013 like I\u2019m doing right now with this blog post. This is what I\u2019m comfortable with, so it\u2019s what I do. I can write in my journal at home, at work, or from anywhere on my phone. The files are stored in four different places \u2013 I\u2019m not likely to lose them.<\/p>\n Electronic journals can easily be searched. Most times I can find something in a matter of seconds. This time was more complicated \u2013 it took about five minutes. I used to be pretty good at flipping through books and files looking for key words, but the computer is far better.<\/p>\n The main thing is to just start writing.<\/p>\n And then keep writing.<\/p>\n All my journal entries begin with today\u2019s date. And then I write whatever is on my mind that feels important.<\/p>\n Scrolling through this year\u2019s journal (I keep each year in a separate file) I see comments about health, weather, situations at work, politics, travels and travel plans, and especially about how I\u2019m feeling about any and all of that. There are a lot of comments about exercise. In the years where I was trying to run a marathon, at least half my journal is a training log \u2013 even though I kept an actual training log in a spreadsheet.<\/p>\n There are accounts of spiritual experiences, thoughts on what they mean, and ideas for what comes next.<\/p>\n And there are plans. Lots of plans. Plans for writing projects, plans for spiritual projects, plans for getting through these difficult times<\/a> in which we live.<\/p>\n I like making plans. Just making plans helps. Carrying them out helps a lot more. Spontaneity is great, but if you wait for everything to happen spontaneously you\u2019re likely to be waiting a long time. Schedule time<\/a> for the things that are important to you.<\/p>\n Over the years I\u2019ve learned to identify things that I\u2019m going to want to remember. Some of them I want to remember for my annual year-end retrospectives. Others I know I may need in future years.<\/p>\n Mainly, write about what\u2019s important, to you, right now.<\/p>\n Write as much as you need and no more.<\/p>\n There are stretches where I write two or three paragraphs every day for two weeks. There are other stretches where I don\u2019t write for a week or more.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t easily count how many days I write, but I can easily see that last year I wrote 33,581 words in my journal. That\u2019s a small book\u2026 but it\u2019s still less than 100 words a day. My longest journal was 2001: 58,355 words. That\u2019s almost as long as Paganism In Depth<\/a><\/em>. The shortest year was 2012 \u2013 I only wrote 6227 words. That\u2019s about five ordinary blog posts\u2026 and there are some months with only one entry.<\/p>\n That\u2019s a lot of variance. In general the longer years are from when I was trying to work through some things. The shorter years are from when things were going OK: not so great that I wanted celebrate them and not so bad I needed to analyze them.<\/p>\n If you want advice, I\u2019d say to err on the side of writing too much rather than too little. Honestly, unless it starts to interfere with the rest of your life, it\u2019s hard to write too much.<\/p>\n Write as much as you need and no more.<\/p>\n I can\u2019t find the origin of the phrase \u201cI wrote myself sane.\u201d I thought it came from Dorothy Parker, but I can\u2019t find any sources for it\u2026 and in any case, most of her famous quotes are humorous, even if they deal with serious matters. I don\u2019t think I said it first, but maybe I did. That\u2019s not important.<\/p>\n What\u2019s important is that it\u2019s true.<\/p>\n I should have been in therapy in my late 20s and early 30s. I did try at one point \u2013 it didn\u2019t go well and I discontinued it. And then there were those years in my mid-30s that exemplify the saying \u201cbefore you self-diagnose yourself with depression, first make sure you are not just surrounded by assholes.\u201d When I was able to extract myself from that situation (a bad job in a bad location working with some genuinely bad people) things got better.<\/p>\n In both situations, journaling helped. A lot.<\/p>\n The key to dealing with any problem is to define the problem as clearly and objectively as possible. The best way to do that is to write it down.<\/p>\n And then look at what you wrote. Is it precise or is it vague? Does it describe the root cause or is it swimming in surface issues? Is it honest or does it avoid things you find unpleasant or embarrassing?<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve got something that\u2019s precise and deep and honest, what can you do about it?<\/p>\n As you work through it, does what you do help? Or do you need to try something else?<\/p>\n I did a good job at identifying the root cause in 2001. Having a record of that makes it a lot easier to find the root cause in 2023.<\/p>\n And to do something to make things better.<\/p>\n Looking over my 2001 journal, I see a lot of spiritual exploration. That epiphany on Thanksgiving night didn\u2019t come out of nowhere. I was trying to answer the call to Paganism that I heard eight years earlier, but I still hadn\u2019t dealt with the baggage of my fundamentalist upbringing<\/a>. The journaling work put me in the position where I knew I had to act when I heard \u201cget serious or move on.\u201d<\/p>\n A lot of the theological reflections you read on this blog begin in my journal. They start with an idea: sometimes a good idea that needs to be developed, other times a bad idea that needs to be clearly and definitively refuted. Journaling helps me figure out what I believe \u2013 what my heart and my head tell me is true. Journaling helps me figure out how to put what I believe into practice.<\/p>\n And then when I do, and when it proves helpful, I\u2019ve got something to share with the world.<\/p>\n Journaling is no substitute for prayer, meditation, and offerings. But also, prayer, meditation, and offerings are no substitute for journaling.<\/p>\n![\"photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2023\/04\/Journaling-02-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a>How to begin a journaling practice<\/h2>\n
What to journal about?<\/h2>\n
![\"photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2023\/04\/blocked-path-03.31.23-01-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nHow much to write?<\/h2>\n
\u201cWriting myself sane\u201d<\/h2>\n
![\"photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2023\/04\/curved-path-03.25.23-01-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nWorking through what I really believe<\/h2>\n
The sooner you start, the better<\/h2>\n