🛑 Stop Overthinking Journaling
If it’s your first time journaling, you might quickly find out how difficult it is to sustain a habit. As said in the previous issue, the whole essence of journaling is giving you that opportunity to retract into yourselves intermittently, putting down every stream that flows through your mind, regarding definite subjects in your world. Sounds good 😄? But you wonder why it is still difficult to maintain one, even when you’ve heard all of the goodies journaling has to offer
This is absolutely normal.
After a few months of rising and falling off my journal, I can attribute the reluctancy of keeping a journal to the bureaucratic process we’ve built around journaling, this is why it feels like another layer of hard work added to our already busy lives, this for sure isn’t sustainable.
To this course, I’ve listed 2 bullet points that should help you see journaling in a different light
There is no cast on stone rules for Journaling, you define what works for you!
Anything becomes difficult to keep up with when they are based on hows, steps & rules. The same way the children of Isreal knew the law was right but were unable to keep up with them somehow, that’s exactly the same way you’re unlikely to keep up with things like Journaling when you choose to follow strict patterns, that’s not the idea.
When you understand the core aim of Journaling, which is to be able to capture moments, then you can define your rules. I’ll use myself as a use-case.
For capturing spontaneous thoughts - I use a digital Journaling Application called DayOne.
Have you ever had a surge of idea gushing down your mind whilst on transit? have you ever been in a conversation where you weren’t really interested and your mind captured a solution to a problem that has been lingering? have you ever had a breakthrough moment at your place of work? have you been faced with a very awkward situation, that went really bad because of how you reacted? Have you wished you’d done something differently for a better result? This is an unending list of things that goes into my digital journal.
I don't have any timing rule or pattern for this type of entry, once it happens, I’ll simply pick up my phone, start up DayOne and type it in.
For proper Journaling - I use Samsung Notebook
Again, use what works best for you. Physical pen and parchment are great, but I find it more reasonable for me to have all my entries safely kept in the cloud, hence the reason I use Samsung Note on my Tab, and since my tab comes with a digital pen, it makes writing really easy. I’ve got a Business Journal folder, Spiritual Journal folder, Moments Journal folder and Inventory Journal folder. This is what works for me and all of the folders are sufficient enough to capture all sections of my existence, build what works for you.
Journal about anything that comes to mind
Don’t wait for 'The One' moments, you probably might not have much time when you “FEEL” like putting something down, hence you’ve to take advantage of your limitless thoughts, emotions and the daily surge of inspiration.
You can also use journaling as an outlet to release heavy emotions like frustration, anger or sadness. Writing how exactly you feel about any issue can melt the heavy temper from your mind.
Julia Cameron talks about one method called ‘Morning Pages’ in her book “The Artist’s Way”. Each day after you wake up, open your journal and start writing any thoughts that come to mind. This stream-of-consciousness writing has been therapeutic so far and it has helped process emotions, gain clarity, more importantly, unlock their creative side
❤️ Things I loved over the week
✍🏻 Quote
The trouble with being in the rat race is that even if you win, you’re still a rat. - Lily Tomlin. So, Set thyself apart, "I added that"
🎧 Audiobook - Meditations by Marcus Aurelius
The book "Meditations" is the literal Journal of a formal Roman Emperor, Marcus Aurelius, whose pattern of rulership in the midst of very tough old roman situations is one of its kind, like the death of over 5 million people due to widespread disease and a lot more, whilst maintaining a high level of calmness, stability and displaying a high level of wisdom, thereby earning the position of the best emperor the ruled during his time.
There are a number of things you should note if you'll be listening to this book.
Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was a Roman emperor from 161 to 180 and a Stoic philosopher. This was a long time ago, and many things have changed, so you might hear some very outdated thought patterns. The idea is to draw out wisdom and sieve out what's not. For instance, Marcus refers to Zeus as a god whom he pays allegiance to, which is understandable considering their dispensation, but I do not as I'm a Christian, so again, learn from the bounty of wisdom and sieve out excesses should you find any.
🎙️ Podcast - Ways to be Productive even when you're tired - On Purpose with Jay Shetty
This resonates with me a lot and I learned from it.
You should check it out.
🎭 Something Different
📽 Who lives on our bodies? A microscopic safari | DW Documentary
It was absolutely weird to know that all of these life forms actually makes us survive as humans. This documentary combines cinematic electron microscopy with a super macro film technique. it explains cutting-edge scientific findings, enlightening & amazing and the complex ecosystems that help constitute us. I enjoyed it
🙂 EndNote
We end on this note: No one, I mean NO ONE, can create the way you do when you keep showing up.
See you in the next issue, #KeepCreating.
Dami, 👋
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