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Where is the value in journaling?

The product or the process

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Much like noodles, the value of any activity is in the experience of the process. Making the noodles, preparing the noodles and eating the noodles all serve the body as steps in the process of nourishing the body. Once the noodles are consumed the value of the noodles is short lived, albeit crucial for survival and enjoyment. The body burns the noodles as carbohydrates into energy. It's a relationship that lasts for the time it is needed and then it is gone. Sure, there is gratitude for the noodles and maybe even a memory of the amazing flavor, but the noodles themselves are no longer relevant as a source of energy, pleasure or shared community.

Journaling is similar. There is a fine line in the Art of Journaling regarding what to do with one's journal entries later... days, months, years. Many people keep their journals as a sort of permanent safe house for the memories stored there. Others dispose of them immediately, a year later or when they discover them in the attic decades later. Our bellies don't make this decision for us as they do with the noodles. Here we have to engage mind to make the choice about how to process our journal work.

Journaling has a particular relationship with the store house of the mind, the hub of memories and impressions. Freud called this the subconscious; yoga philosophy refers to this part of the mind as chittam, the place where samskaras (memories, imprints) are stored. And memories, well we all know that memories have a way of shape shifting a bit from the actual experience. Sometimes things are remembered as better, sometimes as worse, sometimes not at all until an associated trigger reminds us. The result is that memory is a bit like a suggestion pointing to something that at one moment in time was in fact what was happening, but is now a story with mind filtered preferences and labels attached.

Chittam operates in the background as we have already explored. Remember our monkey, fast at work on tasks and efforts of his own choosing, while we toil away at being conscious about our choices. It turns out there is much more unconscious memory and stored data than active-in-the-moment data. The result is that to become awake to who we really are, we have to become aware of the background chatter, the monkey mind, the habitual patterns that are at work in our daily journey, parading around as if they are the real moment happening now. It's the ultimate game of charades. After all, NOW is all there is. Somehow we have to learn to discriminate the difference between memories parading as the now, and the real NOW.

Journaling is one effective way to assist the conscious mind to become aware of the unconscious patterns. And, just like that, awareness brings the light of consciousness to the game and the patterns can and often do release and change once awareness of the pattern is realized.

Notice that the unconscious patterns are NOT who we are, though they often govern our behavior. The conscious patterns are not exactly who we are either, though they too can tap our will and move our energies in purposeful directions. As closely as language can point to it, we ARE what is Being aware of being aware. Journaling taps into this witness place, so long as we remain unidentified with the content of the effort.

How does one remain unidentified with the content, achieve non-attachment, or release identification with their journaling efforts?

Here again we learn that meditation trains this unattached approach to awareness. By maintaining focus on our breath, our inner stillness or another anchor of our choosing, we teach our brain to hold the awareness of one object. Over time, that translates into a stillness of mind regardless of the external dance of objects around us. We develop a relationship with the Witness, the observer, becoming aware of the patterns as if they were outside of us and we are simply watching.

Tich Nhat Hanh tells a story about soldiers visiting a monastery in Vietnam during the war. The soldiers entered in the evening hours, under orders to find and remove Viet Minh, killing if necessary. Hearing and seeing no-one in the dark, the soldiers thought maybe the Monks had hidden or were gone. They called into the darkness and received no reply. Shinging a light into the darkness exposed the full room of Monks deep in meditation. The stillness within had been held and was palpable in the space.

Inner stillness is always present, always available.

Our daily lives train the opposite approach, a request for constant response to the outer movements of the world. Colleagues want tasks completed now, friends call in need, doors open, others shut. The body calls for food, exercise and rest; the children need all this and unconditional love; our partners have expectations of order and support; our cars need care; our gardens grow relentlessly and require attention. How are we to find the inner stillness?

This is the heightened call for meditative practices, mindfulness and intention. Our culture values identification with outcomes; job performance, grades and results are all ways of relating to ourselves as if we are the outcomes we create. When we choose to meditate, we relate to the inner stillness, the strong unwavering mountain, the quiet of our own well of peace.

When journaling, remain an observer the way you would watch a cloud in the sky. Just let it pass, watch its shapes, note its color, but remain clear you are NOT the cloud anymore than you are the words, drawings or doodles on the page. Nor are you the content which inspired the journaling, that is the sort house of chittam at work, sharing imprints and memories with filters galore. When journaling, there is awareness of the experience, there is effort of the body as it performs the tasks, there is intention, but there is no personal assessment, judgement or identification with the task being performed.

You are the witness.

So, we return to the question of what to do with one's journaling products. There are many options but ultimately, the answer must come from within, from the still, quiet, heart of your mountain, from the center of your Being. One way to consider this is to do what feels right to you in the moment. Over time this feeling will likely change and evolve and your choices will too. Trust that. This reflects the process of Self-discovery. Over time we learn to unidentify with many things that once held sway over our mind. Allow the unfolding in the right timing of your own personal journey.

Receive the offering of the moment and allow the grace of the unfolding.

PRACTICE OFFERING

  • Create a journaled item that doesn't have words 
  • A painted stone, a canvas, or a drawing in the sand are examples
  • Check back and read the following instructions after you complete this first step
  • STOP HERE. DO NOT READ FURTHER UNTIL YOU HAVE MADE YOUR WORK OF ART (there is a reason for this... try it)
  • Leave your creation somewhere for others to find
  • Remain unattached to the outcome of the object
  • Watch what the mind does with the object and its perception of the object once you have left it
  • Explore the thoughts that came up along the way as patterns of chittam at work
  • Consider journaling about your mind's response to the exercise
  • Notice patterns and attachments in your response
  • Release this observation as if a cloud in the sky, throw the notes away, burn them, recycle them into a collage project or other art form
  • If you read these instructions before you made your work of art, did it alter the choices you made about the art itself?
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