Journal writing is a powerful tool for self-expression, personal growth, and healing. So it makes sense to introduce the art of journaling (including art journaling) to young children. In addition to the incredible emotional benefits it offers, journaling is effective in the classroom as a tool to help students learn writing, analysis, and reflective skills.

A recent Education World article talks about the many benefits of daily journaling for students, including polishing writing skills, using freewriting to liberate students from their inner critics, enhancing expression of emotions, and building confidence in emerging writers. Especially for young writers, journaling provides a safe environment for building self-expression and critical thinking skills, because the students can bring forth opinions and ask questions they would not feel comfortable expressing in the classroom.

Going a step beyond journal writing for self-reflection and awareness, Education Quarterly says that, in academic environments, E-Journaling enhances interactivity, while fostering intellectual exchange and successful learning. In this context, specific-use journals, such as a writing journal, can be used to reflect on process. Reading journals provide a place to express reactions and questions to reading, as well as analysis of what is being read. The article discuss the pros and cons of using online journaling vs. the traditional handwritten journal for educational purposes. A good read, if you want to stretch your ideas about the ways journaling can be used.

Here is one teacher’s moving account what happened when she used journaling writing in her classroom: The Power of Journaling.

This homeschooling mom uses “notebooking,” a kind of scrapbook style journal, to help her young students process and hold on to what they are learning. She writes, “It is ideal for covering broad topics or literature units, as information can be disseminated into smaller parcels.  The emphasis is on collecting and organizing information, and documenting student learning.”

In this rather technical ERIC digest on Journal Writing in Experiential Education, the authors provide a comprehensive list of recommendations for teachers who want to use journals in the classroom. Before you introduce journaling to your students or your children, check this out.

Have you introduced journaling to your children or used journaling in the classroom? I invite you to share your stories and thoughts by leaving a comment below.
_________________________

Image by Black Vanilla
-

Why do we dream? What are the reasons for all the images and emotions that fill our sleeping—and sometimes waking—minds? The truth is that in spite of years of research and centuries of fascination with our dreams, no one really knows. We know that everyone dreams, and that when we dream our eyes move rapidly beneath our eyelids (known as REM sleep). We know that REM sleep happens approximately every 90 minutes and that we may be in this dream state for as long as 45 minutes.

Yet, most of us have difficulty remembering our dreams. Even when we have a dream that feels particularly vivid and memorable, as soon as we wake, the images, events, and feelings begin to fade. And why would we want to remember them anyway? I know that most of my dreams—those I do remember—are nonsensical and sometimes nightmarish. Aren’t they better off left in the realm of sleep? What benefit is there to remembering and considering our dreams?

Although there is a long history of dream interpretation, some scientists debate the value of recording and/or interpreting dreams, maintaining that they are nothing more than a kind of subconscious garbage dump of images. But many people believe that dream images spring from our subconscious self and that they have meanings which, when studied, can reveal useful information about us and may even help us solve problems.

What do you think?

This week’s journaling prompts help you explore your attitudes and beliefs about dreams, as well as record and discover their meaning.

1. Perform a word association with the word dreams. When you’re done listing words, review the list briefly and write about any connections, images, or feelings associated with the words. What do you notice about yourself?
   -
2. Complete the following sentence: The purpose of dreaming is … Defend your answer.
   -
3. Do you tend to remember your dreams? If so, how would you describe the kinds of dreams you have most often? If not, how do you feel about not remembering them? Do you wish you could? Why or why not?
   -
4. What has been your experience with trying to record and/or interpret your dreams? Have you ever kept a dream journal? If so, was/is it beneficial in any way?
   -
5. Freewrite for ten minutes about how life dreams (dreams about future achievements) are and are not related to sleep dreams.
   -
6. Describe a recurring dream, or images that have appeared in more than one dream. What relationships are there between your life circumstances or emotional situations and these dream images?
   -
7. If you could change one thing about your dreams, what would it be and why?
   -

If you would like to learn how to use journal writing to explore your dreams, I offer here some guidelines and ideas.

Keeping a Dream Journal

• Keep a pen and notebook (and a small flashlight if you share your bed) on your night table.
• As you’re lying in bed awaiting sleep, picture yourself waking up and writing your dreams.
• When you wake from a dream write it down immediately. Stay in bed and turn on only low light, such as your flashlight or nightlight. If you can write while lying down, so much the better!
• Write down whatever sensory details, including colors, sounds, and scents you recall. Include emotions: Excitement? Fear? Confusion? Exhilaration?
• Title your dream. This will help you uncover dream patterns. For example, I have given my dreams such titles as, “The Lion,” “The Crazy Journey,” and “The Mermaid.”
• Leave a blank page adjacent to your dream description for later reflection.

Discovering Your Dream’s Meanings

Later, review your dream description and consider the following prompts:

• Write down anything that comes to you as your read about your dream, including additional details, thoughts, reactions, or associations.
• Are any of the images or dream events connected with anything in your real life? If so, what?
• Does the dream seem to have an obvious message or meaning? What other meanings might the dream have?
• What details seem most significant? Write word/image associations for those details. For example, if there was a lot of green in your dream, you might write associated words such as growth, planting, calm, earth, rain, and lawn (or another set entirely). What emotions are associated with your word list?
• Another technique uses the idea that everything in our dreams represents some aspect of ourselves. Thinking about a particular character or aspect of a dream, complete the following sentence: I am ______ and I . . .. For example, “I am green and I …” Or, “I am a white house and I …”
• Freewrite for ten minutes about the dream, and notice what bubbles up.

There’s no doubt that dreams are mysterious and fascinating windows into our subconscious minds—and rich resources for self-discovery through journaling. I invite you to try some of these prompts and dream journaling techniques, then share your experiences by leaving a comment below.

___________________________

Image Credit: Alexandria LaNier
-

If you’re interested in exploring this topic further, I recommend the International Association of the Study of Dreams website, which offers factual and research-based articles on dreaming, as well as links to dream art exhibitions.

-

They say the only constant in life is change. I believe that to be true. And if there is anything certain about change, it’s uncertainty. Just when you think things are moving along according to plan, Blam! something changes. Jobs, relationships, homes, and people come and go. Even when we look forward to a particular change — the beginning of a new year, a new job, or a new relationship — it’s natural to feel a mix of anticipation and fear. What if the job, relationship, or year doesn’t work out? What if the house deal falls through, or you aren’t able to finish that degree?

It’s natural to want to know the answers; we feel most secure when we do. I’m reminded of how my children, especially when young, always wanted to know what was going to happen next, and they rebelled when sudden changes were thrown their way. As adults, we may have learned to deal with the emotional curves more adeptly, at least on the outside, but the uncertainty that comes with change can still throw us for a loop.

Uncertainty makes me edgy, as though I’m walking in the dark. At any moment I might stub my toe, walk into a wall, or off a ledge. Uncertainty — the insecurity of not knowing if I’m going in the right direction or if I’m safe — prevents me from moving forward as boldly as I would like. I respond by inching my way along. I make lists, weigh alternatives, create the insurance policies of Plans B and C.

Yet uncertainty can lead to something wonderful as easily as to disaster. In a recent flying dream, just before my feet left the ground — that moment, that second when I didn’t know if it would work, my heart fluttered in my chest and seemed to move up into my throat. And then, suddenly, liftoff and elation! But the elation was mixed with dread: Would I stay aloft or would I crash to the ground? Only when I was certain that I really could fly did I allow myself to soar and take joy in the flying. But that brief moment of uncertainty seemed an eternity of torture.  And so it is in real life.

This Week’s Writing Prompts:

1. Freewrite for ten minutes about uncertainty.
   -
2. Do you remember feeling uncertain as a child? What did you feel uncertain about, what did you do to handle it, and how have your responses as a child affected your relationship to uncertainty as an adult?
   -
3. What do you do when you feel uncertain about your future? How do you handle those feelings and in what ways do you try to take control?
   -
4. What is uncertain in your life right now? What do you hope for and what are you afraid of relating to that uncertainty? Write two scenarios: 1) what you imagine life will be like if what you hope for occurs, and 2) what you imagine life will be like if what you fear occurs.
   -
5. What are the positive and negative aspects of uncertainty? Which weighs more for you, and why do you think this is so?
   -
6. If there was one area of life you could choose to be absolutely certain about, what would it be and why?
   -
7. If you could remove all uncertainty from life, would you? Why or why not?

I invite you to leave a comment and share your thoughts on this subject.

____________________________
Image Credit: Nicu Buculei

There’s something about the end of one year and the beginning of the next that invites review and reflection. Without this calendar marker, it’s really just another day—but, for me, January 1 always feels momentous. It’s like drawing a line in the sands of time between the past and the present: whatever happened in the past stays in the past. And though I acknowledge that the past affects my decisions now and in the future, a new year invites new awareness, new thinking, newness of all kinds. Perhaps this is one of the reasons I enjoy creating traditions for stepping over the line.

New Year’s Eve marks a point in time when one foot stands firmly on one side of that line, in the past, and the other foot in the present. And so, my New Year traditions include two parts:

Part One: Review and reflect on the past

I usually do this part of the tradition on New Year’s Eve, though I may also spend time during the first week of the New Year. First, I browse journal and calendar entries for the previous year, as well as last year’s New Year’s Chart (see below), to remind me of the various events and changes that occurred during the year. Note that I wrote “browse,” not “read,” because reading would take way too long, though I do read the letter I wrote to myself at the beginning of the previous year.

Then, I freewrite for twenty to thirty minutes, sometimes longer, with the following questions in mind (feel free to adapt this list in any way that works for you).

• What did I hope for and what did I accomplish?
• How has this year affected me personally and professionally?
• In what ways have I been disappointed and in what ways surprised and encouraged?
• What has been my greatest delight?
• Where have I let myself down?
• What has changed for me and within me?
• Have my values or beliefs shifted in any way?
• What fears have I overcome and/or what fears have I developed? And Am I more or less hopeful?
• How have I grown and what have I learned?

Part Two: Looking forward to the future

Create a New Year’s Chart. This is a fun, creative activity you can do alone or with other family members. When my children were little we used to do this together on New Year’s Day. You’ll need a large piece of paper and several colored markers. If you want to add fun (and time) to the activity, you can include glitter pen, stars, stickers, and pictures that you cut from magazines.

The think to keep in mind about this activity is that it is not about resolutions or even setting goals. It’s about wishing and dreaming and thinking large.

1. Write the new year in large numbers at the top of the page.
   -
2. Next, draw six circles and label the circles as follows (feel free to change these as suits you). Be sure to allow plenty of space around each circle:
   •  Things I want to do.
   •  Things I want to be.
   •  Things I want to learn.
   •  Things and people I want to see.
   •  Places I want to go.
   •  Adventures I want to have
   -
3. Choose a different color for each topic or give each person a different color, and begin brainstorming all the things you’d like to do, be, learn, and see, places you want to go and adventures you want to have, around each circle like spokes off a wheel. Categories to think about while brainstorming include relationships (family, intimate, friendship), work/career, recreation, health, spirituality, community, and education.
   -
4. When you’re done, post the chart on a wall. You can continue to add to it as you see fit over the next week or so. You may decide to keep it up on the wall all year as a reminder or to put it away and bring it out next New Year’s eve during the Review and Reflect part of your own personal New Year’s tradition.

___________________________

Sand Image based on photo by the_girl
-

The end of 2011 is approaching so quickly and inevitably, I feel almost as if I’m standing in the path of a freight train, the previous year flashing before my eyes. It must be time for the yearly ritual of taking stock of the previous year and looking forward to the new. As part of this yearly ritual, I present here the top eleven posts (based on number of page views) on WritingThroughLife.com in 2011.

Without further ado, the 2011 countdown:

11.    Why Write: Emotional Healing

It’s no surprise that this post would make the top eleven. Every one of us has been wounded in one way or another in the process of living, and there is a plethora of evidence that  “Writing about difficult or hurtful experiences — describing the events, recreating the conversations, the pain, the emotion, and acknowledging the emotion that still exists in you while you’re writing — can help you to heal.”

10.    Five Ways to Build Healthy Boundaries

This article encourages you to explore how you construct healthy boundaries between yourself and others. In what ways do you define your boundaries? Do you have strong healthy boundaries or weak ones? Read the post for ways to create and maintain healthy personal boundaries.

9.      Journaling the Sensory Details: Touch

A short excerpt says it all: “If we are to record the events of our lives and write about them, we need to include this sense in all its beauty and sometimes inconvenience. I know that I, for one, often struggle with a lack of awareness of touch and a deficient vocabulary to adequately describe how something feels.” This article contains exercises to assist in the development of sensory awareness and touch vocabulary.

8.      A Week’s Worth of Journaling Prompts: Happiness

The drive to be happy is basic to human nature. The week’s journaling prompts about happiness help you explore your feelings, values, and thoughts around the concept of happiness, as well as guide you to ways to make yourself even happier.

7.      Journal Writing Prompts for New Love

Maybe you’re ending the new year with a new love, or a renewal of an old one. If so, you might enjoy revisiting this article to explore ways to enhance and enjoy that love while managing to stay on your feet.

6.      Journaling to Achieve Your Goals

There are many wonderful reasons to journal—especially at the end of one year and the beginning of a new one. Use your journal like a personal coach to take stock of the old year and set realistic goals for the new one.

5.      Blogtalk: Using Music, Memories, and Writing

Number five in our countdown is a fun roundup of other blog posts about using music to set the writing mood, using sensory details to help us remember important life events, and learning about others’ writing processes.

4.      The Benefits of Freewriting

If you’re new to journaling or want a refresher on the freewriting method, check out this article about how and why freewriting is an essential journaling tool.

3.      Journal Themes

This article is all about different journals for different purposes: art, dream, reading, goals, and healing, to name a few. Read this post for inspiration on new and different ways to use your journal.

2.      Writing a Letter to Yourself

This journal writing tip is one of my personal favorites, so I was pleased to see it near the top of the list for 2011. It’s an especially appropriate exercise for the beginning of a new year. Set aside some time on New Year’s Day for this one, and let me know how you like it.

And the Number 1 article (drumroll, please)…
1.      Why I Use Journal Writing Software Instead of a Pen

In 2011, as technology became an increasingly integrated part of our lives, how we choose to write became a hot controversy. Maybe in 2012, we’ll all figure out which we prefer and get down to the actual business of writing. Then again, it’s so much easier to discuss when, where, and how we like to write …

Top journaling category for 2011

The Weekly Journaling Prompts Category was the most popular. If you enjoy writing prompts, be sure to pick up or download a copy of my new book, Week by Week: A Year’s Worth of Journaling Prompts and Meditations, available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, CreateSpace, Copperfield’s, and this website. Click HERE for more information and/or to buy the book.

________________________

Image Credit: Caroline
-

As we travel together through the holidays towards the next year,
-

May you have
Walls for the wind
And a roof for the rain,
And drinks bedside the fire
Laughter to cheer you
And those you love near you,
And all that your heart may desire

~ Celtic Blessing

-
I would also like to share this poem, inspired by the ornaments hanging on my tree, with you.

Christmas Present

The past dangles from my tree
The ribbon of Time curling in reverse
While Memory holds my face
Between the desolate, bittersweet joy
Of her palms.

There—that shimmering silken globe
Yellowed and tattered with age, was
Ezra’s First Christmas. 1976.
It hangs low on the bough, with pictures of
Bunnies and bluebirds and baby rattles.

And here—the gingham vested gingerbread men
Except for them
No ornaments, adornments, or gifts that year
But one soft teddy surrenders
to a baby’s abusive love.

Over there—near the top,
that soft gray Santa rat,
The one Evan loved to hang each year
Sways by the tip of his jolly red hat
Tail between his legs.

And Jenny’s glass angel
Still hides a bell beneath her skirt.
Opalescent pearl skin
Eyes open to innocence
The dreams of a young girl.

There is the trillium—three felt flutists
Fashioned by a friend so long ago.
Handmade, embroidered ornaments,
Made dingy by time
Old by years.

And on the rocking horse—there
The porcelain bear,
Aidan’s First Christmas. 1994.
He rides in a flattened world,
Jolly Ho! onto this year and the next!

Thank you for being a part of my life and writing community. I wish each and every one of you a special holiday season, filled with friendship, love, peace, and hope.

_____________________________

Image Credit: Denis Collette

-

This week’s journaling prompts are inspired by Courtney Martin’s post, Give What You Love: Creative Microphilanthropy Advice, in Good Magazine’s online news page. I enjoy the magazine because it focuses on positive news, rather than the negative stuff—a refreshing change from the mainstream media focus.

Anyway, besides the great coined word, microphilanthropy, which implies that you don’t have to be rich to be philanthropic, and the examples of people giving large in small ways, what inspired me most about the article was a quote by theologian Howard Thurman.

“Don’t ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

At this time of year, we’re all asking ourselves what we can give to our loved ones, family members, and community. If you’re like me, you probably don’t have the budget to give the way you’d like to, leaving you feeling inadequate and stumped for ideas. So the idea that true giving springs from passion and from what we love to do feels simultaneously liberating and invigorating.

The following journal writing prompts will help you discover ways to engage in your personal version of microphilanthropy.

1. What makes you come alive? Define what you mean by “alive,” and then free write on this topic. Set a timer and write for at least ten minutes.
   -
2. Make a list of things you love to do. For each item, brainstorm ways you could parlay that passion into a gift for others. For example, if you love to sew, you could host a sewing party at your home, teaching others how to make simple gifts for their loved ones. If you love to work on bicycles, you could offer to tune up your friends’ bikes, or teach a safety class to kids in your community.
   -
3. What do you wish that you had known earlier in life? What do you think would benefit others if they knew it? Brainstorm gentle, non-intrusive ways to get that information to others.
   -
4. Make a list of values you hold as important. Your list may include honesty, beauty, peace, trust, freedom, and so on. Choose one of these values and ask yourself how you could incorporate it into small gifts for others. For example, if you select beauty, in what ways can you give the gift of beauty? Do you have art, photography, or poetry skills to share? The ability to create beautiful flower arrangements? In what small ways could you give the gift of freedom? One way might be to babysit for friends for a few hours.
   -
5. Write about what you wish that others would do for you. Then, imagine what it might feel like to do or give those things to others. If something feels right, make a list of people to whom you could offer that gift of time and love.
   -
6. Do you remember how fun it was to get an honest-to-goodness, handwritten letter or card in the mail? Write cards or letters to five people who have touched your life in some way, letting them know the effect their actions had on you.
   -
7. Do you donate regularly to any agencies that help other people? What are these agencies and why do you give to them? Is there a way you can donate to one or more of the agencies in other ways? Perhaps you can introduce their work to other people, or volunteer for a few hours a month. If you can, your increase your donation to one or more of the agencies by $1 per month. Write about the benefits and constraints you experience as a result of contributing to these agencies’ work.

Leave a comment and share your gifting ideas with us.

______________________________

Image Credit: Aphrodite
-

I love Sharon Lippincott’s method for mapping the stages of her life: it’s so un-linear. Linearity is something I excel in, and I know I would benefit from the organic, round, mind-mapping quality of her approach. I’ve included a small thumbnail of her sketch here, but go read her blog post, The Tree of Me, to find out about the process.

Stephen Smith’s November 30th post on the In Context Blog, 3 Ways to Increase Personal Awareness Through Journaling, was filed under “Productivity,” and though Stephen’s suggested journaling ideas and methods may certainly help you to be more productive—or at least more aware of ways in which you waste time—I particularly liked his 3rd method, “Close Your Day with Journal Entry Based on Values and Energy,” as a way of becoming away of where you’re spending in your time in relationship to your goals and set priorities. Take a look when you have a chance and let me know what you think. There are so many wonderful ways to use our journals!

Mari McCarthy’s focus is on journal writing for healing, and her post, Grief Journaling Without Words, resonated with me. There are times in our lives when emotions run too deep to be articulated, when words are just not enough. In this post, Mari outlines ways to begin to express your grief—really, any strong emotion—using art.

Finally, have you seen the Writing and Poetry Therapy section of All Things Healing? The site is devoted to … well … all things related to healing and includes sections for spiritual and healing practices, healthy lifestyles, community, and arts (this is where the writing and poetry pages are). Click the link and scroll down the page to find a collection of articles, gathered from all over the web, about journaling and writing for emotional and physical healing.

___________________________ 

Image Credits: Sharon Lippincott & aptmetaphor

_

Every man has his own courage, and is betrayed because he seeks in himself the courage of other persons.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

What do you picture when you think of courage? I picture children and adults with serious illnesses who manage to inspire others by maintaining positive outlooks; activists for social justice who peacefully stand their ground in the face of police brutality; people who put their lives in danger to save others (firemen, police, and heroes); and mountain climbers, astronauts, and explorers of unknown territories. These images of people gracefully facing their fears are probably typical associations with courage.

I don’t think of myself as a courageous person. But there are smaller, everyday versions of courage, too. Versions that I have exhibited: speaking up when I observe someone mistreating another; holding my own when someone tries to intimidate me; interviewing for a job; asking for a raise; and—even—saying “no” to a child who desperately wants something, something I would love to be able to say “yes” to, but which would not be in his best interests. Smaller ways of being courageous, but still requiring facing fear of some kind.

I guess that’s my personal definition of courage: facing one’s fear and doing what you feel is right in spite of that fear.

This Week’s Journal Writing Prompts:

1. What’s your personal definition of courage? Have there been times in your life when you’ve needed to be courageous? Write about one of those times: what was the situation and what did you do?
   -
2. Is there someone in your life whom you would characterize as courageous? If so, in what ways? Write about what, in this person’s courage and demeanor, you admire. Then write about the ways in which you, also, exhibit these same qualities (you know you do).
   -
3. What do you think C.S. Lewis meant by, “Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” Describe how courage might come into play when another virtue is challenged in some way.
   -
4. Complete the following sentences: “Every day, I am afraid of …” and “Every day, I show courage by …”
   -
5. Write about the ways in which your views of courage were shaped. How did family attitudes, movies, and books influence your beliefs about courage? Of these, which seems the most important or influential? (Hint: it’s the one that pops into your mind as a powerful memory image.) Do you believe these influences were beneficial, or not, and why?
   -
6. Sometimes, it takes courage just to be yourself in the face of a societal norm that doesn’t accept you. Are you or do you know someone like this? Maybe you’ve always been told you’re too loud, draw too much attention to yourself (or not enough), take too many risks (or not enough); maybe you have the wrong sexual orientation or religious beliefs to be accepted by your neighbors; maybe you’ve had to fight to accept yourself. If so, in what ways do you hide yourself and in what ways do you express yourself? In this context, would you say you’re courageous or not, and why?
   -
7. Describe an area of your life in which you wish you were more courageous? What is it, and how would you benefit

I would love to read your thoughts about courage—please leave a comment.
________________________

Image Credit: Dougal McGuire
-

Do you regret wrong decisions you’ve made? What does it really mean to feel regret? And is life better without it?

In the following TED talk, Kathryn Schulz makes a strong case for accepting regret as a positive and reasonable emotional response to bad decisions and mistakes. “We should feel pain when things go wrong,” she says.

Schulz lists the ways we commonly deal with the pain of regret—most of them, negative—including denial, bafflement, self-punishment, and obsession. I encourage you to watch her 16-minute video and then continue on to ideas for journaling about this sensitive topic.

If the video isn’t displaying correctly, use this link: Kathryn Schulz Talk

Based on her lecture, explore your unique ways of responding to regret by writing about it:

• What does regret feel like to you? Describe regret using images.
• When you feel regret, in what ways do you cope with it or try to make it go away?
• In what ways do you punish yourself for your perceived mistakes?
• In what ways do you obsess about the mistakes or wrong decisions you’ve made in life?

Schulz leave us with the following words: “The point isn’t to live without any regrets. The point is to not hate ourselves for having them. We need to learn to love the flawed, imperfect things we create and to forgive ourselves for creating them.”

• Do you agree with her? And if so, how might you incorporate her advice into your life?

I invite you to join the conversation—leave a comment.
_________________________