The beauty in keeping a spiritual journal is that it holds our creative and spiritual fires. Journal writing creates. A spiritual journal will help you find that well or oasis in the desert, making life even more beautiful. Spiritual Journaling is conscious writing; you hold an intention while you write. The intention may be to witness something, or to gain clarity, or to build on an idea.
“You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus.” –Mark Twain
A journal is a conversation you hold with yourself, and I have found much comes from these conversations. You gain insights into your own thoughts and ideas, as well as your hopes and fears.
Spiritual Journaling can accelerate any healing or transformative process. Keeping a spiritual journal allows you to be a witness to the events in your life. You can document a meaningful time or place in your journal (many memoirs come from such writings). A journal is also a way to work things out on the page, all to yourself, or between you and your spiritual source.
Spiritual journals can be our gateway to writing books, drafting ideas, and the place where we can take the inner journey of transformation. I have been writing in journals since the age of sixteen, now nine books later, I attribute much of my writing success to my journals.
Our spiritual journals can be a sacred temple we return to for restoration, to contemplate spiritual teachings, to do compassionate inquiry and to pay attention to the inner landscapes of our life.
“Writing itself is one of the great, free human activities. There is scope for individuality, and elation and discovery.” –William Stafford
Spiritual Journaling: Creating an Outer Temple
“Writing, above all, is seeing clearly”–Peter Mathieson, Letters from the Wild
Consider your journal as one of your sacred temples; a place where you can engage and express your chosen spiritual practices.
Spiritual journaling is a universal means to access your Inner Teacher and a means to give yourself direct spiritual experiences without the immediate guidance of a group or teacher. Within the direction of such books as Spiritual Journaling you will have writing exercises and contemplative questions to journey with. These will help direct your spiritual journaling experience.
When journaling, date and title each entry. That way you can find the piece in your journal that relates to what you may be working on within your spiritual practices. This also makes it easier to find for future investigation.
For more on spiritual journaling sign up for my free Monday Musings newsletter for writers, poets and spiritual pilgrims at Julie@julietallardjohnson.com and take advantage of my e-book, Spiritual Journaling which is only 99¢ from January 22nd till February 4th
“A poet friend of mine told me that his poems know far more than he does, and if he listens to them, they teach him.” –Madeleine L’Engle
“We write to be able to transcend our life, to reach beyond it . . . to teach ourselves to speak with others, to record the journey into the labyrinth.” – Anaïs Nin
“Having been a journal-writer most of her life, Johnson offers this guide to self-discovery. Her advice is to stop seeking the illusion of what is real and instead find the reality within. The book covers 15 topics, including nature, spirit, school, death, and love. Each chapter has inspirational quotes, poems, stories, and discussions and asks questions to encourage personal focus through journaling. The order of the chapters is irrelevant; readers are encouraged to select those that best suit their personal needs. Though this title initially appears religious in nature, it is more specifically about the spirit. It might also interest teachers, parents, counselors, and youth ministers who wish to help young adults find their internal flames.”–Jodi Kearns, University of Akron, OH
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