Save my life...? Through Writing?!

Please don't be thrown off WRITING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE: HOW TO HONOR YOUR STORY THROUGH JOURNALING by Michele Weldon by the fact that I only give it 3 stars. Michele's book is definitely worth the read; I truly am very glad that I read it. I gave it only 3 stars, though, because there were parts of the book where I felt that she could have used a lot fewer words (examples) to make her point. Interestingly enough, I have exactly the same issue! I know my own students often wish that I would just state my point, maybe 1 example--if that many--and move on, but like Michele, I tend to go around my arm to get to my elbow! Isn't it often what we see in ourselves that we criticize in others?! Regardless, WRITING TO SAVE YOUR LIFE is well worth the read. 

I am still working on some of the exercises in the book. Some of them are ones that need some real ruminating and time while others are quick and easy to get through. 

One of my favorite passages comes in the last chapter "Enjoy the Music in You": "'To love what you do and feel that it matters, how can anything be more fun?' Katherine Graham, the author and businesswoman who steered the helm of the WASHINGTON POST for decades, said it and lived by it. It is joyful to write when you believe what you are writing matters" (227).

Journaling is always worth our time!

I'm looking forward to comparing my entries from the first time I completed these journaling exercises to this second time!

Mari McCarthy's PEACE OF MIND AND BODY:  27 DAYS OF JOURNALING TO HEALTH AND HAPPINESS has been very good for me as was the grief journal I completed prior to doing this one.  I have discovered some things about myself that I wasn't aware of--or at least not fully conscious of.  I still have some work to do , of course.  I've also been able to put some things into words that I must have thought, but hadn't taken them any further.

I plan on sharing some of my journal entries with my counselors.

I don't do a lot of journaling with guided prompts--I typically already have my own thoughts to write about.  But when I do use guided topics, I've usually found to be great at helping me discover things about myself that I'm not aware of until it comes out in my journal.

From here, I'm going to begin--probably--the journaling Manifesto (also by Mari).  I also have the 53-week one by Mari to work on, but I think I'll wait to begin that one after our trip to Disney next week.

Of course, I'll also continue doing my Night Notes!

1st read:  June 10, 2013 to July 24, 2013
2nd read:  January 3, 2014 to January 28, 2014

I love journaling!

Mari McCarthy's PEACE OF MIND AND BODY:  27 DAYS OF JOURNALING TO HEALTH AND HAPPINESS has been very good for me as was the grief journal I completed prior to doing this one.  I have discovered some things about myself that I wasn't aware of--or at least not fully conscious of.  I still have some work to do , of course.  I've also been able to put some things into words that I must have thought, but hadn't taken them any further.

I plan on sharing some of my journal entries with my counselors.

I don't do a lot of journaling with guided prompts--I typically already have my own thoughts to write about.  But when I do use guided topics, I've usually found to be great at helping me discover things about myself that I'm not aware of until it comes out in my journal.

From here, I'm going to begin--probably--the journaling Manifesto (also by Mari).  I also have the 53-week one by Mari to work on, but I think I'll wait to begin that one after our trip to Disney next week.

Of course, I'll also continue doing my Night Notes!

Dark Chocolate

Mari McCarthy's DARK CHOCOLATE FOR THE JOURNALER'S SOUL is exactly what it says it is....dark chocolate for the journaler.  Personally, I love to journal.  I've been doing it for so long, I have no real idea when I actually first started.  I have a large number of hand-written journals (notebooks, actual journals, notepads, etc.) that I've used over the years as well as digital journals I started in approximately 2009 or 2010.  I write in my journals A LOT.  A lot of journalers have been introduced to Julia Cameron's THE ARTIST'S WAY where she talks about doing Morning Pages--every day--3 full pages of freewriting that the journaler does first thing in the morning.

I have tried Morning Pages and liked them, very much.  The problem, though, is that I have never been much of a morning person.  I like to sleep until the last possible second.  So no matter how good my intentions, my Morning Pages typically were either Afternoon or Evening Pages instead.

In McCarthy's book, one of the contributors feels the same as I do about mornings and has taken to using Mari's suggestion of writing Night Notes instead.  While I've been reading through and working on a number of Mari's journals, blogs, etc., I had not yet heard or read about Night Notes.  But as soon as I read about them in DARK CHOCOLATE, I knew I'd hit on exactly what I was looking for as my alternative to Morning Pages--with no self-guilt!  (I felt guilty because I loved doing Morning Pages and I REALLY wanted to do them--I just didn't want to do them bad enough to get up a little earlier every day!) 

I am again inspired to get journaling.......