#1. Journaling puts me into a place of stillness (see previous post for detail).
#2. Journaling makes me aware of the act of living (see previous post for detail).
#3. Journaling helps me maintain a sense of wonder. Let's face it, life is hard, but when I can come back to a sense of wonder, that sense that God is working in my life, it makes the hard days a bit easier. Here are two examples:
A. Sometimes during the stillness, I realize that I need to express gratitude. This often leads me to writing out a gratitude list of things from the day before or from the current day for which I am grateful. Where the sense of wonder comes in is that sometimes I think of something that does not seem of me; in other words, it feels like something I would not have thought of on my own. My assumption is that it is something that has been placed on my heart. I think it's of God.* (I do not believe this is unique to me).
B. There are serendipitous things that happen to me all the time. (Again, I do not believe this is unique to me.) Writing them down helps me to remember these coincidences which I have come to believe are Spirit-led. A recent example is that I went into the local book store and asked where to find the section about books about how to write fiction. As the employee guided me to that section he said, "Also, there is a writer's club that meets the last Sunday of the month here and that's going on right now." Needless to say, I spoke to someone at that meeting and made notes on my planner to attend up-coming ones! Also, during this same week, I was given a copy of an old magazine by a meditation member who wanted me to read his published article. At the back of the magazine were poems written by local poets who were a part of another local writer's group, that I was not aware of, and that I have since joined.
Cultivating this sense of wonder is reason enough to journal, but if it's still not enough, stay tuned for two more reasons!!!!!!!
-----------------------------------------
Now for the reflective questions which you can journal about or if you'd like to share your story, the community and I would love to hear from you! Your comment could have a major impact on someone else. Most likely it will be just the right thing at the right time for one of the readers. For me, God* wanted me to know that helping even just one person is wonderfully impactful.
-----------------------------------------
Reflective questions:
1. What examples can you think of in your own life that have created a "sense of wonder" for you?
2. What does God* want you to know about this (ask directly, God, what do you want me to know?)
* I use the term God as a universal term. You may decide that Great Spirit, Allah, Higher Power, Sensibility, etc. better suits you today. It is not for me to decide.
Photo by MH
Note: These posts are part of a broader call to do spiritual journaling (read more at CardinalTouch.net)
No comments:
Post a Comment