Monday morning Journal writing
Today I woke up a little later than usual, not sure why. Even on my days off I still wake up around 8:15/8:30am naturally, yet not today. I sit outside in my little apartment back yard and just take it easy, listening to my body. It's always a nice morning when I write in my journal. The wind passes softly through my long metal chimes, the sun pops out through the overcast clouds here and there, I have so much on my mind that I need this time to calm down. So I made some delicious tea, turned on my Relaxation Station on Pandora and sat here and promised myself "I'm not going to rush today."
Thinking about how healthy keeping journals is… it's that moment to recollect, those timeless moments focused in your words, in the moments you're recollecting or the thoughts that have no specific moment. I take my time writing, sentence by sentence and enjoying how the pen rides on the surface of the paper. It's like having a good tea on your down-time - little by little, observing and taking things in in-between sips, the warm embrace of stillness when the music stops. My thoughts pass and I write them down. It's a meditation that you have to let flow for it'll piece itself later.
The mornings I also use for reading and sometimes they go hand-in-hand. I'll open up my facebook because the first thing on my feed is "Brain Pickings" a blog about interesting things. That sparks a lot of curiosity and has loads of good reads. Sometimes it'll trigger my journal writing. I liked reading this one once on "How Steinbeck Used the Diary as a Tool of Discipline, a Hedge Against Self-Doubt, and a Pacemaker for the Heartbeat of Creative Work"
A journal as a "tool of discipline," which is excellent in my view and many times what I use it for either in my creative work or for personal growth and stability. It's great because this articles uses excerpts from Steinbeck's journals showing how he went back and forth between being confident to doubtful and around and around - things that I later see in my journals too and I'm sure many others see this as well. History in any span of time is a beautiful thing to observe and soak oneself in. My journey through my Bachelor's in Art History was incredibly fun. I remember reading journal entries of Eugene Delacroix, Nineteenth Century French Romantic artist, a period I sincerely admire. His entries were a variety of things, from thoughts to appointments he made, one-sentence entries to longer ones telling stories….
Journal and diary writing has a tremendous history and is a timeless healthy habit - food for the soul. For me it's never just the act of writing, but where I am, what time of day, and what I'm drinking.
