DATE WITH DANIELLE THE JOY AND MEANING OF JOURNALLING

JOY AND MEANING IN JOURNALING

by Danielle Klooster

I do a lot of journaling. It is a big part of my morning practice and I look forward to it every day. Why Journal?

One word: clarity. I journal because, often, I can’t identify my feelings. I know I am feeling something, whether yummy or yucky, but sometimes I just can’t put my finger on what true emotion I am experiencing. And, even if I can identify my feeling, there are times that I don’t know what to do with it. I get “stuck in yuck” and can’t see any other perspective or possibility than my negative headspace. Journaling gives me a chance to get it all out on paper and reflect. It also gives me an opportunity to make a different choice for how I look at things and opens up options for moving myself forward. What Do I Journal About?

There’s no right or wrong way to journal. Just write down some stuff! What’s happening in your life, how you feel about it, what you’re grateful for, your goals, your relationships… really, anything. There’s long form journaling with pen and paper bullet journaling, voice recordings on your phone – whatever works for you is great.

I utilize several different journaling processes, but here’s a favourite I came up with that really helps “Get me there” (which is what I actually named this process) when I need to get myself unstuck and move from an unhealthy, unproductive headspace – that limits or punishes me - into a clear, constructive headspace that serves me and moves me forward. Here are the nuts and bolts of it:

• What happened • The Sh*t (all the yuck) • The Good Stuff (what else is possible that might be a different, healthier viewpoint to consider) • The Learning (My ahas, boundaries, goals and affirmations)

Joy and Meaning Journaling

I’m sure you’ve heard that gratitude is all the rage these days. Between Oprah and Brene Brown, we’ve all been exposed to the power of having a gratitude practice. I recently became aware, in fact, that gratitude actually rewires your brain, elevating your mental function, increasing your clarity, decision-making capacity and ability to focus. That’s powerful stuff! I’m working, not just to have the basic three-point, end-of-day, here’swhat-I’m-thankful-for list, but to consciously step into gratitude all through the day. I want to view myself, my life and the world as a whole through a gratitude lens. So, I knew I’d need to bring the big guns to my gratitude game. But what is that? I wasn’t sure.

I have been rereading Brene Brown’s book, The Gifts of Imperfection, and, near the end, she discussed joy and meaning. She stated that sometimes, in our quest for achievement, accomplishment and striving to reach our goals – which we think will bring us joy and meaning - we can overlook the joy and meaning we already have in our lives. Being forward-looking comes with a potential hazard of not being fully present. And, as a massive benefit, those who subscribe to the universal law of attraction know that like attracts like, which means that the more I focus on the joy and meaning in my life, the more of it I will bring into my experience. Way cool!

This seriously inspired me, so I sat down with my journal a few days ago to journal about all the joy and meaning I have in my life. I decided to start with relationships, because that matters to me more than anything else, and I worked my way through health, time, finance, growth and business. Guess what? I focused in on my primary relationship – my significant other – and wrote two full pages. That was it for day one! On day two, I wrote about my business partner. Day three, my sister. Day four, my kids. That’s where I’m at now, and I plan to write about my grandkids tomorrow (and possibly the next day, too, as that will be a biggie!). I had no idea

that, once I dug in and really thought about it, I’d be embarking on a journaling journey that could easily run for a month or more, but I’m loving it!

Here’s what it looks like: “I have joy and meaning in my relationship with ___________ because_____”. I just write that sentence over and over and end it with whatever comes to mind. By the time I’ve journaled for ten minutes, my heart is overflowing with love and appreciation for that person. Yup… GRATITUDE!

The women in the group soon decided they wanted their children to share in the same benefits as them and they expressed interest in starting a youth group. These youth act as ambassadors to assist newcomer youth in their integration into the community. They have an opportunity to learn about other cultures as well as meet new friends. They are also given programs that will assist in their development and health and wellness. The youth have also taken on an environmental program where they will start pollinator gardens at some of the schools and hope to participate in activities that will assist in making an impact in the environment.

How to Eat an Elephant

Maybe the thought of journaling is overwhelming. Seems like a big thing to take on, right? Like, why try and add this seemingly huge undertaking into your already overflowing schedule? Perhaps you think if you can’t do it right, maybe you shouldn’t do it at all.

Here’s something I learned from another book I highly recommend, Atomic Habits by James Clear. Often, we avoid doing things because we think they will take a lot of time and require a lot of learning or stretching. So, because we don’t have an hour to dedicate to the activity, we don’t do it at all. The two-minute rule changes all that. It says, “Just do it for two minutes.” Anybody can do just about anything for two minutes, right? I mean, excepting planking!

Don’t rob yourself of the joy of journaling and the opportunity to step into some pretty powerful gratitude just because you’re busy. Journal for two minutes. That might mean you get two sentences down. That’s fine. That’s two sentences you didn’t have yesterday, right?

I love journaling so much that I teach it! Join me for my next Effective Journaling workshop - or buy my journal! I am having a Your Life, On Point journal published, and you can pre-order it now. Just get in touch. Meanwhile, enjoy your journey into journaling and, above all, stay Sharp!