The Art & Science of Journal Writing

I just re-read a journal entry I had written and found myself laughing aloud! My entry–hastily written in free flow– sounded like it was written by a barely literate drunk. Misplaced modifiers, a soup of typos, crazy shifts in tenses and viewpoints.  And I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person?! HA!  However, with some some restructuring and editing, I’m able to re-string my words into a more coherent whole, that not only communicates better with an audience but helps clarify my thinking as well.  Here’s an example:

The Journal Entry:
Perhaps the morning pages hsouldb ecome eveing pages–squeezing out the worries of the day before going to bed a tnight.  Is it a kind of moving mediation that brings toether my hands, barn and harte into a full-sized unisficaiton, that is ulimted pouring of myself into a page.  poured out into lines and squiggles of inkey piece of turhth. doths this outpouring–tghey that is th eowrd–OUTPOURING–bring me peack, ratining the worry, the loose end,d the imagion of UNSPOKEN fearst that rattle aroud quietly in my brina that are not able to and really dont want to) ignore.

Keeping a journal helps stay in touch with yoursefl as best as possble.  To know yourself is to be more powerful.  To move int eh world.  To capture snapshots of days which when placed together creates movies of you–creates a narrative, a story, the meaning of one’s life.  Some people are lucky– and know intuitively what theri life purpose, life work is.  For those who don’t, you have to grope your way to find it–writing can be the way to find their oultines, their shpaes, the edges and images, the shadows and light which define their lives.  Keeping this stuff bottled inside creates a pressure which compels or impels it to flood out, cascading words which spill beyond the interim sluiceway–once the gates are open. The trick is to know when to hold back and when to let the worlds flow.  Perhaps ita great interplay that we enjoy.

So…. from that scramble of thoughts I took out what was worth keeping, what needed clarification, and edited and re-engineered to make it more understandable:

My journal is where I wring out the worries of the day. When I write it’s a moving meditation the unifies my hands, my brain, and my heart. It is an outpouring of myself onto the page.  The lines and squiggles of ink/pixels are a piece of my truth sitting in front of me. I can read it, touch it, examine it and leave it–and then return years later.  Writing brings me peace, brings some rational thinking to my worries, brings together loose ends, and brings to the surface some of the unspoken thoughts and fears that rattle around in my mind.

Keeping a journal captures the snapshots of my days, which when placed together in sequence, create a flip book of my life. My journal writing creates a narrative, a story, and ultimately helps me develop  the meaning in my life. Writing helps me outline the shapes, the edges, the shadows and the light which help define who I am.