Day 15: Getting Work Done by Journaling

Day 15: What can you expect from a journaling practice? Answers.

Wisdom from the Comments.  Arlene Holtz writes, ” I am really enjoying doing a regular journal session. It’s not always a very profound entry, but it feels good to be expressing my thoughts and feelings on a daily basis anyway.

Krystyna Rawicz says, “This particular meditation and reflection thereafter has unlocked another piece of the puzzle and the mystery which is me for me.”

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We create our own reality. Where we look is where we go. It’s very easy to believe that what drops in front of us is what we should do. Someone asks for help; we have to help, even if we don’t know what we are doing. Maybe that thinking isn’t the best way. A few days ago a lucrative job dropped into my lap. I own my business, and a lucrative job would solve a few problems. It would have been easy to think “the universe gave” me the job. And who wants to say No to the universe?

Left brain/right brain activities. Use the link at the end of the post to download your own full-size copy.

I journaled about it. How could I turn down a lucrative job? The more I journaled, the more I realized this wasn’t a job I could take. I accused myself of being lazy, of not working hard enough. I kept journaling. I went around in circles. Here was a job. Why wasn’t I jumping at it? I kicked myself. I journaled some more. And then I journaled my answer: do the math. My gut told me to trust my brain. And when I figured out the time it would take to do the job well, and the deadline, and the obligations I’d already agreed to, it would be foolish to take the job. It was a huge relief to know that if I looked beyond the money, I could see reality, nicely in focus.

Journaling does that for you. It gets to the heart of the matter. And the brains. And the combination is unbeatable.

Use this link to download your own version of the leftbrain/right brain mind map.

–Quinn McDonald is a creativity coach and the author of Raw Art Journaling, Making Meaning, Making Art. She’s also a relentless journaler.