It's no longer news around here that I'm fascinated by journaling and its transformative capabilities! Ever since I was a child, I've taken a lot of refuge in paper, especially in poetry, when I needed to express myself. I see this process as active communication with myself, as if I were traveling inward.
When taken as a routine practice, writing down emotions, experiences and thoughts allows us to get to know ourselves better and, consequently, to work on our personal development and evolve as human beings.
But what are the secrets to turning a simple text into a useful tool for self-knowledge? Tristine Rainer, a specialist in writing diaries and memoirs, tells us about some of the principles of journaling in her book "The New Diary" and they are some of the keys to the process of self-knowledge through writing.
Spontaneity: don't make big plans
As people we are many things, multiple personas in one human being. But I believe that our most authentic persona - what I consider to be our essence - is revealed when we are less strategic and more spontaneous. Writing spontaneously and letting the words flow leads to a connection with our intuition and our purest self.
Maybe one day one practice makes sense to you and another day another (and maybe there are days when it doesn't make sense to write at all!). Allow yourself to write when you feel like it and whatever you feel like at the moment. Meditating before writing can help make your practice more spontaneous.
Sincerity: be true to your truth
For journaling to be a truly useful tool for your personal development, sincerity is a fundamental criterion when writing. It's your choice to make your journal a private and safe space. Being just for you, you can write what you really feel and be you, without fear or judgment.
Sincerity is the light that reveals the path and can sometimes make you discover unexpected insights about yourself that you wouldn't have realized otherwise. Asking questions about how you felt in a given situation or how you reacted in a given context stimulates the emergence of the True Self on paper and, consequently, the True Self in physical life.
Depth: write from the heart
Writing down our emotions, thoughts and experiences is only as useful as the depth with which you develop them. In this sense, I advise you to write down what is meaningful to you, not just the surface of the problem.
Journaling can work miracles, but you have to be willing to put everything down on paper without fear. It's like our own psychologist and staying on the surface doesn't allow for the analysis, emotion management and consequent evolution that journaling can bring.
Freedom: embrace the flaws
Journaling may be the only form of writing in which the form doesn't matter, but only the content. In a journal you are writing solely and exclusively for yourself, so it doesn't matter if you make spelling mistakes or don't put a comma in the right place! Sometimes, thinking about these kinds of constraints can even slow down your writing and make you lose your train of thought.
Although we've always been taught to write with certain rules, these can affect the way we express ourselves and, consequently, the authenticity of our words. Allow yourself to be free and develop your writing in the way that suits you at the moment and accept that mistakes are part of journaling, just as they are part of life.
Contradiction: see the various perspectives
Writing spontaneously and honestly can often bring out opposing ideas. You might like something you're afraid of. Or find something beautiful today that was once ugly in your eyes. Contradiction doesn't always have to have a negative connotation. If, on the one hand, contradiction can be taken as personality inconsistency, on the other, it can be a sign of evolution.
You don't think or feel the same way as you did in the past because you are a different person, more mature and aware of other factors. What's more, you can always use contradiction to your advantage on purpose, forcing yourself to look at a situation from different points of view.
The world is not black and white and there are several valid perspectives on the same subject. Accepting contradiction is accepting life as it is, with its complexity.
Adaptation: adjust the practice to your needs
Although Tristine Rainer doesn't mention this principle in her book, I thought it was important to include it. One of the great advantages of writing is that it can be adjusted to the needs of the person holding the pen! To get to know who you are better, you need to understand what works best for you.
Maybe intuitive and expressive writing tells you something, maybe you work better using tools with exercises or basic topics. And you know what? Not only is that fine, but it helps you in the process of self-knowledge! Adapting journaling to what you need at the moment allows you to get the most authentic content about yourself and true to what you're really experiencing.
By following these 6 principles of journaling and having a routine practice - although always adapted to your wants and needs - you'll know what you like, what you want, what you dream of... By knowing your essence and becoming aware of what works for you and what doesn't at any given moment, you'll be able to take an action (or several) towards change and thus achieve your best version!
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