“Listen to your life…”

I am a journal keeper. I journal to listen to my life. I write to discover. I record to remember. I journal in silence and the silence keeps me listening, open, and available for the words that need space to breathe on the page before me. My journal pages are an extension of my life. They hold secrets and prayers, dreams and sorrows; often, they hold me.

“There is no event so commonplace but that God is present within it, always hiddenly, always leaving you room to recognize him or not to recognize him, but all the more fascinatingly because of that, all the more compellingly and hauntingly. . . . If I were called upon to state in a few words the essence of everything I was trying to say both as a novelist and as a preacher, it would be something like this: Listen to your life. See it for the fathomless mystery that it is. In the boredom and pain of it no less than in the excitement and gladness: touch, taste, smell your way to the holy and hidden heart of it because in the last analysis all moments are key moments, and life itself is grace.”
— Frederick Buechner; originally published in Now and Then and Listening to Your Life

Life is happening at warp speed and I’ve found the only way to be more present in this modern day and age is to take up the art of noticing. Noticing isn’t just about seeing; noticing is feeling, thinking thoughtfully and deeply, and allowing your mind to wander and wonder. Noticing is remembering, learning, waiting, recording, delighting, appreciating, loving, praising, worshipping. Noticing is beholding.

And what do we do with these things we behold? We record them. We journal.

Like anything in life, you get good at what you practice. That’s something I say to my children ALL THE TIME (and it’s usually followed by, ‘so be careful what you’re practicing’!) and it’s true for the art of noticing, and journaling. I do not take my role of journal-keeper lightly. It’s such an important part of my help, hope, and healing. It’s a tool in my therapy toolbox. It’s truly one practice that has been life-giving for me in my healing journey.

It wasn’t always easy for me to practice journaling. I used to get overwhelmed and stressed out by my journals, even though it was my choice to keep them. I would put unnecessary pressure on myself to keep ‘perfect journals’, meaning, I’d need to record regularly, keep them neat…I’d even go so far as filtering my thoughts so I wouldn’t create a mess or a need to scratch anything out. I would skip two or three pages when I’d start a new one so I wouldn’t mess the first page up. I got to a place where my journals were more of a hassle than a blessing, yet I knew that keeping journals blessed me.

I finally examined how I wanted to use my journals as a tool to serve me instead of me serving them and I relaxed into a practice that felt so much more freeing and effective. Here are a few tips that helped me, in case they may be helpful for you, too:

First and foremost, live your life. There will be nothing to write about if you aren’t living your life, first.

Then, listen to your life - in all of the mess and chaos and in the beauty and silence.

Finally, learn to treat your journal as a tool that serves YOU, and not vice versa. Record that which you wish to remember, or record as a way to process/think/capture/praise/worship/pray/dream, but don’t record because you need to have something for the day, or you don’t want to break a streak. Treat your journal as a tool and not a boss.

Something else that was really helpful for me in my journal-keeping practice was adding ‘Morning Pages’ into my daily rhythm and routine. I complete morning pages first thing in the morning and they serve me as a dumping ground for all of my thoughts, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and I have permission to write in a ‘stream-of-consciousness’ style so it is to be expected that they will be messy, chaotic, and all over the place.

These tips have changed the way I journal; they have changed the way I live.

The journals I keep…

Morning Pages

Julia Cameron coined the term ‘morning pages’. I journal in a stream-of-consciousness format first thing in the morning. My morning pages most often include my prayers, dreams, gratitude to the Lord, lists that are on my mind, and fears.

Commonplace Journal

I am an avid quote collector (see a few below) and reader and my commonplace journal is where I keep the takeaways and quotes from books, podcasts, or conversations that I don’t want to forget.

Art Journals

I keep many different art journals, such as: sketches and drawings, mixed media/junk art, creative play, “painted prayers”, or even art notes.

Sermon Notes/Spiritual Growth/Prayer

This journal goes with me to church, bible study, small group, and on the floor in my closet when I’m pouring my heart out in prayer. It’s well-loved and decorated with plenty of coffee and water spills, tears (rips) and tears (drips).

Thoughts/Notes/Lists

I have, what feels like, a never-ending supply of journals for this subject and they are all over - in the car, at my desks, on my bedside…As a visual learner and processor, it has to be written down for me to remember or do it, so writing things down is common practice for me and these ‘catch all’ journals come in handy for that purpose.

Nature Journal

My nature journal pages are where I document questions, wonder, make observations and connections about and within the natural world. They contain poems, scripture, and other musings, as well. You can see examples of some here.

Online Journals/Apps

I use various journaling apps on my phone. I have three that I use for nature that help me not only ID my specimens but also record my observations so I have a fun history of what I’ve seen. I use iNaturalist, Merlin Bird ID, and Rock Identifier. I also use the Apple Journal app for notes and thoughts on the go.

Gratitude Journal

My gratitude journals have evolved over the years. Currently, I record one entry every other day or so of something extraordinary that I don’t want to forget. This method helps me to always be on the lookout for the extraordinary.

31 Different Ways to Use a New Journal

I have written a Substack article entitled, “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart” about journaling and 31 different ways to use journals.

If you are an avid journaler or considering starting one, or haven’t picked yours up in a while but have been thinking about starting again, I encourage you to check out this article. Let me know what you think in the comments on Substack!

journals

  • William Wordsworth

    “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”

  • C. S. Lewis

    “First, I do not sit down at my desk to put into verse something that is already clear in my mind. If it were clear in my mind, I should have no incentive or need to write about it. We do not write in order to be understood; we write in order to understand.”

  • William Makepeace Thackeray

    “As there are a thousand thoughts lying within a man that he does not know till he takes up the pen to write.”

  • Brian Zahnd

    “Our task is not to protest the world into a certain moral conformity, but to attract the world to the saving beauty of Christ.”

  • N. T. Wright

    “What you do in the present—by painting, preaching, singing, sewing, praying, teaching, building hospitals, digging wells, campaigning for justice, writing poems, caring for the needy, loving your neighbor as yourself—will last into God’s future. These activities are not simply ways of making the present life a little less beastly, a little more bearable, until the day when we leave it behind altogether. They are part of what we may call building for God’s kingdom.”

  • Mary Oliver

    Someone I loved once gave me a box full of darkness. It took me years to understand that this too, was a gift.

  • Dallas Willard

    “The most important thing in your life is not what you do; it's who you become. That's what you will take into eternity.”

  • Annie Dillard

    “How we spend our days is, of course, how we spend our lives.”

  • Beth Moore

    "This is our time on the history line of God. This is it. What will we do with the one deep exhale of God on this earth? For we are but a vapor and we have to make it count. We’re on. Direct us, Lord, and get us on our feet."

  • Brian Zahnd

    “Beauty, mystery, wonder. They all three go together.

    The primary human response to an encounter with overwhelming beauty is wonder. Wonder is the transcendent sensation we experience when we find ourselves in the presence of an awe-inspiring sunset, artistic masterpiece, or newborn baby. Wonder is the uniquely human reaction to the sublime. Wonder is a large part of what it means to be human.

    Wonder defined is, "a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration caused by something beautiful, unexpected, or inexplicable."

    We wonder at two things - the beautiful and the mysterious.

    A life stripped of beauty and mystery is a life barren of wonder, and a life without wonder is a kind of deep poverty.”

  • Wendell Berry

    Breathe with unconditional breath

    the unconditioned air.

    Shun electric wire.

    Communicate slowly. Live

    a three-dimensional life;

    stay away from screens.

    Stay away from anything

    that obscures the place it is in.

    There are no unsacred places;

    there are only sacred places

    and desecrated places.

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