Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Journaling

It's been almost a week and true to the promise to  myself that I would post, here I am. Not much to say today. Coming out of a rough time emotionally but working it through and through and through..... I've been doing an online journaling class with Stephanie Lee and it has been wonderful but I think draining for me as well. I would encourage anyone interested in journaling to take her online course. She's a fantastic writer who has much insight and very thought provoking exercises. I signed up for the second go-round which starts in January.

Last night when I couldn't sleep and was ruminating over and over and over about every bad thing I could possibly think of, I got up and started writing in my journal. I wrote for almost an hour. Poured my heart out, cried, said some things that really scared me. But then I started feeling better. Towards the end of the mostly negative writing I turned it around and finished up with a few positive things to carry me off to sleep, finally. I did get about 3 hours, not nearly enough for me but felt better today than I have in a long time. Today I wrote pages and  pages on the bus in the pouring rain waiting for all the people to get on and off and finally making it to Broadway to catch the train.

So the moral of this story is 1. I had way more to say than I thought 2. keep up my daily practice of writing in my journal 3. get a good night's sleep tonight 4. write to heal

5 comments:

d smith kaich jones said...

Fellow thought threader here - fellow very impressed thought threader here. I am putting your #4 on my wall. Write to heal. (Right to heal!)

Love this AND your blog, by the way.

:) Debi

Liz Curtin said...

Thank you Debi. It means so much to me that you wrote on my blog and that you love it. Sometimes I feel as if I'm doing this in a void..... anybody out there?

Thought Threads is so amazing, isn't it? I can't figure out if it is the writing that is bumming me out or just my life circumstances. Of course the writing is healing too but so much comes up for me when I write that it spins me around and around. I will not stop though. Got to get through it, all of it.

Love your blog too. Liz

Red (aka Puddleduck!) said...

Hi Liz... I journalled off and on during a horrid patch of my life about 8 years ago. I found it really helped me...

Exactly the same happened for me as you mentioned here... I'd start out ranting, angry, hurt, crying, in despair and by the time I filled a few pages I would be calmed and more accepting of what was happening in my life. Some of my journal entries ended with really positive statements and self made affirmations... One that came up repeatedly was 'WATCH ME FLY!' It was not an art journal although I did use brightly coloured kids textas in attempt to cheer myself up.

I've blogged over the last few months about how I've turned those painful words into an art journal! It's not yet complete and although re-reading it still brings back the pain it is wonderful to cover the words and bury the past... It has been such a freeing and fun project.

I hope you get through your circumstances and gain solace from your journalling too....
Best Wishes, Sandi :)

Liz Curtin said...

Hi Sandi, Thanks for writing and all your insightful thoughts. Wish I could write more now but I have to leave soon for a show I'm doing downtown.
More later, Liz

Red (aka Puddleduck!) said...

Found my way here again; hope things are looking brighter for you.
Sandi