We live in hectic times. We pursue demanding careers. We have busy lives. Our working lives command the most significant chunk of our years of existence. In all this frenetic activity, we budget for everything under the sun except time to ourselves. It speaks much for our priorities.
Enlightenment
It is paradoxical that we know more about the world around us than ourselves. The Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu said: "He who knows others is clever, he who knows himself is enlightened."
Would you want to be clever or enlightened? It is a matter of individual choice. If you only want to know everything around you and the environment, people and so forth and not so much about your own self that is okay. After all, it is your life. On the other hand, if you would like to have answers to profound questions such as: who you are, where did you come from, where are you headed and so forth or want to know what is it that keeps you going, what philosophies you hold dear to heart and what is the meaning of your life, then you show a desire to be enlightened. While on this subject, it may be a good idea to clarify that you don't actually have to become a Buddha to be enlightened. You can find that state of peace of mind right within yourself.
Enter the life skill of journaling!
Journaling is a powerful, life changing habit that seeks to make a significant contribution to that goal which Lao Tzu referred to as "enlightenment." It is a voyage of discovery of your self in itself. What does a journal do and why should you be journalling?
A mirror to your sub-conscious
A journal is any system of writing down activities, events, thoughts, ideas, emotions, fears, frustrations, joy, sorrow, accomplishments, or any other matter related to yourself. Journals are private repositories. Their main purpose is to get you to unburden your thoughts and put them down in written form. They may refer to past experiences, present thoughts or future visualizations.
Our minds churn up thoughts at a speed which makes even our vaunted super computers look like the efforts of an old stage man's crude catapult tool. Thoughts are fleeting and are gone forever if not captured in writing.
Nothing is more powerful than the power of our minds. Moreover, we possess two distinct types of mind power: that of the conscious (rational) mind and the sub-conscious (emotional) mind.
The conscious mind is the seat of logic and reasoning. The sub-conscious mind on the other hand is the home of our beliefs and memories. Our lives are ruled with an iron hand by the conscious, rational mind. Our sub-conscious mind almost has no chance to assert itself against the onslaught of that rational mind. In short, we are ruled by logic and reasoning.
But everything in the world does not run by logic and reasoning alone. In fact, human endeavor is more the product of emotions and experiences rather than mere logic. For that, we have to invoke the sub-conscious mind. The rational mind just cannot cut it in this instance.
Moreover, this is largely by choice. We can gain access to our sub-conscious mind if we can invoke the power of its emotion and memories the right way. What do we mean by that?
By simply ensuring that we do not resort to logic and reasoning all the time in understanding and interpreting life's experiences.
Journaling provides that access to the sub-conscious mind through introspective writing.
One of the most powerful results of journaling is the writing down of emotions clarifying our thoughts. Journaling allows that space between a thought we are experiencing and it's real emotional meaning. This is why journaling is said to be therapeutic. It has the power of healing.
Powerhouse of Problem Solving
Journaling, on the other hand is also a powerhouse of problem solving. When you write down in your journal a particular problem or dilemma you are facing at work and state clearly what it is and why you are feeling frustrated because you cannot find a solution, just the fact that you have written it down will get your sub-conscious mind working on it. Sooner than later it will deliver the solution in the form of an involuntary nudge in the right direction. This kind of result can never be produced by a conscious, rational mind. Many times that nudge will come in the form of a message conveyed through your intuition or sixth sense. The sixth sense is directly related to the sub-conscious mind.
So, next time you have a difficult task at work or any where else and you are not making headway, write it down in your journal clearly including the emotions of frustrations, fear that you are going through.
Re-visit and review your own journal post and let the sub-conscious mind produce its magic. But of course, you must believe in it and your journaling must be a continuous activity not a one time affair.
Repetition and emotion rule memory and reviewing a journal writing will invoke that strength of the sub-conscious.
All human efforts find their birth place in a thought that inspired, a belief which was created and commitment that was sealed. That place may well be your journal.
Give it a shot TODAY! it will change your life.
