Course work and writing...a challenge this week

Source Free Image @ Unsplash

I was a bit quiet this week, and not entirely of my own doing. I am doing an online course in Training and Development Management and the homework this past week was a bit more challenging and required more of my time. It is one of those things that you cannot just email the lecturer and tell him: "Sorry, I need more time because my blogs required my attention."

So this week the promised Part 2 of the Life Coach will stand over until I can edit it before posting. But I have a little snack for you in the meantime, another list of useful articles to read. The list includes one of the references I am using in my next book, Take Your Journal to the Next Level, and a few articles I needed myself this week.

Here is the list for this week:

1. The benefits of keeping a journal 

2. Looking after your health 

3. Staying motivated 

Take care!

Lizette

Chasing a Goal when even Small Obstacles seem Insurmountable

Photo by Andrei Dumitrescu
on Unsplash

Perhaps your journal can help out…

I can just hear your eyebrows shoot up as you think that I am losing my mind. Journal writing is not about chasing goals, I hear you say. And you would be correct. But what if you have something that you want to do, but you are having difficulty trying to figure out what that something is? That would be a goal, wouldn’t it? Instead of just letting your mind meander where it wants to, why not set yourself a target of say 10 or 20 minutes once a week, to ‘think’ about this elusive goal. Maybe it is not that elusive, but you are still unsure about some aspects of it, or you need to figure what you need to learn to get closer to that goal.

Because keeping a journal is a personal experience, you can dig deep into your psyche to find all the fears and excuses that are holding you back. It doesn’t have to be big obstacles they can be small too, but unless you unpack them one at a time, they will always be ‘the problem’. Even mountain climbers don’t just suit up and go. They study the geography of the mountain. They try to find out what others have done right or wrong to learn from their experiences. They even study the weather, because dying in a blizzard is not something you want to happen because you were not prepared.

Your goal could lie before you as your Mount Everest. And until the first person scaled its height, it was an insurmountable obstacle. Despite it being conquered, it will never be mastered by man because of the challenges each person has to face on their own ascent.

Your goal might seem unsurmountable too, but what can you learn from past experiences that you had in achieving a goal? What do you need to learn to conquer the next step?

Your journal is the ideal companion for that journey towards the achievement of that goal. Use the quiet time with your journal to good effect. Find out what is truly standing in your way. Reflect on the lessons of your past that can help you. What good things can you use? What are the not so good things that can you learn from? Open your mind, and you will see the route before you.

Of course not every road is paved with success, but with an open mind the perceived obstacles become a learning experience documented in your journal for the next bigger, and perhaps bolder challenge. A challenge that will see you better prepared than you could have imagined if you hadn’t recorded your journey towards achieving that success in the first place.

And in this case, it is not you that Take your Journal to the Next Level, but the other way around. And that can indeed be the next step in the evolutionary path of personal development.

A side note: I have drawn up a project plan for my next book, Take your Journal to the Next Level, and if all goes according to that plan the book will be ready for release in early 2019. At the time of this post, my progress stands at 31% complete.

Until next time, be healthy and happy!

Lizette

I dug myself out of a rut, with art in my journal

Has your journal writing gotten stuck in a rut? Do you whine and complain every time you pick up a pen and then by the end of your daily entry feel just as frustrated and stuck as when you did when you started? If you look back at an entry a month ago, three months or six months ago and notice that nothing has changed, then you are in a rut. And I have been there. So how do you get out of it?

Without boring you with all the details, my work situation has been challenging on many levels. And it has very little to do with my daily tasks, but with the environment and some decisions that were made that caused some difficulties. As the result of that, I too had been writing about my frustrations and problems and most of which I can nothing about. I am sure some of you can relate to that feeling of absolute helplessness.

“Art isn’t only a painting. Art is anything that’s creative, passionate, and personal. An artists is someone who uses bravery, insight, creativity, and boldness to challenge the status quo. Art is a personal gift that changes the recipient. The medium doesn’t matter. The intent does. Art is a personal act of courage, something one human does that creates change in another.”― Seth Godin

Then I read a few of my entries and realised with a shock that it has been going that way for more than a year. It made me reassess the true nature of my journal entries. Did I really want to moan about stuff I cannot change? While my work situation was not under my control, I had to decide if I was going to let my life go in the same negative way. I mean, my job is not my life. Yes, it is a large part of my day, but I could do more than moan about my job in my journal. For one, I can think about changes I can make in my life, and in my journal writing for a start.

A drawing in my journal

So I set about finding more ways to experiment with my journal entries not only to get out of my funk but also to see if there was more than just the usual whining. Of course, I have read the usual suspects, but I wanted more. I felt that there could be more. And I found them by looking beyond the usual journal prompts and books. In my new book, Take your Journal to the Next Level, I explore expressing myself with art, with craft items and generally just forgetting about the words for a while.

The words do come, but I found that the negativity was a lot less. In these more creative ways, I found more to reflect about, and even the idea for this book was born in such an artistic entry.

If you are a journal writer that find yourself in a rut, why not dig into your photographs or memorabilia of a recent trip or celebratory event, and write about that.

Many people believe that they don't have any artistic skills, so I experimented with methods to explore journal entries without so much as the ability to draw a straight line. And I found it in art, of all places.

So why not think beyond the words, and see where that can lead you?

PS: I have drawn up a project plan for the book, and if all goes according to that plan the book will be ready for release in early 2019. At the time of this post, my progress stands at 22% complete.

Invitation: Take your Journal to the Next Level with me

A drawing from my journal

I have been a journal writer for many years. More than 30 years to be honest. In this time I have gone through the teenage angst of finding out who I am, through my twenties of who I want to be, then my thirties and now my forties where my journal entries have taken another interesting turn.

Of course, the person I am have not changed over the years, or have I? When I go back in time, I know that I have grown up. I have learned to accept who I am and understand where I can still go. I have come to learn that I love learning new things which include exploring and experimenting with different kinds of journal entries. And a result of this (still ongoing) process I decided to formulate my journey in a new book. The working title is Take your Journal to the Next Level.

My worldview has expanded as I grew older, and I believe so has the way I have written in my journal. So I am writing the book with all the knowledge and insight of my journal writing experience to share with you. Over the next weeks and months, I would love to share with you some of those insights and invite you to share your own experiences on the way.

If you are new to journal writing or have been doing so for years, I invite you to Take your Journal to the Next Level with me.

PS: As a fiction writer I simply sit down to write my stories, with the minimum preparation around the content of the story; I am primarily a pantser. However, when it comes to writing non-fiction, my project manager persona throws her weight around and insists on a more structured approach. So I listened to that inner voice and drew up a project plan for the book, and if all goes according to that plan, the book will be ready for release in early 2019.