It’s wise to weave journaling into your morning routine or add it to your daily to-do list, but there’s a hidden risk that might surprise you.
When you make journaling a task, you increase the chance it will get done. On the flip side, this choice positions journaling as a task to get through – rather than an experience to enjoy.
This is why I recommend you DON’T make journaling a to-do!
The magic of journaling is found in its potential to unlock crazy amounts of depth, imagination, idea-generation, self-expression… all that good stuff.
These benefits elevate when you approach journaling from a state of being, rather than an act of doing. You’ll feel a BIG difference.
Let me show you why…
DOING vs BEING
DOING is task orientated, goal-orientated, and outcome-driven. It cares about the task. It praises efficiency and productivity. Your success is judged on your outcome. How much you did, how well did you do it, and how fast did you accomplish it?
In comparison, BEING is about presence, energetics, and elevated awareness. Our noticing skills expand. Are we sitting with calmness, focus, groundedness, frustration, chaos, love, fear, anger etc? How do we feel? With this context, a curiosity about who we are in this particular space and time emerges.
For most people, ‘doing’ lies in their comfort zone because it’s an energy that gets things done. As a society, we value output. We can put a pound sign on it, which is why we’re inclined to prioritise doing over being.
In comparison, being is labelled as lazy. Being doesn’t care about moving through the task to get to the next thing. It doesn’t care about productivity (unless it chooses to ‘be’ productive). Instead, it’s interested in the depth of the moment and the richness of the experience. It has no desire to clock-watch (because time is relative), and it’s primed for spontaneity – because the dynamic of the moment matters more than anything.
When we approach journaling from this place of BEING, we tap into a whole different type of conversation with ourselves. We’re no longer sitting for a specific amount of time or writing eagerly to check the task as done.
Instead, we’re sitting with ourselves. In reverence for who we BE in the moment. Curious to know what will reveal itself as we pour our truth onto the page.
IT’S THE EXACT SAME ACTIVITY, BUT IT CREATES A DIFFERENT OUTCOME ENTIRELY.
With zero need to create any kind of tangible outcomes, curiosity is free to lead. You can follow your instincts wherever they choose to go.
What are you thinking?
How are you feeling?
What’s really happening?
You can write to find the layers and then peel them away to see underneath.
When you see journaling as something to be IN, rather than something to get THROUGH…
You find more reverence.
More intentionality.
More depth.
You’ll likely experience the power of journaling in a way you’ve not felt before.
I’ll never tire of saying this…
Journaling is the simplest of tools, but it’s a gateway to magic and miracles.
Using the blank page as a receptacle to gather and preserve what’s present for you NOW is such a potent use of your time, focus, and energy.
It’s revealing.
Illuminating.
Elevating!
It’s one of THE most powerful ways I know to discover who you really are…
Because it allows you to hold your own hand as you guide yourself deeper and deeper into your truth.
So here’s my invitation to you.
Next time you sit to journal,
Try taking a BEING approach instead of a DOING one.
I wonder what magic you might discover for yourself in the process…
