Writing Yourself Home

When you return to your Self,

this is called awakening ... freedom.

~H. W. L. Poonja

Join Our 30-Day Pilgrmage Into Joy! 

Day 10 : We write ourselves home to Joy by creating a Joy Book. 

Writing helped me return home to my truest self and to Spirit.

You see, I never planned on becoming a writer.  I was a teacher, a mother, and that was the vision I held for myself.

Not until I lost my health (nearly 15 years ago) and embarked on a remarkable healing journey did I discover the power of putting pen to paper. 

I had always heard journaling was good for you. It released stress, provided insights, and connected you with what lay beneath the surface of YOU. Truthfully, even those benefits did not hold allure. I was too busy to journal, too busy trying to keep up with daily life, to take time and sit down to write in a blank book. Obviously, the Universe had a different plan for me. 

When my health was at its lowest ebb, when frustration and despair ruled my days, I found myself "venting" my feelings on scraps of paper. In time, I had a front seat full. Yes, these venting moments seemed to happen when I was driving. Not very safe, but oh, so freeing!

I soon realized that after I wrote something down I felt better. Surprise, surprise ...

I continued to write—on legal pads and in cheap, spiral notebooks. I never did write in those beautiful, fancy journals that lined bookstore shelves. They were too intimidating, too rigid. Why in the world would I want to put the junk and joy of me into a permanently bound book? And, after all, I wasn't even journaling, right?

Discovering later that that was exactly what I was doing was amazing to me. By simply following the urgings of my heart, it found its way home—I found my way home—to health, to wholeness, to acceptance of my self as I was, junk and all. Journaling allowed me to fall back into love with myself, with life, with Spirit.

I will honestly say,  I am not a regular nor a faithful journaler. I write in seasons. And I write in themes. 

For the past five years or so, I have been crafting a special kind of journal. Though I hesitate even calling it a journal. It is more like a journal/scrapbook. It holds my thoughts when I feel like writing them down. It displays photos, clippings, or memorabilia around the theme. Quotes I've collected or meaningful passages from books. The wisdom of other authors. 

Over the years, these are a few of the "journals" ( I use the term very loosely now) I've created:

~A nature journal. I'd arise in the morning and spend 30-minutes or so sitting in silence, observing what was going on around me in nature then writing about it. Its purpose was to root me in the present moment and allow Nature to speak, to tell me what I needed to know. 

~A Mary journal. I'd become aware of the presence of the Blessed Mother in my life and wanted to chronicle my journey with her. My journal contains thoughts, holy cards, images of Mary that touch my heart, as well as my interpretations of what she might want me to hear.

~A "Sarton Summer" journal. Two summers ago I became entranced with the diarist, May Sarton. In a 6-month span, I read all of her journals, much of her poetry, letters, and a few of her fiction works. I traveled with her from childhood to old age into death. For the first time, I was able to get inside the mind and heart of a woman much like myself—a "solitude"—a woman with a passion for self-expression and a deep love of nature. 

Now I'd like to invite you to do something very special. Would you like to create a "joy book" with me?  It is my focus this summer and I am loving every minute of it—and I would welcome a companion or two. We can share our thoughts, discoveries, and joys!

For comfort and ease, you may like to consider it not so much a journal (especially if that word creates angst in you) as a joy book.  That is what my friend Ingrid Goff-Maidoff calls it and what she suggests in her own tome, The Joy Book. I love what she says about this process:

"This is a place to collect favorite writing, inspirations, aspirations, and collages of beautiful pictures. Here you may call forth the riches, express your gratitude and your heart's affections. Have you had a joyful insight? Write it down. Keep your own list of luminous things [things that bring your Joy]. Return to it whenever you feel inspired. Returning to your joy journal will refresh, restore, uplift and renew you."

So now I have a lovely new blank book all set to go and I'm beginning to fill it up with Joy. Actually, Ingrid handcrafts beautiful blank books, so if you are interested in one fashioned by her (as I am), go for it. Otherwise, any blank book will do. 

Tomorrow I will post the first image placed in my joy book, along with a quote that is guiding my summer's writing. Want to come along?

I welcome your thoughts and companionship ...