Journaling our dreams can take two distinct forms.
One way is to keep a notebook and pen by your bedside. As you transition out of REM sleep and vaguely recall a nighttime dream, jot down a few notes. Reading even unintelligible scribble the next morning may help you recall the dream in detail.
Dreams are a pathway into our subconscious. Bringing these subconscious thoughts to the surface can help us find direction and clarity.
However, another method of journaling our dreams is by focusing on our personal aspirations and desires.
Everyone has a heart's desire - a passion in life.
Some of us, however, may find our passions hibernating, or perhaps lying dormant for so long we fear they are in an irreversible coma.
It is vital to reconnect with those passions in life and discover ways to pursue them throughout adulthood.
To begin this phase of self-discovery, brainstorm a variety of interests, hobbies, and pastimes you have pursued over the years. Try to recall the joy you experienced at the time. Question why you no longer pursue these interests and/or if you would like to add them back into your life.
When I completed this exercise, I discovered I could summarize my life's passion as: Create lasting memories as often as possible, and preserve those memories for future generations.
Can you develop a life passion statement?
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This concludes the Journaling A-Z blogging challenge. I will write a wrap-up post later this week.
I'd love to hear if you tried any of these journaling methods - or if you are enticed to try journaling sometime in the future.
Let's keep in touch!
I had Zzzzz for letter Z one year, but that was just for all the extra sleep I needed with the Challenge finally over. Good tip about having paper & pencil by bedside.
ReplyDeletePerspectives at Life & Faith in Caneyhead
I love it :) Yes, this challenge does push our limits in several areas, doesn't it?
DeleteMy grandmother used to have a diary she wrote in every day, sometimes it was the yearly kind, with the dates already written in and it was good for one year, other times she'd use the five-year kind. I used to use the single-year version. I don't remember when I stopped using them, I think when we stopped being able to find them in our local stores.
ReplyDeleteI also got out of journaling when I realized that unless I had a lockbox to keep it in, my thoughts were never going to be private because someone would always be able to read them. Even on my own computer, which is password protected, I don't keep one, because now I'm too paranoid about it. So instead I stick to my fiction writing. People just have no sense of boundaries, and don't care if something is not meant for anyone else's eyes and on a password protected laptop and upstairs away from everyone else. So I stopped doing it. Not much to write in a journal that I can't just channel into my fiction anyway, and have my thoughts on the page disguised as someone else's. At least then it's not so obvious.
I've loved reading your posts all month though, they've been very informative!
Hope to see you at next year's challenge!
I love that you use fiction to help your journal. I am not quite that creative :)
DeleteI will definitely participate in the 2018 Challenge ... see you then (if not before)!
While I have been keeping notebooks for years, many of your journaling techniques have given me the incentive to become a bit more organized. Thank you for many beneficial ideas, Molly.
ReplyDeleteAlso, congrats on completing a successful AtoZChallenge.
I'm so glad I got to know you through this challenge, Gail. I look forward to following your posts in the future.
DeleteI keep a journal but have been rather sporadic lately because I have devoted most of my writing energy to my blog and to the local weekly newspaper, where I work as a freelancer. I've never had a life passion statement but I think that it's a good idea.
ReplyDeleteIt's hard to keep juggling all our different pursuits, isn't it? I find myself maintaining morning pages on a regular basis, and then fitting other aspects of journaling in here and there :)
DeleteI have used a number of the journaling methods you discussed this month. This is not one of them. I think I might take the time to reflect on what hobbies I have given up and why. Maybe I can find a spark of a dream hidden that I forgot about.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on finishing the A to Z challenge. I enjoyed it. I hope to stop by from time to time to see what you are posting as the year progresses, albeit at a slower pace than April.
I hope we do keep in touch! I've enjoyed reading your challenge posts as well. You've inspired me to take the time to pursue my artistic interests, like scrapbooking and stamping :)
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