Calling all civilians in the greater Philadelphia area: I’ll be teaching a journal writing workshop this Saturday from 2 p.m. - 3 p.m. at Book Corner (311 North 20th Street). Here’s the course description, but we’ll make it what we want it to be. A reading group. A therapy session. A game of duck duck goose. A grand old time. Hope to see you there!
I was thrilled to update my Web site earlier this summer. It needed a fresh coat of paint. During the renovation process I decided to move my blog page from the back to the front, and here it is before you on the opening page of the site. I was nervous about this—fearing I couldn’t keep up with the blog—and my fears have come to fruition. It’s been almost a month since I’ve mused on this page. It’s not that I don’t want to or that I’m void of ideas—just the opposite actually. I really want to and have plenty of ideas. I have ideas for this blog and my Huffington Post blog (the HP blogs are usually twice as long and more article like, which is how I differentiate). It’s finding time to spread the ideas out that I’m not so good at.
A few years ago, a friend of mine told me his New Year’s resolution was that he would not make resolutions only at New Years. I second that notion (!) and resolve to be a more active blogger right now. I don’t know that I’ll ever get to a point where I post daily (though I admire the day-to-day bloggers more than you know), but if I can get two fresh posts up a week I’ll be satisfied. In honor of my mid-summer resolution, I leave you with two short journal entries by Lewis Carroll—author of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. He amassed thirteen journals in his lifetime. His entries were never very long, and they usually went right to the point. I share the first entry with you because he, like me, made a resolution on a random day. I share the second one because I find it amusing.
May 18, 1856
I am getting into habits of unpunctuality, and must try to make a fresh start in activity: I record this resolution as a test for the future.
June 30, 1857
. . .so ends my five months stay at Oxford, during which I have learned almost nothing, taught not much more, and forgotten a great deal.
I’m just about done Eat, Pray, Love. I feel like the last person on earth to read it, but that’s the beauty of a book. It’s always there to be experienced. You don’t have to do it when the crowd does it, you can do it on your own time. Last night I was looking back on some of the pages I dog-eared—reminding myself that those pages in particular stood out to me for one reason or another—and I found this gem. Elizabeth’s journey to wholeness began with a journal entry. Actually it began with emotional agony and uncertainty, but she was able to sooth herself with writing. It reminded me that this is what therapy is essentially: tapping into the parts of yourself that are focused and strong and asking them to help the parts of you that are trembling and weak.
Page 54 (of the paperback)
What I write in my journal tonight is that I’m weak and full of fear. I explain that Depression and Loneliness have shown up, and I’m scared they will never leave. I say that I don’t want to take drugs anymore, but I’m frightened I will have to. I’m terrified that I will never really pull my life together.
In response, somewhere from within me, rises a now-familiar presence, offering me all the certainties I have always wished another person would say to me when I was troubled. This is what I find myself writing to myself on the page:
I’m here. I love you. I don’t care if you need to stay up crying all night long, I will stay with you. If you need the medication again, go ahead and take it—I will love you through that, as well. If you don’t need the medication, I will love you, too. There’s nothing you can ever do to lose my love. I will protect you until you die, and after death I will still protect you. I am stronger than Depression and I am braver than Loneliness and nothing will ever exhaust me.
J is for July. J is also for journal. And I’m so excited because this July is the month my book on journal writing will hit shelves. I’ll spend this month (and probably next) on the look out for stories on journal-related things.
I found a good one today. A recent study reveals that people who keep diaries while trying to loose weigh have an easier time of it. “The study involving 1,685 middle-aged men and women over six months found those who kept such a diary just about every day lost about twice as much weight as those who did not.”
Although I’ve never kept a weight-loss diary, this makes perfect sense to me. Writing in a journal (diary as we’re calling it here) forces you to reconcile with yourself. You have to face the problem (the extra weight) and come up with your own solution. Writing a goal down solidifies it—makes it permanent. It’s more difficult to cast aside once it’s been written.