I recently posted about the benefits of journaling and organizing your thoughts. In our fast paced world it seems almost counterintuitive to step away from the frenzy and sit down to write or simply be with yourself. Journaling, like meditating, is often misunderstood as something we don’t have time for, when in actuality both allow us to function more efficiently.
Gathering your thoughts and putting them down on paper can help to organize your goals. It can even sort out something that is worrisome and needs to be dealt with that is distracting us from more important items. Our minds are overstimulated by contemporary culture, and while that can be appealing and exciting, it also can wear us down. Our thoughts get so jumbled in our heads that we can’t focus or accomplish what we want because we are just running from task to task with no purpose. Stepping off the carousel and reflecting on all that is passing through your life and focusing on what you want to do with that is crucial.
I like to put pencil to paper and randomly let my mind roll and write down the things that pop up. I use a nice drawing pencil on the off chance that I just want to do a drawing and let my mind meditate on one task. Oftentimes a theme or something specific will be prevalent in my thoughts, and that is the moment I begin to analyze. I like to break it down and create a structure to help me understand what it is that I need to do. Feelings of discontent are not fun; journaling and sitting with my thoughts has really helped me move forward in a more clear way.
Life is full of decisions, sliding door moments, and opportunity. What we choose to do with all that, sets the tone for how we live. We are all capable, given the reflective moments, of having a fulfilling life. It is when we don’t take the time to be quiet in our minds that life gets messy. A clean mind is a healthy mind. Exercise it and exercise your right to self-care and the ability to move through life at your own pace.