Pockets: Find Meaning in Moments

004 Journaling: A Pocket of Peace

• Richmond Camero • Episode 4

Share episode

Journaling is a powerful tool that can help us process our thoughts and feelings while providing a peaceful pocket for reflection and creativity. We discuss how different styles of journaling can enhance self-awareness and foster happiness.

  • Beginning the journey of journaling and early struggles 
  • Sharing the 3 journals that I currently maintain:
    • The importance of having a Meditations journal for personal reflection 
    • Insights gained from creating and maintaining a Crafted Today Journal 
    • Exploring prompts and their benefits with a dedicated Prompt Journal 
  • Understanding journaling as a form of self-love and acceptance 



Richmond:

Hi, you're listening to Pockets, a podcast about finding joy, meaning and purpose in life's simplest moments. I'm Richmond Camero. Let's dive into today's journey. I started journaling around September 2020, but I wasn't regularly writing in my journal. That reflective journal that I'm using back then is the same one that I'm using now. Before 2020, I had attempts on starting a journal, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to write, and the ones I attempted to do did not appeal to me. Should I write what I did that day, or maybe I should write 10 things that I'm grateful for? It took several trials and errors before I found what worked for me.

Richmond:

Today, I'm going to talk to you about why and how journaling becomes an important pocket in my life. As with all things, let's start with our why. Why am I journaling Without thinking too much about the benefits yet, the primary reason I journal is to process what I think and feel. I write in order to think. I have to unload what I carry in order for me to understand. Yes, I can spend time analyzing all of those things in my head, but having that second brain allows for more clarity. Maybe it's similar to drawing or molding a clay. You might have this vision in your head, but it might translate differently once you put that into paper or started shaping the clay. It took me a while to finally get into the rhythm of maintaining a journal.

Richmond:

This year I'm maintaining three journals and I'll walk you through how I use them to spark some ideas on your journaling adventures. The first one is my Meditations journal. The idea of naming it Meditations comes from the book with the same name, meditations by Marcus Aurelius. Marcus Aurelius was a Roman emperor and is often linked to Stoicism. This book contains his reflections and the processing of his thoughts and emotions. It's a good motivation that your journal will become a book one day. Right, so I'm using my meditations journal to capture my deepest and lowest thoughts. This is where I can free myself and just say what I want. This is a journal that I keep for myself and it's not for everyone, and I think that's important to understand that. Journaling is for yourself. You have to protect that pocket of safe space to provide yourself with an avenue of authenticity. Imagine a journal where you have to censor what you want to say. It's difficult and weird. My meditations journal helps me clear my thoughts and clarify my intentions. With that said, I don't write in this journal on a daily basis. I write in this journal when I'm stressed or when I'm trying to figure out a problem or when I want to slow things down.

Richmond:

My second is Crafted Today Journal. I read something from an author named Joanna Penn. She said Measure your life by what you create. It was an aha moment for me. I've always wanted to put something out. I want to tell stories, I want to write, I want to do art, but I never got the habit of pursuing my creative endeavors regularly. Then I realized if I want to measure my life by what I create, then I have to measure my day by what I create. It's a very simple change, really, but powerful, and it reinforces two habits that I want to do to create something on a consistent basis and to journal regularly.

Richmond:

Crafted today is my daily journal. In this journal I write about what I crafted or created that day. Most of it would be something that I wrote a draft for a podcast episode like this one, a few paragraphs for a chapter in a book I'm writing. It could also be some other art form that I'm trying, or a social media post maybe. In this section I just list what I brought into the world that day. Then the second part is for me to write about what I think about the things I created. It could be the realization that I had for the creative session, or it could be a reflection of my mental state while I'm creating. It's also helpful for me to examine what strategies I can adapt in terms of my art.

Richmond:

My third journal is my prompt journal, but I'm still experimenting with this one. I'm using it for reflections on external prompts. I'm using it for reflections on external prompts. If my meditations journal is for the things that I want to figure out internally, this is if I want to actively have a journaling exercise from a prompt or external source. Usually, I write in this journal when I'm answering prompts like when do I feel most at peace or what am I thankful for? I also use this for assimilation of non-fiction books I'm reading. When I'm reading, I'm highlighting or taking note of passages. Then I will write that in my prom journal and think about why that passage resonates with me. For sure there will be some overlap with my meditations journal, but I wanted to distinguish this one from the thoughts and feelings I want to process. Now that I've walked you through how I journal, I wanted to talk about what it brought me and why journaling has been a reliable pocket of peace For me.

Richmond:

Journaling allows me to slow down and be mindful. There was one entry in my meditations journal where I did test this. I was anxious because of the things I wanted to do back then and I recognized that I needed to take a break. This is what I wrote in that entry. Okay, firstly, I'm trying to find out if the actual physical sensation of journaling will help me slow down and relax. So far it does, as I pay attention to the ink of my pen and the words I'm writing. I know and I believe that journaling is always associated to slowing down, but with this test, every journaling session matters and it provides relief in those moments.

Richmond:

Journaling also gives me something to look back to. Sometimes I skim through my entries from a few years back. Then I would see that there are behaviors that I still do since then and there are behaviors that I have changed. I would be able to identify patterns and common themes and from there I would see how I responded. It gives me a snapshot of the things that I've been through and what I've become because of them, and sometimes I'd feel a sense of appreciation, like, hey, I've been through that and I'm okay and content. Right now I am at peace.

Richmond:

Third, journaling helps me shape what I want to do with my life. My Crafted Today journal is the most evident example of this. That journal ensures that I am mindful with how I want to spend my day and therefore my life. My meditations journal allows me to think how I want to behave and it challenges my beliefs and principles. Even my prom journal has a part in this, providing mental exercises in different situations.

Richmond:

Lastly, journaling is a form of self-love and self-acceptance. Self-love seems to be paired with journaling a lot of times, but this is how I break it down in my head Self-love and self-acceptance mean allowing us to be ourselves, so that means being comfortable with our own thoughts and feelings. It takes a bit of practice and it would feel awkward in the beginning, but journaling helped me to be comfortable with my own skin. I think it's important to accept yourself first before seeking acceptance from others, and journaling allows me to show the authentic me.

Richmond:

There are so many ways to do journaling. I actually attended a creative journaling workshop Nica by Cosio last Nick last January and it gave me ideas on what else I could explore. One thing that stuck with me is the creative use of scraps and ephemera tissue papers, tickets or paper placemats as materials for your journal. It was such a wonderful workshop and I'm looking forward to trying out things from what I learned In the end.

Richmond:

If there's one thing that I should say as a must for journaling is that you do it for yourself. It's your own pocket of space, and in that space you're not looking for permission, you're not looking for approval, you are being you, and that, my friend, is more than enough. You've been with Pockets. Thank you so much for sharing this space with me. Now go embrace the moments, build your pockets of meaning and keep curiosity a sure guide.