Recovering from Burnout Series: Strategy 2- Journal without Editing

I first came across the idea of journaling without editing when reading The Artist’s Way, by Julia Cameron. She called this type of journaling “Morning Pages”, and she would write free form for three notebook pages every morning. When I journal without editing like this, it is therapeutic and helps me to bring my burnout issues out of the dark and the confusion in my mind into the light, which has been healing.

Journaling has always been part of my life since I could write. I have journals from when I was six years old! Journaling has helped me in processing life decisions and in getting my thoughts out on paper. Many of my journal entries are prayers written out to God. I have songs and poetry mixed in with prose. There have been years where I have been very consistent with journaling and years where journal entries are weeks or months apart.  

My journals are not fancy, but they reveal who I have been, who I have become, and who I am becoming.  Sometimes my journal consists of a sketched picture or a mind map. Other times my journal is almost ineligible and is marked with tears.  My morning pages journaling usually contains many unconnected thoughts and ideas, and yet when I’m finished writing three pages of unedited, uncensored thoughts, my brain seems to be calmer and my thoughts seem more connected. 

Notes in the Margins:

What role has journaling played in your life?

Try journaling without editing for at least one page. After finishing, take a couple minutes to reflect on the process.  How could journaling without editing be a tool in your life?