Seventeen Reasons to Keep a Spiritual Journal, Part 1

For a few weeks this spring, I found myself floundering. Maybe “floundering” is too big a word. It was more like hitting a patch of ice on a path. My spiritual practice was slipping and sliding. I couldn’t get traction. I had lost my balance and had nothing to catch hold of—or thought I didn’t.Now I’ve found my footing again. I don’t mean everything is crystal clear on the path ahead, or that I’m sure where I’m going. But I can see the path clearly, and it looks exciting. Once again, I feel like journeying on, rather than curling up in a cave like a grouchy bear.

One thing that helped was spiritual journaling. Journaling is a central part of my spiritual practice, as essential as meditation. I’m surprised when I meet the occasional writer who doesn’t journal, especially when that writer is also a spiritual explorer. I feel like they’re missing one of the great joys of writing—and one of the most essential tools to the spiritual life.

What does spiritual journaling offer? Too many things to list, but I’m going to list some of them anyway, beginning with these five:

1. It helps us figure out what we believe. Do you know precisely what you believe in? Many people do—or think they do until something unexpected challenges those beliefs. Others of us experience a lot of doubt, uncertainty, and questioning.

If  you are uncertain what to believe in, spiritual journaling can help you discover what rings true and what doesn’t. Even if you feel you’ve already found the answers “to life’s persistent questions” (as Garrison Keillor’s character Guy Noir puts it), journaling can clarify your beliefs and bring them into sharp focus.

2. It shows us what bolsters our spirits and what drains them. It is easy to get so used to a routine that we are unaware of how it affects us. Spiritual journaling can help us sort through what behaviors energize and inspire us and which ones leave us feeling depleted. Even something as simple as keeping a list of what we spend our time doing throughout the day and how it makes us feel can offer surprising insights.

3. It helps us identify weak spots in our spiritual practice. Sometimes we need to hold a cloth up to the light to see where it has worn thin. Our spiritual lives are similar. Journaling can help us identify beliefs or practices that aren’t working well. It can show us what has grown stale, what needs work, what to discard, and what to foster.

4. It supports us through suffering. Putting grief, disappointment, fear, or longing on the page enables us to set it apart from ourselves, to gain distance and perspective. It can offer comfort, and it can show us how to nurture ourselves.

5. It enables us to find the Sacred in the ordinary. How easy it is to forget that the divine is all around us—in our kitchens and laundry rooms, at the post office and pharmacy, in our daily work and everyday conversations. Journaling can bring the sacredness of daily life to the fore, making it stand out in relief. It can remind us that the Sacred doesn’t just reside in the church or temple.

Tomorrow: More of the Seventeen Reasons to Keep a Spiritual Journal