Error! Main Document Only.Journaling
A Method for Transforming Experience into Growth
As IVC members we have the good fortune to become seasoned Christians through rich experiences in our service ministries, in our daily prayer, our spiritual reading, our City-Group meetings, our encounters with others; actually, in all aspects of our lives. These experiences are all opportunities for growth and learning, if we take the time to reflect on them. Reflection is the act of reviewing events with an eye to extracting meaning. Reflection enables us to understand the significance of what we have seen, heard, touched, or experienced. Without reflection, we may live through the experience, but learn nothing.
Martin Heidegger, a 20th century existentialist philosopher, who had a profound influence on the great Jesuit theologian, Karl Rahner, clarified the necessity of reflection for everyone. Writing in the 1960s, he says that the greatest danger of our time is that a calculating way of thinking that is part of the technical revolution will become the dominating and exclusive way of thinking. This is exceedingly dangerous, he says “because then we would find an indifference toward reflection and a complete thoughtlessness. Then humanity would have renounced and thrown away what is most its own, its ability to reflect. What is at stake is to save the essence of humanity. What is at stake is to keep alive our reflective thinking.” Heidegger calls for at attitude of openness to the mystery of things. Only if we remain reflective human beings can we prevent ourselves from becoming victims of a “calculating” existence.
One of the most useful ways that we can reflect on our experiences is to record our activities, observations, feelings, ideas, and insights in a journal. Before you conclude that journaling is a time-consuming and tedious exercise, let me assure you that it can be as simple as you wish. The reason is that keeping a journal is an idiosyncratic exercise; that is, each person’s method of journaling will be distinct and reflect personal preferences. There is no one right way to journal. I daresay there are as many different methods of journaling as there are IVCers (e.g. some choose to write every day; others only on ministry days; some write in the first person in the form of prayer; others write in the third person; some write extensively; others write briefly after pondering much; some find it helpful to write in the mornings, others in the evening, etc.) I can only share with you how I journal and hope that it might spur you to find your own way based on our own style of reflection.
Journaling has helped me think through some ways that I can:
a)help change systems and structures that are unjust to the poor;
b) practice Catholic social teaching;
c)find and take on a new ministry;
d)work through physical problems of loved ones;
e)understand the cause of negative emotions I have experienced (e.g. anger) before acting impulsively.
Finally, the benefits of journaling are, hopefully, already manifest. I believe that journaling
•provides a way for converting experiences into spiritual and intellectual growth and deeper commitment
•helps us to gain a better understanding of events and incidents in life than when tasks/activities are performed without reflection
•offers an opportunity to step back and review progress as well as areas that may be short-changed
•allows us to savor and understand more thoroughly the insights or inspirations we have garnered through reading, through incidents occurring in our ministry, through conversations or any everyday activity
•can lead to a deeper prayer life by helping us to understand our “true self”
•facilitates discussions with our Spiritual Reflector