On the best and worst of my days my head is almost always buzzing with a peculiar mixture of activity. The activity entertains ideas, to-do lists, impressions, emotions, words, songs and strategies.
Reading that explanation of my mind activities here, is a bit disturbing, but I have realized that much of what I, or any one of us, experience in one single day will actually just pass by without it being pinned down or given a name. There is so much that happens in a day, in the spaces around us and inside our hearts and minds.
I remember a day where I was explaining to my life coach how I process, and him actually being shocked at how normal I deemed it. He was surprised that my normal entailed thinking about- and figuring out many levels of people’s actions, interactions, non-verbal ques and messages – ALL THE TIME. My empathy level is also very high. It feels very normal for me to put myself in someone else’s shoes without reservation, but this very act can be seriously exhausting.
Writing has always been a way to calm down my thoughts and emotions.
How does your thoughts look and feel, can you catch them or make sense of them?
Thinking back, I started journaling early in my teenage years. Way back then we had a trend at school to compile small diaries with collages of magazine pictures pasted in them of all our favourite things, we then brought it to school and bragged with our newest creations every day (this technique, by the way, are still very successfully used today to help people discover their dreams and goals). I just loved that outlet. A seriously emotional teenage girl definitely needed this place to make a bit of sense out of all the thoughts and emotions in her being. From there the diaries developed into journals, and I have never stopped writing since.
When I journal, there are days where my hand can’t keep up with my thoughts and then there are days when only two sentences will do. I ALWAYS carry pen and paper around with me. It helps me feel safe. I know that if all else fails, I can always write or draw.
Drake Baer writes: “…research into writing shows, the act of tracing your thoughts across a page can make you more productive, more emotionally aware, and a less irrational decision maker.”
I have found that writing makes an enormous impact on my rational and irrational thoughts; it brings into being which otherwise possibly would never have been seen or heard. It centers the wonder of my thinking and reasoning.
The written word is the oldest solid form of communication that exists, and the purest simplest form of education.
God even told the prophets in the Bible to WRITE DOWN what He told them, since the important information He shared with them had to be kept safe and sacred. God knew that would be the only way we would remember His words, if it were written down. How profound!
Writing has always also been the tool for me to pray in the best way. I’ve always felt that if my prayers aren’t written down, I forget what I have prayed and miss how God answers me.
In the deepest and darkest places of my despair words have always made it better. Without putting my emotions into words there is no beginning and no end, and I usually feel as if I’m drowning. I thoroughly believe that we are meant to express our emotions into something tangible in order to process or realities better.
Journaling and writing blogs have very different outlets. Journaling is very personal and usually a tool to vent, I may or may not read it again but is definitely for my eyes only. Blogs have a different purpose here I share my thoughts and feelings with other in the hope that it would resonate or even help someone else on any level or with certain questions. Both of these processions have wonderful internal rewards in them which is hard to explain to someone who have not experienced it. In my life writing gives relief.
I would definitely encourage anyone to try writing down a few words about your thoughts and feelings every day. Your insights can change, your mood can change, your heart can change, and you will simply feel better.
Try it! Sometimes those floating thoughts just need a place to come to rest. Let it!
Written by Johanni Meiring
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Johanni Meiring 