Exploring Eldership

A journal can provide the space to explore ourselves, to have conversation with ourselves as we grow to understand our motivations, desires and actions in more profound ways. 

It can be: “...a tool for self-discovery, an aid to concentration, a mirror for the soul, a place to generate and capture ideas, a safety valve for the emotions, a training ground for the writer, and a good friend and confidant.” 

A journal is not the same as a diary. Diaries serve to remind us of what happened when, or what remains to be done.  Journals are about reflecting on how we felt about the things that have happened and what lessons have been learned.

By keeping track of a situation or event you can collect thoughts, insights, feelings and much more about the context so that you have a rich source for later reflections. When you are in the midst of something, you often don’t know what the most significant aspects of it will be. By keeping track of things in your journal you can return to them later when you have more space and opportunity to see what the most important aspects are, or where you most might need to learn something.

NOTE – if you are keeping a written journal then your journal is not the notebook in which you do notetaking while you are reading study materials. Your journal should be a separate book.