At THIRTEEN, we’ve been talking about writing as a cathartic process. So, let’s look at what exactly is that in today’s post.
We are all familiar with journaling. Journal writing is something where we write about what inspires us, moves us or touches us – mostly during that day or journey. It’s documentation of our life’s journey. In fact, the roots of the word ‘journey’ and ‘journal’ have the same origins, but that’s a topic for some other day. Today, let’s focus on the topic at hand.
Journal writing is an idea that we have made sound fancy. It’s a romanticised. But, essentially, it’s a mere acknowledgement and acceptance of the journey we make. We document it to remember it in future and be inspired by it.
While cathartic writing is somewhat similar, it’s also different in many ways. The idea here is to simply pour out our thoughts. Preferably at the beginning of the day. When we wake up each morning, we have a pile of information waiting to consume us. We are aware of that and have accepted that as a given fact of this contemporary digital lifestyle. In this world, when there is an information overload – sometimes intentionally and mostly without our consent, it is important that we empty that to maintain that sanity.
Does that mean that we’re insane if we’re not emptying it? Well, it’s that the world around us has accepted this as the new normal. From that perspective, if everyone’s insane, how would we know! However, it’s only when we empty and unburden ourselves, we hit a point where there is a clearing for the day. There’s a moment of emptiness within. This space purges the thoughts, worries, anxieties and gives us an empty space to begin from.
Writing each day in the morning for and at a dedicated time period allows one to bring an internal clarity by purging our unnecessary thoughts that without our knowledge overwhelm us. This act is not meant to appeal to one, this writing is not meant to really inspire or touch us like in the case of journaling. But, like journaling this act allows us to get in touch with our exact emotional state and be in acceptance of that. And that is empowering.
To experience, take a blank notebook. And simply start writing…
…more about how to write into this morning journal to follow in tomorrow’s post.
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