January 14, 2016
From time to time, I have spoken to friends and acquaintances about keeping a journal. Most people don't see the point of it and have never considered opening one for themselves. These two conclusions go hand in hand, I have found. I have been keeping a journal close to me for nearly twenty-five years. It has been my salvation, of sorts, and the means of staying clear in my mind when too many issues or events begin to create chaos.
There is only the practice of continually opening the journal and writing for twenty minutes. There is no explosion of realization. There is no tangible change that comes over me. There is only a silence in my mind when I am finished. A silence that was overwhelmed by the temporary chaos having its way with me on that particular moment.
I invite my friends and acquaintances to get a journal and start writing. Very few have ever taken me up on it. It seems like extra work to them, I suppose. It seems like an empty activity, I imagine. Too bad. It is not extra work and the reward is a stillness they have never experienced.
