Experimenting with Journaling

As I mentioned in my post a couple of weeks ago, I have been experimenting with the Genos Journalling App.  I have now done that daily for a fortnight, so (as promised, fearsome Reader) I am now reporting back.  (And for those following this saga attentively, I did find an old blank hard covered book in my stationery cupboard, and my handwriting isn't quite as illegible as I pretend).

It has been a useful and interesting experience.  I chose Self Awareness as my focus for the fortnight (the other options on the app are Personal Vision and Gratitude).  The various 'prompts' to which I responded include: I need to ask for help when... I am at my happiest when... I tend to sabotage myself when... I enjoy myself best when... and so on.

The discipline is then to write for the chosen length of time (3, 5 or 10 minutes, without stopping, and with no self-censorship, until the buzzer on the app goes.  In many ways, it is similar to working with a Thinking Partner using Nancy Kline's Thinking Partnership process (regular readers will know I'm a fan.

As to what I wrote, that will remain between the covers of my journal: that is rather the point. But the interesting bits are always when you write something that surprises you, or that you have always known but somehow lost track of, and so on.

One thing that is valuable is to go back over what you have written a while later and mark up what is particularly important

There was one prompt that I rejected (you always have the option to choose another prompt, if you don't like the one offered). The one I rejected (twice) was: One compliment I know that I deserve is... You may speculate and draw your own conclusions about what that says about me, should you wish to do so.

With regard to the Genos tool, it works well, apart from a few typos (particularly in the Gratitude prompts), and I would recommend it as a starting point. It's weakness, of course, is that it only has the three topic areas (and a finite number of prompts, of course).

For myself, however, I am now going to choose my own prompts, focusing on some different areas of my life that particularly want to attend to over the coming months.  I may report back further in due course.

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With thanks to Aaron Burden for sharing his photography on Unsplash

What shall I blog about this week?

 Hmm... What shall I blog about this week?  What shall I blog about this week? Ah I know.  I have recently come across the Genos app for Journaling: the Mindful Leader Journaling App.

It offers both an introduction to journaling, including the many benefits, and some tips. For example, once you start writing, keep going, even if you don't know what to write: something will come.  (See the start of this blog post, where I took that advice. It worked this time!)

It also invites you to choose between Personal Vision, Self Awareness, and Gratitude as the subject for your journaling, and then to choose a time for the exercise: 3, 5, or 10 minutes, or unlimited. Then it offers you a prompt sentence (or half sentence to be more accurate) to get you started.  For example: 'When I see my ideal future it looks like...' and off you go - and keep your pen on the paper, keep writing, until the timer tells you that your time is up.  If you don't like the prompt you can choose another, of course; it has hundreds in each category. 

The benefits claimed - and referenced - are many, including reducing stress, increasing self awareness and so on. 

It is best done with pen and paper, of course. In fact Genos advocate buying a nice quality Journal to make the whole process more pleasurable.

So now we get to that part of the blog post where I should share my personal experience, evaluate the pros and cons, say what I have learned both through journaling and about journaling, and so on.

And yet, I can't. For the truth is I haven't got started.  There are a few reasons for that. Until yesterday, I had forgotten about the app, and I only downloaded it yesterday afternoon. Also, I am embarrassed about my handwriting, which is lamentable. Further, I am trying to go paperless, so have no ready supply of nice books to write in. And so on. 

So, knowing what I do about myself, and how to turn intention into reality, I hereby commit to you, my readers (both of you) that I will try journaling on a regular, daily basis, using this app, for the next few weeks, and I will then report back to you, my accountability buddies, on my learning.  And if I don't I expect you to be very severe with me.

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With thanks to Eugene Chystiakov and Andrey Zvyagintsev for sharing their photos on Unsplash