Journaling and Mindfulness
In its thinnest form, mindfulness can be described as being aware of something. The sky is blue: I’m mindful of the color of the sky. The air is cool: I’m mindful of the changing seasons.
This is a poor understanding of “mindfulness”, though. If being mindful of your surroundings is what mindfulness means to you, then it’s time to explore the art of being mindful.
And me being me, I believe being mindful begins and ends with keeping a journal.
In a deeper form, mindfulness is the art of being in the now, being in the present. Mindfulness is about understanding each context you find yourself in. It’s about being aware of not just what your surroundings are, but who, where, why, and how your surroundings came to be. In many respects, it’s about being completely cognizant of where you are now and understanding why this came to be.
Being mindful is also about more than being careful — it’s equally about knowing just how far you can go. Gently holding a baby can represent mindfulness of the baby’s vulnerabilities, but being mindful can also be represented in knowing exactly how to handle a baby. The power of being mindful only grows when it’s taken outside its normal, careful, even apprehensive definition.
From this chair, writing and recording is the ultimate result of mindfulness. Scratching out the finest details of any given memory requires the initial forethought to be aware of your surroundings and the wise afterthought of putting the specifics into words. Putting words to a memory, in many ways, makes that memory tangible.
Tammy Stone says it better than I ever could over at The Tattooed Buddha:
Even as we wax nostalgic or panic about upcoming events, we are pausing and carving out the time, here and now, to explore these feelings. The act of writing keeps us tethered to the present and allows us to take a step back from what preoccupies us as we become acutely aware of our selves as witness or agent of the memories, worries, desires or concerns we experience. To worry is to be lost in the chaos of an emotion. To know or articulate that I’m worried is one step removed — I am aware, I have the choice of breaking it down and taking action. Or maybe there’s no solution, but still I write until the feeling’s intensity subsides; I hold a space for the emotion so it can weaken its grasp on me, as all things do when confronted with our gentle attention. Journaling and meditation both allow for this very healing ability to show our selves love, to observe and hold space for our emotions.
If being mindful is about recognizing and absorbing your current surroundings, and if writing requires putting concrete words to emotions, then drawing on your memories and writing out your emotions in a journal becomes the penultimate form of mindfulness.
The power of this is in its application: Keeping a journal can paint a mindful brush over any facet of your life.
- Maintaining a transcript of each conversation with your spouse may be overboard, but listening with the intention of learning and capturing their current reasoning, their current emotion, and the current context behind your spouse’s thoughts will foster a greater love and respect.
- Analyzing a major financial decision and recognizing how those people already in your life can help you or how they will be affected by your decision can be organized in a journal. After the decision has been made, reviewing who and how people were impacted will help you make stronger decisions in the future.
- Being mindful of your own personal health (both mentally and physically) begins with a recognition of how you feel right now and a plan to recover and rejuvenate. Once you’ve recovered, revisiting your journal can help you combat the next time your body feels off-kilter.
Admittedly, there is a small lag time between “being in the now” and “recording what you experienced” — it’s impossible to be mindful of the present while recording it at the exact same time. Who can forget the reality of a photo like this:
Being mindful and keeping a journal isn’t an exact science, but it’s possible to cut the lag time between “now” and “recording” by keeping a journal on you at all times — either a pen and paper or a digital journal. I’d be remiss to only promote Day One for keeping a mindful journal — it’s entirely possible to keep a pen and a small memo book on your person to physically write a journal entry.
In fact, physical pen and paper may be a superior tool for being mindful in your journal. Absorbing the here and now can be easily distracted with the capabilities of snapping photos, shooting video, and typing out immediate thoughts. Going for a meditative walk, utilizing and reflecting on each of the five senses, and finding a picnic table or park bench to sit down and write will likely offer more mindful benefits than going for the same walk and snapping photos along the way. While the camera in your smartphone is the best camera period, it works against the need for you to use your memory.
However, finding a place to write with pen and paper isn’t always possible. This is where Day One steps in. As an example, practice using Jaclyn Desforges’ guide to How to Become More Mindful Using Nothing But a Journal (with a few modifications, of course):
1. Go for a long, mindful walk.
Take 15 minutes and walk around the block or walk through the park. Leave your phone in your pocket and make sure it’s silent. And just walk. Absorb. Soak everything in. Use each of your senses and make mental notes. Just walk and be aware of your thoughts, feelings, emotions, and surroundings.
2. Draw on your memories.
Maybe your 15 minute walk turned into a half hour or hour long walk. Whenever your senses snaps out of their mindful state, grab your phone. Snap a photo — any photo — of the here and now. Save it to your camera roll and forget about it until later.
When “later” arrives, pull up that photo and add it into an entry in Day One. I use this photo as a memory springboard; with the iPhone’s “Live Photo” feature, you can even listen to the sounds of the photo and view a three-second video of your surroundings at the moment of the photo.
From here, use the photo to jog your memory and write. Write down the specifics of the scene. Answer the who, what, where, when, why, and how questions. Note your emotions and feelings during that 15 minute mindful walk. And also note how you’re feeling now.
3. Get into the habit. (Or, in my words, “apply and reflect.”)
Making that mindful walk a habit is the key to experiencing and learning from the power of mindfulness. Both figuratively and literally.
Apply this mindful walk exercise in every situation possible. Whenever you’re faced with a new decision, sit down and be alone with your thoughts surrounding the decision. If you’re in an impactful conversation, listen to learn and reflect on the conversation later. Be in the “now” right now, and record and reflect on the “now” later.
Most importantly, do this regularly. Give yourself a few minutes before bed to write down and reflect upon the day’s events. Being mindful and organized has a wide range of benefits, with sleep being a major benefactor.
Wrap Up
To state that hope is lost for all the people shooting photos in the moment in the photo above isn’t entirely fair. The elderly lady in the front row without a phone isn’t practicing the answer to all of our world’s problems simply because she doesn’t have a phone.
But the lesson to be taken away from the photo is the reality of cognitive distraction. Being mindful, aware, observant, and cognizant of the “now” fights against the urge to be somewhere else. Undoubtedly, the phone is our window into the world of “somewhere else”.
It doesn’t have to be, though. When used correctly, the phone can act as a gateway back into that moment and can help materialize your memories of that moment. The phone can jog your memory and provide a canvas to create tangible, concrete memories. And afterwards, it can help to quickly bring up a concrete memory and ensure you make informed, mindful, and well-thought-out decisions.
Be present. Be now.
Record later. Reflect later.
