On Journaling
Find a systematic way to record first thoughts, whether in a handwritten journal (my favorite because I can keep it with me and love the feel of the cover, its binding, the sensation of flipping through its pages and finding my place), or with the more sophisticated technology of an Ipad or computer, something handy enough that you can document insights. Post-its are nice too for attaching to appropriate sections of either your journal or book at hand.
Date each entry as you write. If writing by hand, write only the right side of your open journal, saving the left for reflection. If you are writing electronically, you will be able to insert reflections, dating entries to track the recursiveness of your thinking.
You are writing for discovery, in response to various incidents that provoke thinking about (in)civility, as you see it unfold in your life. Ruminate on first impressions. Get at what rattles your sense of presence and keeps you from realizing your Full Humanity.
A process called freewriting calls for you to start writing, keep writing, and follow your ideas where they take you. As you write, you will likely find a center of gravity around which your thinking coalesces. Follow that central idea to push yourself to new thinking. The point here is not to hesitate or stop writing because you think that what you are writing is not good enough nor to the point. Trust your instinct that if a thought comes to mind, it is worth writing down.
Your honesty will be evocative. It may bring hidden memories into consciousness that yield insight and angst. You may get to the heart of a story or experience, the visceral response that the emotional connection gives rise to, or the reactivity of love or hate, prejudice or acceptance, and so on.
In your search for your own Full Humanity, you will want to explore your intelligences, abilities, and ways of being to get at your “felt sense,” the essence of your civility within. You are bringing into consciousness what you may have taken for granted, covered over, left unrealized, or suppressed. You are writing your civility story.
We are reclaiming civility, and we know that (in)civility operates where we are, in the moments of our lives. Capture those moments, and their fallout and joy, in your journal. Julia Cameron, in her groundbreaking The Artist’s Way, asks readers to write morning notes, of three pages. Both the routine and the amount of writing allow them to push past platitudes and get to insight. I suggest you follow these guidelines.
Date each entry as you write. If writing by hand, write only the right side of your open journal, saving the left for reflection. If you are writing electronically, you will be able to insert reflections, dating entries to track the recursiveness of your thinking.
You are writing for discovery, in response to various incidents that provoke thinking about (in)civility, as you see it unfold in your life. Ruminate on first impressions. Get at what rattles your sense of presence and keeps you from realizing your Full Humanity.
A process called freewriting calls for you to start writing, keep writing, and follow your ideas where they take you. As you write, you will likely find a center of gravity around which your thinking coalesces. Follow that central idea to push yourself to new thinking. The point here is not to hesitate or stop writing because you think that what you are writing is not good enough nor to the point. Trust your instinct that if a thought comes to mind, it is worth writing down.
Your honesty will be evocative. It may bring hidden memories into consciousness that yield insight and angst. You may get to the heart of a story or experience, the visceral response that the emotional connection gives rise to, or the reactivity of love or hate, prejudice or acceptance, and so on.
In your search for your own Full Humanity, you will want to explore your intelligences, abilities, and ways of being to get at your “felt sense,” the essence of your civility within. You are bringing into consciousness what you may have taken for granted, covered over, left unrealized, or suppressed. You are writing your civility story.
We are reclaiming civility, and we know that (in)civility operates where we are, in the moments of our lives. Capture those moments, and their fallout and joy, in your journal. Julia Cameron, in her groundbreaking The Artist’s Way, asks readers to write morning notes, of three pages. Both the routine and the amount of writing allow them to push past platitudes and get to insight. I suggest you follow these guidelines.