The power of journaling

Last summer I took an awesome course called Inspired Living, taught by my wise and inspiring yoga teacher, Sylvie Gouin. The course and its accompanying text, Inspired Living: A Guided Yoga Journal, are about applying yoga principles to the practice of journaling for spiritual self-study, introspection, and intuitive guidance.

Since taking the course, I have established a (for the most part) daily journaling practice and I’m finding it to be tremendously beneficial on so many levels. It’s like having your own personal therapist, except that it’s free, there are no hour-long appointments to fit into your schedule, and you are both the therapist and the client! You can work through almost any issue, problem, or question in your life by writing in your journal and reviewing your writings regularly. You’d be amazed at how much wisdom you already have but weren’t aware of!

Lately I’ve been journaling about anger, an emotion that has surfaced for me as a result of a recent situation in my life. I have been struggling with dealing with my anger in a healthy way as I do not want it to consume my energy. I have learned through my yoga training that what I focus on grows, and I’m really not interested in cultivating anger!

Just as I was struggling with this, I happened to come to a passage on anger in the book that I’m reading, Paths to God: Living the Bhagavad-Gita, by Ram Dass. In the book, he recommends that if you are angry at someone, really look at what you are angry about. Likely, you’ll find that you are angry because the person you’re angry with did not behave the way you expected him/her to behave. After reading this, I decided to journal about my anger and examine the source of it. Sure enough, I realized that I was angry because the expectations I was imposing on this person were not being met. As I wrote, it became clear that I was angry at this person for not going along with my idea of how life is supposed to be. The futility of this mind-set really struck me. My path is my path, and your path is your path, and I only have control over how I choose to live my life, not yours. How can I be angry at someone who is just living his/her own life the only way he/she knows how?

Out of this realization came compassion as I began to look at the person in a different way. I also realized that holding onto anger towards this person is not serving me or the other person or anyone else in my life. Being angry in this situation won’t really change anything; it will only suck up my energy and prevent me from focusing on more important things in my life.

I’m not saying that the anger and judgment are completely gone; I still have moments when these feelings come up. But I'm no longer consumed by them. Journaling gives me a constructive outlet for examining anger and other emotions, issues, or questions that arise in my life. It’s amazing how just 5 or 10 minutes of reflective writing can bring so much clarity and initiate shifts in my thoughts and responses! But as my wise yoga teacher likes to say, don’t take my word for it; try it out for yourself!

Inspired Living: A Guided Yoga Journal is now on sale at amazon.com.