Reflection of my Inner Journey

Sunday. April 6. 2014

     “In a journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself. The journal is a vehicle for my sense of selfhood. It represents me as emotionally and spiritually independent. Therefore (alas) it does not simply record my actual, daily life but rather — in many cases — offers an alternative to it.”- Susan Sontag

      During my second semester in the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras campus, in my English Literature course, Journey Literature, the professor assigned to each student to elaborate or make two types f journeys: the internal and the eternal journey.The inner journal we wrote and reflected about our thoughts, goals and feelings. The assignment consisted of writing (everyday) in a journal notebook our first thoughts for 10 minutes. Then, we had to do a compass about how we felt during that day spiritually, mentally, emotionally and physically and reflect on our writing process. This type of exercise that our professor assigned was based on 6 rules of the “First Thoughts” from the book: Writing Down the Bones by Natalie Goldberg. Before, starting writing down in my journal I first had to reflect or think clearly in the following 6 rules:    

1.) Keep your hand writing     

2.) Don’t cross out

3.) Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation and grammar

 4.) Lose control

 5.) Don’t think and don’t get logical 

6.) Go for the jugular.  

      

      When I started doing the inner journal I thought it was going to be arduous to express myself and my inner thoughts by using this writing method. Definitely, at first it was hard for me to follow these rules, but then with the writing practice I had notice the differences and the changes in this process. While I reviewed my 42 entries and 28 compasses, I notice that in my first time writing in my journal I experiences many factors, such as: many things were going through my mind, that I didn’t know what to write about. Also sometimes while I was writing I stopped to correct the misspelled word. Overall, in all the aspects I wasn’t feeling well with myself. But, throughout the daily practice I had learned and developed new vocabularies and form of writing.

       However, most of my entries of the inner journey were about my travel experiences, what I did during the day, the importance of writing, my experiences when I was a little child, opinions of the courses I am matriculated in, etc. . Basically everything was about my personal life  and what was going on around it. One of my significant and valuable entries that helped me be more connected with my feelings was when I wrote about my first trip to Spain. I wrote about this topic in my journal because I found that it had been one of my great and unforgettable experiences in my life. While writing about my trip to Spain, I was remembering about all the places I visited and all the kindly people I met back then. Writing all this took me five pages. At that time, somehow, I felt very inspired and connected with my own thoughts. During this writing process, I also visualized and countless of changes in my writing skills. Specifically, I increased the amount of writing, and also I lose control of it. Nevertheless, not only this process helped me to improve my writing, but also helped me to discover, as purpose, my true identity. 

      Throughout this process had helped me reflect on what’s going on within me. Writing in my journal is like carrying on a continuing conversation with myself. Through this I got more in touch with what I really believe and feel about what’s happening around me. It completely helped me to better know myself, my world, and my values. Throughout this practice I had learned writing things down on a journal helped me to clarify my thoughts and emotions in this regard. Reflect about about all the things had helped me to focus and actively participate in my development as an effective independent and critical learner. However, my journal will become a record of my progress throughout my study and will help me to discover the strategies and processes that work well for me. Writing itself is a way of learning and helps me to evaluate  and explore my own performance as a learner.

       

1.) http://www.writingforward.com/category/writing-prompts/journal-prompts

2.) https://www.pinterest.com/higherawarenes/awareness-quotes/

3.) http://www.paintingsilove.com/image/show/198087/insight