Six Reasons Why I Keep a Journal
Mindy Caliguire
5 min read ⭑
Keeping a journal is an invitation to reflection. It will help you pay careful attention to your journey. It slows your mind down to the speed of your handwriting, giving you space to ask yourself and God the deeper questions.
But honestly, who really keeps journals?
With all due respect to preteen girls with diaries about their crushes, journals offer far more depth and possibility than we often imagine. Some of the most diligent journal-keepers have been explorers, like Marco Polo and Lewis and Clark. Much of the material in Julian Sancton’s book “Mad at the End of Earth” comes from the journals of those on board the Belgica, which sailed farther into the Antarctic than any ship had ever gone before. Scientists keep journals of their experiments and findings to track what they have learned along the way. The New England Journal of Medicine and other scientific journals publish significant research. Today, we keep pregnancy journals, scrapbooks, photo albums (even the photo albums on our phones) as ways of marking the key moments in our lives.
But what role does all this remembering, all this recording of a journey, have to do with ongoing spiritual development?
Like explorers, we are entering uncharted territory: the future. And because our lives really do matter, because our observations and discoveries have value, we would be wise to record our experiences, ideas and prayers.
Writing helps us examine the course of our lives — past, present and future. Like explorers and scientists, we engage in the process of recording observations, reflecting on new understandings and considering next steps as we face our own uncharted territory of the future.
Taking time to write reflectively in a journal can also help us see the truth of our own stories in a way we cannot while we’re living them. Allison Fallon, in her book “The Power of Writing It Down,” says, “Writing helps us step outside of our stories and see them differently. It helps us reclaim our stories for ourselves again.”
I can’t imagine what my life would be like if I didn’t have this outlet. I don’t know how people keep going if they don’t take the time to write about their lives, their hurts, their victories and their pain. It’s so important that we say (or write), “This is hard. I don’t know where to go. I’m afraid. This is bigger than me. My life feels like it’s falling apart. I don’t see any way forward.” And also “I’m so grateful. This is such a blessing. I have renewed hope. I have fresh energy.”
A journal can be the place where we, like the psalmist, pour out both gratitude and desolation. When we are facing grief, journaling gives us a daily outlet to address the pain in our lives and helps us avoid living in denial. If we don’t voice our concerns, we can begin to believe the lies that we will be stuck in these places of desolation, these habits, these addictions, for the rest of our lives. And reflecting on the beautiful and good reminds us that blessings and hardship often coexist, and it’s important to pay attention to both.
My early journaling efforts began in the form of prayers. I would simply write whatever it was that I wanted to say to God — a lot of requests, a lot of intercession for others, a lot of gratitude and a lot of seeking. Nearly any kind of reflection or observation can be valuable! It’s almost impossible to fail at journaling.
But in hindsight, I’ve noticed what can be the biggest mistake in journaling: not being honest. And there are plenty of reasons we might not be honest in our personal writing! What if someone finds the journal and reads it? Or what if I write the truth and come face-to-face with thoughts or feelings I’ve been trying to hide, even from myself?
I distinctly recall starting to write about something I was afraid of. I was taking a brave step and facing something head-on, writing it all out in my journal. I got about halfway through what I wanted to write, stopped, and crossed it all out. Then I started writing Bible verses in the journal instead. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear (1 John 4:18). I was trying to negate the very real fear I was feeling, to cover it up with Band-Aid Bible verses.
I think God would have loved to have met me in my fear, to speak love to me in that circumstance, possibly to address the situation itself with guidance or perspective or reassurance. Instead, I talked myself out of it, pretending I wasn’t feeling it, and shamed the part of me that felt afraid. But we cannot so easily bury fear. And our fears must be faced if they’re going to be meaningfully met by God.
Journaling requires honesty — with God and with yourself. And honesty requires paying attention. Eventually, I learned to push into a more honest self-reflection. These days, journaling is still a practice I return to nearly daily (but without any judgment about frequency). Usually, when I write, I’m sitting on my couch at home or in a chair in my hotel room or out in the Dream Shed at Whisper Ranch, praying and writing about what happened the day before, what concerns I have for the day or days ahead and the requests I have for the people and issues I’m holding before God. Multiple cups of coffee are usually involved. The practice grounds me even when my surroundings are changing and helps me truly pay attention to my life and to where God is at work in and around me.
Occasionally, I’ll return to what I’ve written in the past, curious to look back at something I dreamed about or an event that happened or revisit a time when I felt God’s presence in a powerful way.
Journaling keeps me from living a disembodied life where I’m going through the motions without thinking about how my actions and thoughts, my hopes and discouragements, are impacting my life and the lives of those around me.
If we do not develop our ability to pause, reflect and consider the bigger picture of our choices, our behavior and our lives, we lose out on a key dimension of authentic influence. Our leadership will reach a point where it can no longer grow.
Journaling is an invitation to reflection. In the practice of writing honestly before God, we find ourselves in an open, nonjudgmental place where true healing can take place.
Mindy Caliguire is the co-founder and president of Soul Care. In the past has served in executive leadership at Gloo and the Willow Creek Association (now Global Leadership Network). She speaks and advises into organizations including Compassion International, ECFA, National Christian Foundation and many churches and ministries across the US and beyond. Mindy’s books include Discovering Soul Care, Spiritual Friendship, STIR and Ignite Your Soul.
Taken from Ignite Your Soul: When Exhaustion, Isolation, and Burnout Light a Path to Flourishing by Mindy Caliguire. Copyright © 2024. Used by permission of NavPress, represented by Tyndale House Ministries