Final Journal Reflection

      In 2 months, I wrote 40 entries in the journal. I don’t think of it as my diary, more of a thought container. For ten minutes a day, 5 days a week I wrote down any thoughts that came to my mind. I was given 6 rules to follow:

- Keep your hand moving

- Don’t cross out

- Don’t worry about spelling or grammar

- Lose control

- Don’t think (don’t get logical)

- Go for the jugular

Right off the bat, I noticed I was writing down something like a conversation. I think this seemed like talking with my inner self. Going over the journal again, it is clear I followed this pattern until the second-to-last entry. The first few entries were the hardest, each covering over a page and a half of ink. I gave myself an extra minute (starting at 11 minutes every entry) to compensate for the pauses I had while writing. I believe that was a good idea, even though I regretted it each time when my hand started twitching at around five minutes.  After several weeks, the thought: “Oh, I wrote about that…” was beginning to feel commonplace. The guidelines I was supposed to follow helped give meaning to each entry. Some of these rules, especially the last two, kept getting harder to follow as I continued to pour my thoughts into the pages week after week. All in all, I enjoyed this experience mainly because I think it helped steer my internal journey in a positive way. For example, I believe it allowed me to clear up some doubts I had been carrying for years and granted me the possibility of understanding my personality on a deeper level.