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Tonight’s lesson is on how things we read, hear, watch, etc. can be a jump start for our journaling. This happens lots when I read my Bible. In the journaling class at the prison, the ladies love quotes. Every week I pass out quotes and these quotes serve as our ice breaker and the ladies tell how much they love getting them and how they help get them started on something to write about. The purpose of the journal entry I’m sharing tonight is to illustrate the principle that anything can be the impetus to get you writing; anything you read or hear or see can be a prompt in your journaling. Every thought can be a place to dive in and start thinking in writing. Watching a movie, a line may resonate and lead to a journal entry, a line from a song, a book - anything can be... Read more →

As I've mentioned, I'm leading a "Healing Through Journaling" course at the prison. Tonight's lesson is intended to reveal how we gain insight as we write, as we journal. I end each class with a piece from my own journals. This one illustrates quite well, I think, how I gained new insight and understanding as I wrote it. Not the cheeriest piece, consider yourself warned. I've been crying for hours now having reread it for the first time since 2006. I wrote this in February 2006. The event itself happened in April 1993, thirteen years prior to me writing this. Yes indeed, I gain insight from journaling. Booper We got Booper on October 31, 1992. Oh how cute she was – a full-blood Boxer, but without the papers. It was Halloween night and we had a party at church. Stephanie was Pharoah’s daughter all dolled up in costume jewelry and... Read more →