Day 7

A Week Into the Journey

I'm into journaling. I was a kid who kept a diary who became a teen introduced to varied journaling practices in creative writing classes who became an adult with an occasional journal practice. At Still Point where I practice, there is a journaling tradition in the Dharma Student training program (a path to ordination). Still Point founder and previous guiding teacher Geri Larkin wrote a little about it in one of the essays published in The Still Point Dhammapada, pg. 29:

So we have journals at Still Point. And we write in them when our yearning for spiritual growth outweighs our resistance to writing. Always, watching our minds and noting our patterns, we are helped. Not happy each minute, maybe, but definitely more sane.

Keeping a journal can be a wonderful way to bring awareness to and reflect on the hills and valleys and plateaus of life. Each Saturday as we proceed through this journey, I will post a list of questions for weekly reflection. The questions are an invitation to consider where you are and to mark what you are doing and how you are doing it.

Writing makes a map, and there’s something about a journey that begs to have its passage marked

Marking passage is an ordinary process. The journey is already ongoing; it’s simply a matter of acknowledging it. And the journal is an adaptable practice that can absorb as much or as little attention as you apply to it. It will fluctuate cheerfully, without complaints. The journal takes you and your journey as you are.

- Christina Baldwin in Life’s Companion: Journal Writing as a Spiritual Quest, pg. 5

Like everything else, how you do this (or whether you do this) is an optional supplement to your daily meditation practice. You are welcome to take the questions offline for personal reflection, or to come back and share your responses (all or in part) with the group.

108 Days Weekly Reflection

1. This week, I completed a daily practice period: 

   _____ Every day
   _____ More often than I did the week before
   _____ Once or twice
   _____ Not at all

2. As I participate in this 108 day journey, I am noticing:
3. If I had to use one word to describe my feelings or my approach to practice this past week, it would be __________________. If I could say more, I would say:
4. Particular challenges this week:
5. In support of my practice next week, I will:
6. I would like to learn more about:

A printer-friendly version is offered for offline use.