As people chat and share their stories, struggles and successes in their personal worlds online, they begin to open up.
They are opening energy lines where conversations can move and flow. If all goes well, people can even be influenced to care more about each other, and about the sustainable future of life on Earth.
Unfortunately, the online atmosphere can get a bit crazy. Sometimes it is misleading at best, other times downright unfriendly, inconsiderate and spiteful.
One remedy to protect yourself, is to spend as little time online as possible.
Remember, going offline is a conscious choice. It is yours alone to make. The more you do it, the easier it gets. Start with a digital detox morning – then work your way to taking an entire day offline, followed by an entire screen-free weekend, or a wholesome vacation without any device to distract you.
Keeping a journal…
Besides being a wonderful offline activity that is not only productive, but profoundly meaningful and useful, keeping a journal is a way to express our heartfelt energy through handwritten words, poetry, sketches, thoughts and dreams.
You may choose to keep a journal to create order where there is chaos. Or to record your personal adventure of life.
Writing down your thoughts and feelings may also help you to de-stress at the end of a long day. Lately, many of us are experiencing symptoms of pressure like never before in our lives.
Combine the tension of everyday life, with the excessive demands that humanity is putting on the planet and you are bound to have inexplicable feelings that arise.
All this talk about climate change, loss of our ecosystem as we know it and an altogether unknown future… It is reason enough for even the heartiest of souls to experience eco-anxiety.
Here is where journaling about our shared sustainable future can help you organize your thoughts as you rediscover your wise instincts. Perhaps they have been forgotten, though they are hiding deep inside of you.
Writing by hand is one way to give them life and set them free.
Here are our 6 most important reasons for keeping a journal:
Connect more deeply to your values, goals, emotions and relationships
There is plenty of talk about keeping a journal to manage your family-work-romantic relationships. Yet, when you delve a bit deeper, you will find that you are also supported by nature in a myriad of ways. In fact, our relationship with nature determines, in part, our happiness and health.
The best way to nurture your relationship with the Earth, is to spend time in nature. To strengthen the bond, writing about your experiences by the means of keeping a journal certainly ties everything together.
If you are being completely honest with yourself, write down the following questions on paper and answer to the best of your ability:
- Is my relationship with nature as good as it can get? Or do I have ways to go in honoring, loving and caring for the land and all creatures on it?
If you have goals of becoming a sustainable human, or simply one who chooses to live lighter on earth, a journal can help you prioritize your aspirations.
A journal will always guide you where you need to go.
Journal to reduce mental clutter
Cluttered spaces lead to cluttered minds.
Uncluttered spaces lead to uncluttered minds.
While becoming an eco-minimalist is one of the best ways to unclutter your home and your life, keeping a journal will help you unclutter and look after your brain.
Without all that brain fog, or blurry vision, you will be free to create from your heart. Meditation can help the mental clutter subside too.
Use them both to improve your awareness of why you are living in the here and now.
Improve your insight, wisdom and understanding of the world around you
Again, meditation will ground you. That is, if you have the patience and time it takes to make it work.
But, sometimes meditation doesn’t feel very productive, even if it is truly beneficial. It can be hard to stick with.
A journal, on the other hand, is something that can be picked up at any time of day, whenever and wherever you have time and space to relax and jot down your thoughts. It can be for one minute, or twenty, whatever you have time for.
As you keep track of your thoughts, you begin a dialogue with yourself.
Whatever wants to come out will be available for self-reflection.
In this way, you can better understand your emotions, reactions and sentiments towards the world at large. Understanding is the catalyst for positive change.
Track your sustainable development
You are either progressing, or you are stuck.
Stuck in the here and now, or left behind in the past.
And when you are feeling stuck, it can be hard to move forwards.
Yet, moving one step ahead at a time is what is required to get out of the mess we now leave behind.
When we take the time to keep a journal, we can see where we are stumbling and where we can improve in our worldly doings.
Journaling is also proof that we are changing over time: development. Our thoughts are growing, our intentions are increasing and our gratitude may even be thriving.
If you were ever curious how you got to where you were going (or attempting to go), you will find that keeping a journal, going back and rereading relevant parts, will help you discover why you are where you are.
Journal to find meaning in your life – and in nature
Personal growth is a buzzword nowadays. So is self-care.
Let’s just stick with the notion that nothing you ever write is a wasted word, nor is it wasted time. It is virtually impossible not to grow from your own thoughts and feelings, especially when they are written down.
If you have been seeking a powerful tool to find meaning in your life, to become a better, more positive person or simply to love life on earth more, journaling will set you off on the right path. Your written words are proof to your personal growth. Here is why writing by hand is so important.
Stay creative, curious and playful
Keeping a journal allows you to write down your thoughts and feelings in real time, on paper with just about anything that can make a mark.
Naturally, walnut ink is among one of the sustainable options for drawing and writing with.
Perhaps more essential, is that keeping a journal encourages you to be playful with your words. It allows you to express your creativity through sketching and hand lettering. A journal motivates you to be a better person.
And what the world needs right now, are people who show up and extend a little love to the Earth, each and every day.
Whether that be through the act of going plastic-free, eating organically, planting trees or just spending more time in nature to reestablish a bond to the land, we know you are out there.
Come and join us as we share our heartfelt thoughts and feelings of embracing a sustainable future through our uplifting project: Earth Gratitude Journal
