10 types of spiritual journals
Is there anything better than sitting down with a clean, crisp, fresh notebook and pen?
While staring at a blank page can be daunting, I like to focus on the possibilities which may emerge when the ink scrawls across the fibrous pages before me (although, more recently, I have switched to digital journaling).
I’ve often said, and will continue to say, that journaling was single-handedly one of the best things I did to build my intuition —but it was actually a combination of different types of journaling practices that strengthened my intuition and psychic abilities. Plus, journaling is a great way to keep the mind clear and process emotions.
Here are 10 types of spiritual journals I've kept:
Automatic writing. Pages and pages of my personal journals are dedicated to automatic writing. This is a technique where you can ask a question of your Spiritual Support Team (spirit guides, angels or higher self,) then have their answer channeled through you and on to the page. With practice, this type of journalling can reveal to you great insights about your life, path, and lessons as they are occurring, or before. Check out this post on how to try automatic writing.
Intuitive reflection. Recording all your hunches, feelings and suspicions about what's happening in your life is a great way to build confidence. Make sure you date them and include what's happening and how you feel about it, so you can 'measure' your progress. Dot points work fine.
Personal growth and development. After journaling as a child (typically recording things like “My new friend said this...” or “Today I played at so-and-so's house”), I put it aside for many years, and only returned to it in 2001 after my aunt passed away. Journaling became a form of therapy for me, a way of processing not only my grief but the first major introductions I had to mediumship after she passed.
Simple free form writing, being unashamedly open with your thoughts and feelings is a very cathartic process. Author Julia Cameron suggests Morning Pages in her best-selling book, The Artists Way, which is a similar way of processing the mind clutter to clear the cognitive decks.
Dream journaling. When I remember my dreams, I record them in my journal (another reason I included a dream journal in my Head & Heart Digital Planner and Journal). Jot down as much detail as possible, even if you don’t remember the detail of the dream, but just a feeling upon waking. Just the simple act of writing that down can jog your memory.
Of course, when you can recall the themes and symbols of the dream, you can record far more detail (and may need more time!). But this practice gets really interesting when you also record the symbols’ meaning and/or your interpretations of their meanings. I like to use the website dreammoods for intrepreting my dreams. While this can lead to immediate insight into what's occurring in my life in real time, upon later reflection, many of these dreams have also been predictive. I would have forgotten if it wasn't jotted down.
Head & Heart Digital Planner and Journal
Plan your days with head and heart
5. Creative writing. Surprisingly, many little ditties and poems have formed in the pages of my journals, with many observations and channeled messages since going to print in my books.
To stoke the creative juices, you can use beautiful and inspiring pictures as inspiration for some creative writing, then allow the pages to fill with short stories, imaginative make-believe lives for the people/places in the images you’re drawn to. Sites like Pinterest and Instagram are great for choosing pics to work from.
Instead of images, you can also try journal prompts. The world of spirit is forever giving my journal prompts, which I have often shared in my programs, on the podcast and in the Head & Heart Digital Planner and Journal.
6. Gratitude journal. I first took this up not long after my aunt died. At that low period in my life, focusing my thoughts to gratitude helped significantly. I challenged myself to write just five dot points each day into the journal, listing down five simple things I was grateful for. Before long, I spent my day looking for things to be grateful for, so I would have plenty for that night's entry. My mindset changed dramatically.
Again, I include a gratitude journal in the Head & Heart Digital Planner so you can also keep all your reflections together, but you could also keep a note or list on your phone, too.
7. Intentions, goals, and affirmations. Writing down your goals is powerful in itself, but coupling this with setting the energy or intention behind those goals, and creating positive affirmations to manifest the change is a powerful practice. Repeating affirmations often is vital – I often rewrite the affirmations, over and over, for effect. I will repeat the affirmation or intention on each page of my day planner, but also as part of my daily guidance practice, keeping my intentions top of mind (and heart).
8. Family/relationships. My relationships and friendships have naturally turned up in my journals in some form or another. In particular, I dedicated time and practice to recording my thoughts, feelings, and insights into pregnancy and motherhood while I was pregnant with my girls. It’s been interesting to see how my fears, feelings and even messages from spirit have unfolded over the years.
Of course, you can do this for any kind of relationship. Many people keep scrapbooks of their baby's milestones, which I actually didn't, but it is a beautiful keepsake later I'm sure.
9. Visual/creative. In high school art class we had to keep a visual diary and although I don't consider myself highly artistic, I did always love this 'homework'. Visual or creative diaries come up a lot in readings – I'm often recommending to more artistic folk to keep swatches, postcards, fabrics, and textures collated in some kind of visual binder.
I guess you could approach this digitally, and I have included a digital vision board in the Head & Heart Digital Planner and Journal, but on this one, I don’t think anything beats the physicality of craft supplies (perhaps just not the mess!).
10. Meditation. No matter the kind of meditation, there is always something to gain from it. Jotting down your impressions after meditation is useful for growth. For me, this often includes some form of energetic release or clearing, or some clairvoyant image being revealed. Recording these can bring a whole host of information worth keeping.
What kinds of journals have you kept? Do you still journal, and is your practice different today from when you first began?
