Pick Up a Pen and Write!

Mindful Journaling

“Journaling is the new paper therapy. Life changing!”

“inexpensive, accessible, fun, and easily self-managed.”

Things change, life happens, and it can happen way too fast due to stress or natural disasters or responsibilities. And we're busy. Sometimes we don’t take the time to stop and reflect, to deal with loss, to revive our dreams, or to set new goals. What happened to that creative spark within? Who am I now in this very moment, and why am I here? And why am I stuck in more ways than one?

Journaling puts us mindfully into the moment. Time stops when we pick up a pen to re-discover ourselves, solve problems, deal with loss, and find purpose in life. Keeping a journal can be a record of our progress and a way to reach our creative potential. In writing, the next word, sentence or prompt, we just might  escape the inner critic and tap into our wild imagination. It's important in learning. Psychologists, writers, poets, and artists often journal. So do filmmakers, authors, scientists, and actors. Philosophers, designers, doctors, educators, inventors, and  playwrights find journaling beneficial. And therapists claim putting pen to paper helps increase their productivity. 

And that creative productivity is the basis of all advanced learning.

So why not pick up a pen and write? No judgment, no grades, no one sitting on your shoulder criticizing your meager attempts. Simply write. Write your thoughts, however they come, haphazard, in fragments, with no sense at all.  Write your daily schedule. Write about your creative blocks. Write about who you are and how you got your name. Write out your complaints, your issues, and your regrets. Rant and rave. No one will read it. You're simply practicing the art form that leads to all learning and all excellent writing, simply moving the pen across the page. 

Keeping a journal can help you:
• Clarify your thoughts and feelings
• Get to know yourself better
• Reduce stress
• Resolve disagreements with others
• Solve problems more effectively

"You should aspire to write every day, but you have to give yourself permission to not write if it isn’t productive or sustainable for you sometimes. Not writing every day doesn’t mean you don’t have passion." – Jeff Somers 

You'll be in excellent company, if you decide to write in a journal. Charles Darwin, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison and Frida Kahlo kept journals that  served two purposes: a permanent record for posterity and a cathartic release.

Journaling is similar to an artist digging up the wet clay and playing with it awhile before the sculpture begins. 

Journaling leads to deeper more creative thinking, and the very act of putting pen to paper will help you be a better student, a better writer, and definitely a better person. 

Using a cross section of proven techniques from renowned experts, MaryAnn Easley, award-winning educator and author ofInto the Light, Journaling for Optimal Change facilitates mindful journaling workshops in homes, libraries, churches, schools, and community centers throughout Orange County. 

“MaryAnn Easley is a deeply compassionate, earnest, giving being. My life has been enriched through just taking her writing courses. I consider her an exceptional person with so much to teach and share, which she does so generously and enthusiastically. It is simply an honor coming into her world.”- Paula Robertson

References: OC Public Library, San Clemente; Capistrano Adult Education; Sea Country Senior & Community Center, Laguna Niguel; Casa Romantica, San Clemente.

For information, call/text 949-285-3831.