Feel free to use these exercises in your own personal journal writing. You may choose to cut and paste them into your own Word document for a computer archive or print out one of these pages and keep them in your journal.

ometimes you just know something is brewing inside; shifting, growing, changing. You don’t feel quite yourself. It helps to identify what’s going on. Clarify your feelings by doing some writing.

Creative Change
by Sue Meyn

Have you ever found yourself creating a goal and building a dream about how it would be when you got "there? So many times I have had an image of how it would be "when" I accomplished something and then have been disappointed when I actually got "there". The experience didn't measure up to the dream. All that happens is that I then establish another "there" to go toward. It can be a frustrating cycle.

What I have learned, over and over again, is that it isn't "there" that is important. We all know this intellectually. It's not the destination but the journey that is important. What we need to be aware of and tend to is the PRESENT. Everything happens HERE not "there".

With that in mind, I want to suggest a journal writing exercise for you that brings you into the present. You can ask yourself, "What are the things that are pulling me away from being focused in the here and now? What IS going on now?" Notice even the smallest things that may be going on—a conversation by others in the distance, a fire engine going by, a cold cup of coffee that sits near you sending off rancid smells--begging to be dumped out. Just check it out. This is what life is all about. Our power is in the present.

Hope you enjoy your 10 or 15 minutes of writing about what's going on HERE, not "there".

Who Am I NOW?
by Sue Meyn

Heres my creative writing idea for today. Its related to my recent birthday and the awareness that I feel a sense of new life, new opportunity and perhaps a freedom from old baggage. So, my idea is to write about ourselves based on who we are NOW. Imagine using "memory eraser" and having no history! You are starting fresh---as though you are new this morning--- and have the freedom to create your identity and your future based on how you see and know yourself now.

Consider these questions:

What words describe what you think of as most important in your life?

(love, work, relationships, giving, technology, nature, spirit? Other words?)

What are your gifts? What makes you, you? Make a long list of those attributes.

How does knowing that you have complete freedom help you to move ahead in your life?

With no baggage, no obstacles, what can you now achieve?

As you are free from anger, resentments and losses, how can you use that freed up energy?

What is good about this life? What is less than desirable?

Okay, now pull these thoughts together. You can use this outline if you want or just take off on your own.

Today I woke up, knowing that I am a person who values

____________________________________________________________________

I have many gifts that I can use to support those values. My gifts are

____________________________________________________________________

With absolute freedom available to me, I can achieve many things that I hold dear to me, such as

____________________________________________________________________

The difference that I experience in having no obstacles is that now I can

____________________________________________________________________

I am totally free to spend my energy in positive ways and feel no resistance or holding back in regard to people or situations I encounter. This offers me the opportunity to

____________________________________________________________________

This personal identity and the awareness of life without resistance gives me new insight into my life and the choices that are open to me. I’m going to institute one of these ideas into my life by:

____________________________________________________________________

Heaven in a Pen
by Sue Meyn

To be creative is to have a moment in heaven. It is an expansive happening that any of us can enjoy. All we need is a little time and a willingness to commit to our own growth and development. There are many different avenues to proceed upon in this pursuit of the creative. Some like to cook, some arrange flowers, others paint or do carpentry, or sing, or dance. My favorite path to creativity is through writing.

I always enjoyed writing as I went through schoolall those years. Actually I didnt know, then, that I really liked writing, but I knew that I liked expressing myself. Such a feeling of accomplishment when the right combination of words would come together! And years later I began to write in my journal, then I clearly began to have fun!

The best part of journaling is that there are NO RULES. What a treat. Besides that, I can say whatever I want to say to whomever I want to say itand if I dont want to say whom I dont have to do that either. Talk about power! Within my journal I can create whatever kind of environment I choose. And I do use it as a place to dream, to brainstorm, to put ideas into form, as well as a place to vent, dump and rehearse. And quite often I find myself feeling gratitude, compassion and forgiveness. I do become a better person in my journal.

And now I would like to cordially invite each of you to spend 51015 minutes a week joining me in a journal writing exercise. Ill set it up with suggestions and guidelines and then give you full freedom to go for it! You may jump in with both feet or tiptoe discreetly into your journal pages. Explore!!!

With your paper and pen in front of you and distractions cleared away, write My Very Own Magic at the top of your page. Then take a moment to close your eyes, breathing in permission to be yourself and exhaling all the requirements that everyone else has of you. Enjoy the simplicity of breathing in and breathing out. Imagine that you have magic within you how does it show up and what do you do with it? Set your timer for five minutes and create!!!

What's Your Personality "Type"?
by Sue Meyn

I don't know how many of you have taken the Myers-Briggs Personality Inventory...or the Strong Interest Inventory, or the World of Work Inventory or, the lesser known but fun, "Kindomality" personality test. Each of these instruments give us the opportunity to give us more information about who we are. Tests are interesting in that they become a written representation of what's going on within us---just as a journal does, but our journals are much more subjective, of course. What is it we are trying to learn by taking a test? Who we really are? What our gifts are? What we need to work on? Lots of those answers can be found in our journals, too.

I picked up my JournalCards for some hints of where to go and found myself attracted to the card, "authentic". That card asks what would happen if we dropped all pretense? How would your life be different? That's similar to what the tests are after---who are you, really?

I want to suggest that you create your own personality inventory. Begin with a cluster with the word "authentic" in the center. Circle it and allow yourself to brainstorm all those characteristics that you have that represent your authentic self. Be sure to consider your shadow side as well as the sunny one!

Once that is done, take a nice deep breath and then create another cluster, this time focusing on the obstacles that keep you from being more authentic. Write down each thought that pops up, censoring nothing.

Now, just imagine that with your "journal magic" you can disperse those obstacles and move beyond them. Imagine yourself one year from today, free of obstacles and true to your authentic and essential self. What is your life like?

Hey, I hope you enjoy this little series of exercises. It can be very empowering to dig in a little deeper to who you really are and you don't even need a "test"!

back to journaling exercises...

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