The Importance of Keeping Journal

I have always kept a diary or journal, I received my first diary as a Christmas gift when I was 7.  I still have it and I laugh at my little girl self.  She was a character with a flair for the dramatic.
I have been following Silver Ravenwolf's 31 day Great Release Program for the last two years, it's all about "out with the old and in with the new" with a spiritual twist written in.  I've enjoyed following it.  This past December I found a bin that contained my old journals and started thumbing through the pages.  There was one in particular that caught my attention and I wanted it share with you.  I wrote this on December 19, 2012:
I feel like a light bulb that has been turned on too many times and is now sputtering and dimming.  Covered in dirt and dead bugs, all the things I have done, things that have been done to me, all the lost time and mistakes.  If I give up I will be forever in darkness, still fluid and moving but never seeing the light again.  Life is a balance of dark and light I have lived and held on to the grey in between, never shining too brightly and always moving with the darkness.
Sounds like I was depressed..... I was...profoundly.  The why's and how's aren't important.  What is important is the ability to express the thoughts and feelings.  If you feel you have no one to talk too then a journal a great way to get out the emotions in a safe and healthy way.  It gives your mind the opportunity to process what is happening and find solutions.
My solution was to remember I have many things to be grateful for and hope is important to recovery of any kind.  My recovery was emotional, at that time it felt like everyday there was a new drama or trauma to contend with.  I felt like the universe hated me.  I kept writing and I kept meditating and I kept moving, yoga was my best friend.
Everyone will have a dark night of the soul but it doesn't have to define who you are.  Even though it may not always be apparent, someone somewhere loves you.  Live in gratitude, hope and faith.  Grab a journal and start writing, you may just amaze yourself.


Sheri