Saturday, June 23, 2012

Guest Blog: Journaling and Healing - Springboard to Bigger Things


Some have used journaling as a springboard to publishing, and even to entrepreneurial endeavors. Today’s Guest Blog Post writer is one such person. Tina Games, certified creativity and life purpose coach, and author of Journaling by the Moonlight: A Mother’s Path to Self-Discovery.

Here Tina explains how her journaling process led to healing, and from there to bigger things:


I believe that women are a significant part of the "ripple effect" - that will transform the world into a more compassionate, more nurturing place. Imagine for a moment a pebble thrown into a pond. It creates a ripple that goes on and on and on.

When a woman is living life with complete authenticity, she's subconsciously giving permission for those around her to do the same. When she's at her best, she's creating powerful change for her family, her community, and for the world at large. It's all part of "the ripple."

What "journaling by the moonlight" brought to me was an understanding that things do happen for a reason. It helped me discover that my life had a bigger meaning, a bigger purpose - and motherhood was only a part of it. By journal writing through a two-year depression (right after the birth of my first child), I began to discover the synchronicities in my life. I started exploring my life story - up until that point.

I'm a big believer that each and every one of us are living OUR life story - in whatever way that story needs to play out. And for many of us, this story involves lessons.

In order to learn OUR lessons, we must journey through the challenges. This is where we grow - emotionally, mentally, and spiritually. And along this journey of self-discovery, we gain a deeper understanding of who we really are.

As a Life Purpose Intuitive, I’m a lover of story. I genuinely love hearing women tell their life stories. Through their words, through their laughter, through their tears – I hear threads of meaning, threads of purpose. And I have a divine gift for weaving these threads together in a way that unveils a deeper meaning.


It’s this meaning that brings the “ah-ha” moments, the deep understanding, the desired clarity that leads to divinely-inspired actions. It’s this meaning that paves the way to choosing an authentic path of work. It’s this meaning that helps us make sense of the relationships in our lives. It’s this meaning that sparks the richness of living a life on purpose.


As we move through the ebb and flow in our lives, it's our intuition that guides the way. Intuition is our "divine channel of wisdom." It always knows best. And when we listen to it, we can't go wrong. It feeds our soul with the right messages for us. It can guide us on the right path and in making the right decisions in the moment. It can feed us with the right messages for ourselves and our families. And when we can be fully open to it, it always gives us the answers we need. When we doubt it, even in the smallest of ways, we can be thrown off track - sometimes in a very painful way.

When we're in the midst of a decision of any kind, especially one that has the potential to change our lives in a big way, journal writing can help. We can ask ourselves the deep, thought-provoking questions and we can listen for the answers, without judgment, allowing them to feed through us. We are all divinely guided - and when we are willing to ask the questions and when we are open to receiving the answers, we can travel a more purposeful, more authentic path.

Journal writing is an invitation to jump into the depth of our heart and soul. It's a place where truth can be spoken without fear of judgment and without worry of being censored. It creates a very private, very sacred place where we can have an honest conversation with our subconscious (that deep inner knowing that we all have). It also provides the space where we can dialogue with our higher power, asking open-ended questions and waiting for thoughtful answers.

But it all begins with truth. Before we begin our search for answers, we must first be willing to tell the truth. We must be willing to speak from a place of honesty, which many times comes from a place of pain.

In my book, Journaling by the Moonlight: A Mother's Path to Self-Discovery, I offer a series of journal writing prompts (called Moonlight Musings) that follow a self-exploration process. Each of these prompts are designed to take a woman to a deeper place within her being - and can take anywhere from five minutes to 30 minutes, depending on how connected she might be with a particular question.

I've also designed an accompanying deck of 54 journaling prompt cards. Each card offers a prompt, based on a particular phase of the moon, that guides a woman on an inner journey to discover more about herself and how to honor her gifts in our external world.

A woman really does know best. She knows what's best for her family - and she knows what's best for herself - IF she really listens and follows her intuition.


If you enjoyed this article, you may also enjoy the following:

2 comments:

  1. Maye,

    Thank you for hosting Tina. Her philosophy is inspiring. I firmly believe that by facing and embracing the truth through journal writing we can discover our life purpose.

    Tina,

    Your notation of the ripple effect is so very true. A mother's emotions definitely roll into our children.

    All the best,
    Donna

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hi, Maye -

    Many thanks for this wonderful opportunity to share my work with your readers. Journal writing is a great passion of mine. It has served me well in my creative process.

    And as a certified creativity coach, I truly appreciate your wonderful blog and the beautiful community you have created here!

    I'll look forward to our continued connection!


    ~ Tina

    ReplyDelete

Constructive comments and discussions are welcome: