At various times in our spiritual lives, it can be helpful to pause for a moment and put pen to paper so that we can reflect on our experiences by moving within ourselves and allowing whatever abides there to come forth. This process can enable a person to notice what is being carried inside. Being aware of unconscious feelings that motivate us can lead to self-knowledge, a key to ongoing growth. Contemplating our experiences can help us grow in freedom so that we can be open to discover God’s direction in our lives.

 

Over the course of four weeks, we will read An Interrupted Life, The Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-43, a story of a young Dutch Jewish woman who, in a period of two years, was transformed from one with no previous religious experience into someone with a profound contemplative awakening, despite being faced with the atrocities of the Holocaust.

 

Our program will cover:

1. Basic premises for journaling

2. Practicing several sample ways of journaling

3. Using a journal process to revisit an experience

4. Praying one’s experiences through journaling

5. Journaling in response to Scripture

6. Journaling, a way to process and heal feelings, memories, the soul: 

“What weighs heavily upon my heart at this time?”