Journalling as a Pathway to Becoming Whole

A few years ago I discovered the work of Bill Plotkin, a depth psychologist, ecotherapist and wilderness guide. He is the author of Soulcraft: Crossing into the Mysteries of Nature and Psyche, an experiential guide to the wilderness of the soul. It's well worth a read.

He also authored a book called Wild Mind: A Field Guide to the Human Psyche which details his explorations into personality theory. In it, he discusses the concept of 'wholing':

"Wholing is the foundation for true healing. Some degree of personal wwholing must precede any deep healing, not the other way around. In Western societies, many believe we can't be whole- truly loving, highly creative people contributing to the world- until we have sufficiently healed from our childhood wounds. But I beleive the opposite is the truth: Deep psychological healing is the result of learning how to embrace our woundedness and fragmentedness from the cultivated perspective and consciousness of the Self. We must to some degree cultivate our wholeness before we can truly be healed. Wholing comes first and is foundational (pp26-27)."

I have taken this concept of wholing into my work. After all, we are complex beings, full of nuance and fluidity amongst the patterns and traits that give our identities structure and form. There are always a multitude of layers that can be explored and nurtured, given a positive intention and a commitment to presence to what arises.

Journalling is a key tool I use in my work to elicit the holistic awareness required to become more whole: to own all parts of ourselves, including our shadow, to walk the fine line between radical acceptance and loving moulding of ourselves. In journalling we can enter a liminal healing and wholing space.

Journaling is a rich process. It allows the flow of thought, feeling and experience that always permeates our walk on this earth, the ability to be brought to light, gently turned over and caressed, examined, and explored. It allows us the consciousness and awareness to sculpt a life that is more aligned to our attentions; to grieve our losses; to celebrate the radiant joys of our life—to process. In allowing ourselves the reflection time that journaling provides, we can gain much.

How you journal is up to you. You may be into reams of eloquent, beautiful words. You may like to keep it simple. You may find art and drawing expresses your experience more accurately. Or you may find- especially keep this in mind in challenging moments and those first few months when the baby arrives- that all you can manage is words- “angry. Exhausted—desperately need sleep. Heart soars when little one looks in my eyes”- that is fine too (and keeping things achievable is important)! There is no wrong way to journal. Follow your heart wisdom, the rest of you will catch up.

If you are new to journaling, here are some tips—

·         Journaling is not an exercise is literacy or linguistics. Don’t worry about grammar, spelling and all those things we are conditioned to worry about. This is about giving you space to process, explore and reflect on your experience.

·         You can follow prompts, or you can simply write what arises--  or a mixture of both. With time and self nurturing, the right stuff- that is, the stuff that needs to be processed- will arise naturally.

·         There is no wrong way to journal

·         It is great to achieve a state where you are not censoring your experience in any way. One way to do this is to acknowledge that which you write is only one facet of your experience, and what may be true in that moment may not be true in another moment, or the majority of the time. Sometimes negative things need to be voiced (or written) before they can be let go of

·         If you find the process challenging, try this: Set an alarm for a certain amount of time, say ten minutes, and simply write whatever comes into your head over that time. It doesn’t need to be relevant or “pretty”. This is free flow writing, and can be therapeutic and very surprising!

·         Journaling can bring up deep issues. If you need support, it is your right and responsibility to seek further support.

  Journal at times when you are assured quiet and space, and do what you need to do to keep your journal secure and private- of course you can share what you write with others, but what you share and how is always your choice. 

In my upcoming Healing Your Birth: Returning to the Heart After Birth Trauma course, we will use journalling as a key process to both complement and anchor the course work, and to use it as an opportunity to explore what is truly unique to each participant: how this experience has manifested, and continues to manifest in them.

Sammi Cambray is trained to run Healing Birth Trauma circles through the Sacred Living Movement. Many thanks to Corinne Laan for the teaching, and for permission to use some of the processes in Sammi's Healing Your Birth immersion. 

Here is a little sneak peek into the journalling work we will be doing as part of the Healing Your Birth: Returning to the Heart after Birth Trauma six week (one morning a week) immersion.

If you would like to know more about the six week (one morning a week) course, or be kept updated where I am with it's release, please email me at earthysammi@gmail.com, or call me on 0418950793

Copyright Sammi Cambray/Sacred Whisper Bellingen 2016

Sammi is a holistic doula and birth counsellor, and is the publisher of Sacred Whisper Bellingen

Ph: 0418 950 793