My Journal Reflection

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On August 19th of this year I started keeping a journal as a course requirement for Journey in Literature in University of Puerto Rico. Daily, I would either write a 10 minute entry or exercise an energy compass. There were certain rules that came with writing in the journal. I had to keep my hand moving; overlook spelling, punctuation, or grammar; lose control; ignore thinking or getting logical, and go for the jugular. I never had any problems following the rules but I did experience a certain race or anxiety when it came to writing with a timer. My stream of consciousness kept flowing and it was physically challenging to catch up to my thoughts. After a certain number of days instead of trying to write every single detail down, I left sentences or phrases unfinished so I could go for the jugular and attack my thoughts at the exact moment when they appeared. This gave me a more relax feel to it and encouraged me to write truthfully what I was thinking while writing.

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For the energy compass, a circle was drawn and it was divided into four parts; spiritual energy, emotional energy, mental energy, and physical energy. Each section was given a number according to the energy levels of the day created: 1 being the lowest energy, 2 if there are light tensions and 3 if I felt open. The highest total number one can get with all four is 12, and it is not that far apart from 10 which was my first energy compass total. My numbers kept increasing and decreasing depending on the day I was having but it generally maintained a 10-11-12 energy level. My mental and physical energy levels always got 3s. It was my spiritual and emotional levels that kept shifting which is completely understandable giving that no person can be emotionally stable 24/7, therefore affecting
the mood and spiritual levels.
Mentally I have always considered myself “open.” I am constantly thinking, reading, analyzing, or looking for something new to learn. Challenging my mind has forever been a part of me because of my perfectionist and obsessive personality. I also granted myself 3s in my physical energy levels since I dance and workout for as long as I can remember. I was emotionally unstable for the first two months this semester because of personal reasons, which affected my emotional energy levels during the first few compasses. When I began to re-read entries in which I had written about this issue, it helped me gain a new perspective of the situation; thus, helping me solve it. Once the problem began to diminish, my emotional level began to rise. This is why the entries and the compasses work so well together. Its increasingly intersected results depend on one another. When the emotional storm passed and the waters were at ease, my life felt balanced again and my spiritual levels rose from a 2 to a 3.

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On October 7th I completed a total of 40 entries and 12 energy compasses. Progressively, the entries got easier and stress-free in addition to the compasses which maintained a 12 energy level towards the end. As the days passed I felt a slight change in my personality reflected in my writing. It gradually got deeper and emotional and I even turned to it in moments of need. Having all my thoughts poured on a piece of paper helps gain a different perspective on life and experiences. Why? It serves as a form of release instead of bottling up feelings. I can write about anything and after the 10 minutes are done I can close my journal and sleep without pondering about it. Days or weeks later I can go back and read it; making complications easier to fix, good moments appreciated, and important decisions improved based on objective observation on previous writing.