Heart Journaling Workshops

14/10/2022

A short shiur on why Sukkot is an ideal time to journal, vision and dream...

Q: Is it a coincidence that Sukkot - a time of joy, falls out right after Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, which are days of awe? How does one flow into the oth...

02/10/2022

Women in Tsfat and the North: mark your calendars. Starting October 20th, six sessions, weekly, at 10:30am-11:30am, at the Tzfat English Library. Please RSVP for more info and/ or to reserve your space.

02/10/2022

From an article "The Time of Your Life" in Real Simple Magazine Jan/Feb 2022, Elaine Kiziah, PhD, a life coach in Richmond, Virginia shares that one of her favorite journaling exercises is to pause at the end of the day and ask:

"What is today teaching me about how to live tomorrow?"

She notes that even a five-minute writing session can make a big difference, and that part of the power of journaling lies in the pause itself.

Photo by Christopher Sardegna on Unsplash

03/07/2022

A lot of people find that journal writing flows better with relaxing background music...
You may like this mix (but fast forward a few minutes):

Here's calming piano music for journaling, writing, and reflection. Use this journaling playlist to write down your thoughts and feelings, or while you're wr...

20/06/2022

"Vision without action is a daydream. Action without vision is a nightmare." Japanese proverb.

16/06/2022

“Journal writing is a voyage to the interior.”
— Christina Baldwin

Photo by Raimond Klavins on Unsplash.com

08/06/2022

"In Pirkei Avos (1:6) it says “K’neh lecha chaver – buy for yourself a friend”. The Arizal says that k’neh can also be read as kaneh, a quill – Let your quill be your friend. Our pen can be our best friend. It is available whenever we want it; it will never judge us or misunderstand us, and it allows us to see the truth.”

- From Write Your Way Home
A Torah guide to Therapeutic Writing by Yocheved Rottenberg

03/01/2022

"To have faith is to trust yourself to the water. When you swim you don't grab hold of the water, because if you do you will sink and drown. Instead you relax, and float.“ — Alan Watts

Journaling Question of the Day

Is there an area in your life where you are grabbing hold tight?

Could there be benefit in surrendering, and trusting that even if we may not see it from our limited perspective things are for the ultimate best?

What would it feel like to stop resisting the current and instead choose to flow with what is - whilst still living in alignment with your values, working toward the change you seek and helping to play your unique part in creating a more beautiful and just world?

Thanks to Roaman for the inspiration.

Photo by Michael Baldovinos on Unsplash.

22/12/2021

Could it be that the answer is always baby steps? And claiming those baby steps in the optimal direction as a victory. That was the essence of what I heard myself saying to a woman I bumped into recently who spoke about the current unraveling of her life.

Unraveling can be a positive thing for as hard as it may feel, it is movement and sometimes necessary in order to then create something new and in more alignment, but perhaps the danger is that when unraveling we may find ourselves slipping on a downward spiral, nothing to grab hold of, and that’s when our notorious inner enemy can try to drag us all the way down with all-or nothing thinking.

But we can take control at any step of the way, at any moment. We don’t necessarily have to unravel completely. Yes, we may have noticed our fangs flaring (had we any) as we bellow at loved ones repeatedly instead of responding in patience, but we can take a really deep breath, and start again. Yes, we may have abandoned our commitment do something every day this past month, but that does not stop us from starting where we are now, and doing that thing in this moment and turning things around.

The gap between our ideal and the current reality may be vast, but I say that sometimes simply not giving up in despair and even the tiniest step is a true triumph. And the gift is that the next step follows from there, and sometimes it only takes one step to change the momentum and direction entirely.

Lately, I have felt my head swimming with all the good content out there to learn and absorb and integrate, and although I want to know everything there is to know about sovereignty on every level – right now – and I want to have the tools to live more sustainably - right now – it is a process.

So I have a choice. I can either give up because it’s too big and too overwhelming and I can instead distract myself with the noisy fear-provoking propaganda of the day or with mundane day-to-day tasks and just about everything in-between or I can break this goal into tiny doable steps and begin. Not look up too much on the uphill climb as we were told in marathon running, but keep my eyes focused just in front of me. As Lao Tzu said: “The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.”

Anyway, just arriving at the destination instantly would rob us of the journey. So wherever you are – whether you’ve given up any or all of your “unrealistic and unattainable” dreams and goals in whole or in part or whether you are already well on your way, may you never give up on the power of a step, one foot in front of the other. May the next be with poise, presence and peace. And may you celebrate it. And then the next.

Photo by Jake Hills on Unsplash

21/12/2021

Journaling Prompt of the Day (From Debbie Ford's "The Best Year of Your Life")

"Write down a description of the fantasy life you are hoping and wishing you will "one day" lead. Dissect your fantasy to determine how you hope you will feel once that fantasy comes true. Then identify one action you can take each day to generate within yourself the feelings you are chasing. Commit to being 100 percent responsible for creating the feelings you desire."

16/12/2021

Sharing something here I a wrote just over a month ago, for anyone who may relate:

There’s something about bedtime. The other night I was so utterly depleted after putting my children to bed that I could barely croak out "Shema" before hobbling off and diving onto my bed where my phone lay. “I’ll just check one thing,” I pretended to myself as the wise and savvy part of me kind of watched on mouth agape whilst fumbling around quickly trying to find words to warn against what I was poised to do. But I deftly shoved aside and shushed what that part of me was trying to say. After all I am well versed in doing that, and instead sank into the all too comforting familiarity of excuses and justifications: “I’ll go to bed soon”. “Maybe I could use the time in an enriching way.” “I must get back to so and so.” Maybe I should just check my Telegram messages in case I missed something”. “Just one more thing” “Really just one more thing”.

So predictable. And as that early night that I had so needed and wanted slipped further and further from my grasp, and I became wired instead of tired, I found myself doing this thing that I do when I have done something “bad”, which is to do more of it. If I am going to eat all those things that don’t make me feel good, I may as well eat a lot. Or, if I have already missed the window of an early night, I might as well stay up really late and make it worthwhile, somehow. But it never works and never satisfies.

So I woke up the next morning, not fully rested, too much blue light in the system, not in the mood for doing what needed to be done that day. But more than that, criticizing and attacking myself for not looking after and caring for myself the night before. Since self-care is something that I value highly, and I believe in its benefits, I kind of felt like I’d let myself down on that front, and messed up. And that I hadn’t upheld, let’s face it, my somewhat half-hearted commitment to a digital sunset, as idyllic as it sounds.
But then I had this thought that if self-care is really such a high value, wouldn’t it be more of an act of self-care to love myself unconditionally and to accept myself and my bedtime struggle, rather than judging and condemning myself with harsh, critical words. A bit ironic to be uncaring to myself about my care for myself. And isn’t self-care anyway the ability to constantly meet ourselves exactly where we are at and be there for ourselves in a nurturing way, even when we didn’t get to tick off the self-care check box?

Which reminded me of when I wanted to work on the traits of accepting and letting go. And a wise woman shared with me this back-door way to arrive at acceptance and letting go, namely, to accept that I don’t accept. Or, to let go that I don’t let go. Voila, a form of acceptance and surrendering.

And so too, the same here: re-framing self-care as more than just doing the things I need to do to feel optimal, but about really trying to foster true caring about myself: no matter the self-care I managed to do - or lack thereof.

Tonight begins the Jewish month of Kislev, and the tikun (rectification) of this month is sleep. I heard someone share that sleep is about letting go and surrendering. And to do those things one needs to trust. So although good sleep can be enhanced by self-care habits, like for real getting off technology at night, keeping lights low, warm herbal teas and a hot Epsom salt bath for those who can, when and where those things (or other practices that work for you) just don’t happen, what perhaps may be most comforting and calming to our nervous systems is to have faith and trust that we (and G-d) truly have our own backs, no matter what. And to love our whole self – the victorious part and the failure, the well-rested, and less rested version.

I want to bless you all with nurturing nights, ruthlessness when it comes to upholding boundaries around technology or anything else that trips you up, and restorative and healing deep and peaceful sleeps in the month to come – and beyond.
Photo by Simeon Birkenstock on Unsplash.

14/06/2021

An abundance of journaling techniques!

Passing the question forward: what are some of your favorite journaling techniques?

What are your best journaling techniques?