Journal writing

Over at livejournal, there's a community called Embodiment to promote journal writing. Author and teacher Christina Baldwin had this to say about journal writing in the Nov '06 issue of The Writer:

"I cannot imagine my life without writing. Writing has changed everything about how I live, though it's hard to say exactly how because I have no comparison self who doesn't write. The reason I spend thousands of lifetime hours creating something that 99 percent of which no one else is likely to ever read is that writing itself is the gift. Writing organizes the mind and the actions that lead from the mind. Over time, the decisions and choices we make in the rush of the moment are informed by the self-knowledge our story gives us. We learn that if we have practiced articulating our story, if we have honored the path to this moment by writing it down, the choices we make are congruent with who we say we are. This is one of the primary promises of story: It was true in oral form and remains even more true in written form. For in writing we live life twice: once in the experience, and again in recording and reflecting upon our experience."