I think it’s a little bit tricky juggling reading, writing and my students, plus the other responsibilities of life, but I think I’ve done alright with my reading lately.
The New Diary
Since my last update, the main book I spent my time reading was ‘The New Diary: How to Use a Journal for Self-Guidance and Expanded Creativity.’
I felt like this book was a bit long-winded. I guess you might expect that from an author that likes to write a lot in a journal 😀
Of the non-fictions books I have read, this was one of the harder ones to read and finish. It had some good concepts but I think there were too many examples and too much expansion of the concepts.
That said, one of my favourite concepts from the book was the idea of dialogues. When I tried dialogues, I found it quite interesting having a dialogue with a wise version of myself. I gained some new insights. You can also dialogue with your future self in some future time period of your life – like five or ten years time. What do you want to look back and see that you have accomplished in those last five or ten years.
You can dialogue with a famous smart person, living or dead. What wise things would they tell you? You can even dialogue with an emotion. Dialogues have many uses.
In the past I’ve journaled and used the ‘rocking chair viewpoint’. Once I am old and in a rest home, sitting in my rocking chair, what do I want to look back at my life and see? What do I want to have accomplished, what do I want to have learned, how do I want to have challenged myself. It’s a thought provoking exercise.
Also, the book’s dream interpretation concepts were intriguing. It’s an interesting idea writing your dreams down and trying to interpret them. One of my favourite psychology authors Irvin Yalom uses dream interpretation with his clients. I think in my case though, what I dream about is often what I’m worried about…so it’s not too hard to interpret.
Maybe ‘The New Diary‘ was too advanced. Maybe I just want a journal prompt, with a brief explanation, to get me started with my writing.
I May Be Wrong
The other book I read recently was called ‘I May Be Wrong‘ by Björn Natthiko Lindeblad.
It’s about the author leaving the corporate world to become a forest monk. Having worked in the corporate world I can understand the compulson. A student of mine recommended this book. And we get to discuss it together soon. I’m always looking for wisdom about how to live life, so I was really curious to read it.
One of the core wisdoms of the book, the same as the title, is that you often have opinions and convictions about certain aspects of the world…but you may be wrong. One of the wise monks in the book stated the main thing that gets in the way of a westerner’s practise is…opinons. That kind of hit home for me because I have lots of opinions 🙂
Also, this is an interesting quote from the book.
‘What I value most from my seventeen years of full-time spiritual training is that I no longer believe my every thought.’
Eventually the author returned to the normal world. He had a great deal of trouble adjusting. I think the monastery gave him, a routine, a sense of belonging, a purpose, close relationships, financial security in a way. I’ve always thought it’s easy to be all zen and low stress when you are living in a simple world, whereas the modern world isn’t simple.
500 Journal Prompts
I also brought this tiny book called ‘500 Journal Prompts: For Mental Health, Creativity and Personal Exploration‘ by Robert Duff. I plan to use this for my future journaling adventures.
Journaling Power
I am currently reading ‘Journaling Power: How to Create the Happy, Healthy, Life You Want to Live’ by Mari McCarthy. I will write my thoughts about this book in my next Learning Update post.
Journaling Question
I wrote with this journaling prompt the other day “What don’t you give yourself enough credit for?” from the ‘500 Journal Prompts‘ book. I found my responses to be really uplifting.
East Melbourne Library – such a cool window.
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