When
we fail to live “in the moment”, our soul becomes so burdened with guilt over
the past and anxiety over the future that we can become physically and
emotionally ill.
When
we do succeed in living in the present moment, and become fully attentive to
everyday life as we live it, we find joy in the gifts God provides. We begin
erupting into spontaneous praise to God throughout the day.
If
we add writing in a journal to living in the moment, we start to notice the
feelings within our soul ~ our mind, will and emotions, and we learn how to
respond to them.
Start
to journal in a quiet, uninterrupted place. Write all of your thoughts and
feelings whether they are positive or negative. Do not censor what you write.
Your journal is for you.
In
doing this, you are emptying yourself of yourself. Do not talk, sing, pray,
watch TV or listen to the radio, answer your phone or check your messages on
social media. Just listen to your soul and write whatever comes to your mind.
When
you sense that you are finished and have emptied your soul of any immediate
concerns, wait on the Lord to come and fill you with His comforting Holy Spirit,
so that you can receive His direction for the rest of your day.
Once
you finish with your journal and go about your day, stop what you are doing at
the first sign of unrest in your soul or spirit...even if you just duck into
the bathroom for a few minutes to turn your unrest over to God.
Journaling
helps us to plot our course and notate the concerns that we are hiding in our
soul, and which are causing other negative emotions to erupt from our soul.
It
may take hours to completely empty your soul...it may take days...it may take
weeks or months as it took me. This all depends on how much clutter is in your
life.
Prayer:
Father
God, as we journal, show us the origin of the anxiety, anger or other negative
emotion, which is dominating our soul. Help us not to feel discouraged if we are
not successful in one day. We may not write more than a sentence or two, but
they will give us a clue as to what is going on inside of our soul.
Remind
us that tomorrow is the first day of the rest of our life and You are our God who
gives us second chances. As we continue to journal each and every day, it will
not take long for You to help us to get to the root of the issues causing us unrest
and keeping our soul in turmoil, as it also blocks Your joy and peace from
filling our days and nights.
Thought
for the Day:
Living
in the present moment keeps us from taking life for granted; and we find joy in
the sun rising and setting, in a Monarch caterpillar on a leaf, in the breath
we breathe, in the laughter of little children, in the flowers blooming along
the roadside, in the sound of a neighbor starting his car or a loved one
returning home, in the antics of a pet, in the glitter of the sun on the water,
in the shape and the color of a flower or shape and texture of the clouds in
the sky.
