1. Just open your journal and type. Your new journal will date and index your entries, but not impose any further structure. Later, if you choose to, you can command the riverText╩ journal to discover the hidden ╥threads╙ that link your journal entries. This feature was designed to fit the way Henry David Thoreau used his journal. Click the ╥literary╙ tab to find out how it works.
2. Discover the structured journal. Use our ╥Threads╙ menu to fashion a journal to fit your inner needs! A thread is a powerful and flexible way to link a series of journal entries. For an introduction to this way of using our journal choose ╥structure.╙ For concrete examples of how to create a structured journal choose, ╥new age╙ and ╥spirited.╙ The thread topics here are divided into "new age" and "spirited." There are useful suggestions for all in both categories.
The quotes tab introduces the six journal quote collection contained on this CD-ROM.
Notes taken while rambling in the woods were the way Thoreau╒s journal entries usually began. At the end of the day he worked these notes into paragraphs that he then copied into blank books. When he wrote on a theme such as moonlight, he began by pulling observations regarding the light of the moon from his journal. At first, he ruined his journals by ripping out their pages.
With our new electronic journal, Thoreau would choose ╥New Thread╙ from the Threads menu, type in ╥moonlit walks╙ and hit the return key. Then he would choose from the Threads menu ╥Add to Thread by Keyword.╙ A dialog box would come up asking him if he would like to add all journal entries containing the word or phrase ╥moonlit walks╙ to the moonlit walk thread. He could OK that search, or type in a word such as ╥moon,╙ that he knew would be in all the entries he wished to gather into his new thread. Then he could choose to view, save to a text file, or print out only these ╥moonlit╙ entries.
The ability to easily structure and organize material after it is written is useful to any writer who is planning to later re-use the accounts of a journal. However, it is also of great value to anyone trying to straighten out their tangled affairs. Perhaps you are dating many different individuals, and making daily journal entries. Then suddenly you get inspired by Thoreau╒s famous declaration:
Simplicity, simplicity, simplicity! I say, let your
affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred
or a thousand╔
Just create a thread for each of the love interests in your life. Use the ╥Add to Thread by Keyword╙ function to place pages with each of their names into separate threads. Evaluate the threads separately and in combination by selecting or deselecting the name of the different individuals on the Threads menu. With our journal, you get just the amount of structure you want in your journal, when you want it.
Using the journal as a writer╒s workbook
Many of the structured thread suggestions you will find by clicking the "new age" and "spirited" tabs are also of great value for a journal that is be used as a writer's workbook. Other useful thread topics for writers to use to structure their journal include "Memories" and "Characters." Use these threads you capture the feel of the most memorable moments or individuals in your life.
In addition, writers can go to the preferences to set their journal to open to the index instead of the last page they wrote in the journal. Then for one of your first journal pages type on the first line "street talk" or "conversation snippets." This first line will then appear like a title in the index. You can click the entry labeled "conversaton snippets" to add in each days revealing little phrases.
A one-liner could make you career. Shakespeare's actors had to memorize soliloquy after soliloquy to establish their careers. Today an actor, a screenwriter or a even a politician needs just one characteristic line to make their reputation:
"Make my day."
╨ Clint Eastwood
"We've got to make the pie higher."
╨ George W. Bush
Categories first, content afterwards ╨ that╒s the formula for a ╥structured journal╙ Our categories are so flexible that we call them ╥threads╙. To name your threads, repeatedly Choose ╥New Thread...╙ From the Threads menu. When you hold the mouse button down on the journals ╥New╙ (page) button a list of all the threads you have created pops down. You select one, and begin writing. There are many practical uses for such threads. You can use threads to combine a personal and a professional journal, for example,╩bird-watching and business expense accounts. You can combine structured and unstructured journals and add and delete threads at any time ╨ the same journal entry can be in more then one thread. When I name a new thread I type an underscore (shift-dash) at the beginning of a structured thread to mark it as a thread to which I will be adding messages.
However, as you would expect in a guide entitled ╥Get an Inner Life!╙, here we emphasize structuring a journal in order to make it a means to self-renewal. This is a style of ╥journaling╙ pioneered by psychologist Ira Progoff. Progoff developed his theories by contrasting the journals of hundreds of individuals whose attainments in life led to them being labeled ╥creative,╙ with equal numbers of individuals who were so trapped and overwhelmed by life that they might be labeled ╥neurotic.╙ Progoff found that neurotic people were obsessed by the content of their lives, while creative individuals viewed that content as the raw material that they were shaping. Progoff calls his journaling system the Intensive Journal¿.
Ira Progoff╒s Intensive Journal is just that ╨ intense. Attendees at his journal seminars get three-ring notebooks with sixteen color-coded dividers. Because they often copy entries from one section into another, some new users of the Progoff system feel like frantic file clerks to their own inner life. The riverText journal was designed to eliminate the drudgery of such a journaling system. However, I have neither the space nor the authority to explain the Progoff system here. Instead, I offer two sets of suggestions for simpler, structured journals. The reader is encouraged to mix his or her own journal threads in with any of the suggested threads that I offer here. To find out more about the Progoff system, read At a Journal Workshop ╨The Basic Text and Guide for Using the Intensive Journal Process, by Ira Progoff. It is available in paperback from your local bookstore. Or, you can write the publisher about schedules for journal seminars and information about other books and tapes by Dr. Progoff.
_What was unique╔?
_Unsent Letters
_Affirmations
_Where am I?
_What was unique╔?
You begin your journal with a variation of the standard diary entry, ╥What was unique about my day?╙ If at first you have difficulty finding something unique and wonderful about each day, don╒t give up. As soon as your brain is convinced that you are interested again, as you were as a child, in seeing the wonders all around you, it will cut back on the chattering and return to its first two loves ╤╥the joy of having a body, the voluptuousness of looking.╙
_Unsent Letters
A new age journal should always be written from a relaxed, almost meditative state. But, let╒s be realistic. There are evenings when all you can think of is what a jerk your boss was to harass you╔ Don╒t force yourself to think pleasant thoughts. Instead, hold down the mouse button down on ╥New╙ button and select ╥Unsent Letters.╙
Clear out that negative energy by writing it down. You╒ll feel better, and if the jerk is later nominated to the Supreme Court, or hauled before a Senate Ethics committee, you╒ll have an impressive set of documents to show the senators. Write letters to all the individuals and institutions in your life that irritate you. If those individuals live in the same house as you, use the secret code accessed under the Journal Menu. If they are institutions, choose export text and open the entry in your word processor, or just print it directly from the journal and send the letter.
_Lists
Record without censor the first three things that come into your mind as you consider one of the questions below. Ask the same question in 6 months & compare answers.
What are the three things I want most?
What three things did I believe as a child that I don╒t believe now?
What are the three things that make me happiest?
Who are the three people I most want to meet?
What are the three things that I am most afraid of?
What are the three key events of my life?
You might comment on the choice you made that surprises you the most. There is a best-seller entitled 14,000 Things to be Happy About, with entries such as ╥red leotards,╙ and ╥bright yellow lemons.╙ Rediscover your own forgotten delights.
_Affirmations
Hate getting out of bed? Don╒t whine! Start an Affirmation thread, like this:
I get up in the morning at 6 a.m. wide awake, so
electrified that I worry I╒m going to short circuit the
still-quiet alarm clock as I reach to turn it off. I can╒t
believe I wasted my money buying the silly thing.╙
Your brain is listening! It says, ╥Oh, you want to get up in the morning full of energy, that╒s easy. I thought you just wanted to complain about not getting up.╙
_Where am I?
Whenever you feel your life is entering a new phase, or you feel suddenly lost or found, this is an invaluable thread. As you ask yourself where you are, close your eyes, slow your breathing, and find the answer that emerges from within.
When you have kept a structured journal for a few months you can use these threads to weave together the various aspects of your life. If in addition to these special threads you are also keeping a daily log of your activities, you can examine how each day╒s events are reflected in that night╒s dreams or how your affirmations influence the next day╒s activities.
Also, read the ╥Dialog╙ and ╥Dreams╙ suggestion from the ╥Spiritual Structure,╙ as this type of thread is the foundation of the Progoff system and many new age journals.
_Daily log
_Paraphrase the Psalms
_Dialogs
_Dreams
_Passages
_Prayers & promises
_Daily log
Many of the threads discussed in the New Age section are also useful here as a kind of emotional housecleaning, to help you unwind and get into a contemplative state. The new journal is intended to avoid the guilt-ridden self-criticism that would arise if the more traditionally religious replaced the ╥What was unique...? ╙ new age thread with one called, ╥What have I done?╙ In any case, whatever you choose to call it, a simple account of the key events of the day is an essential element of most people╒s journals.
_Paraphrase the Psalms
Our journal allows you to choose from several sets of opening ╥quotes for the day.╙ [click quotes tab for more information]. This same exercise can be undertaken with quotes from the Eastern religions, from free-thinking Americans, or from ones you supply yourself. The following example uses an excerpt from our collection of Old Testament Psalms.
When one of the quotes for the day stirs you, try to paraphrase it in your own plain speech. Here is a sample Psalms excerpt, with a re-writing of it from my journal.
For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it,
thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices
of God are a broken spirit: a broken heart and
a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.
╥I can╒t pretend anymore that I╒m giving up fancy cars and a prestigious job for you, God, for I don╒t want those things now, if I ever did. I have to give up this endless grasping after attention, this search for someone to fill the emptiness within, the emptiness without which I seem to have no need for God.╙
_Dialogs
There are many kinds of useful inner dialogs. One can ╥dialog╙ with one╒s ╥inner child,╙ one╒s naked body, or one╒s Creator. Or one can ask oneself this question: ╥Who would it be most beneficial for me to meet?╙ It can be someone you╒ve known or only heard about, like a parent who died before you had a chance to develop a relationship, or the characters you╒ve known through books and films. Make a list. Your list might include people like your grandfather, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Sophie Scholl, Saint Teresa, your first love, or your own thirteen-year-old self.
Choose one person from the list, and try to feel the atmosphere of the room in which you picture him or her. Then try to feel the other person╒s life from within. Don╒t worry, we human beings talk to everything: we talk to our cars, we talk to ourselves. If this is a person you are drawn to, an inner dialog will begin. Don╒t evaluate it or judge it as it begins. After you╒re done, you can record your reactions.
_Dreams
If you don╒t remember your dreams, start taking notes. Keep a note pad by your bed to make a few notes about your dreams as soon as you awake. Use the notes to reel in your dreams later in the day when you make your journal entries.
_Passages
Set up a thread to keep notes about your inspirational reading. Just read until you come to a passage that speaks to you, enter that passage into the journal, and then comment on it.
_Prayers
Remember that in the end, prayer is just paying attention to God. Writing is a disciplined form of thinking. If your mind wanders as you ╥say╙ your prayers, try writing them in a special thread.
_Promises
Instead of new age affirmations of yourself, affirm God╒s word. Write down the promises in scripture that speak to you, and note later how they are fulfilled.
Your journal opens with a quote for the day. You can turn the quotes off in the journal Preferences. For those of you who like quotes, there are six quote collections for you to choose from, and I encourage you to create your own lists, or add to our lists. The New Journal comes to you with the ╥Walden Zingers╙ quote list installed. On the Quote Library card (reached via the Go menu) you can scroll through the whole list of quotes, and copy any quotes that you like. If you want to switch lists, click ╥Import Quotes from Text File╔╙ You will be asked if you wish to save the current list to a text file. (Saving the quote list to your hard drive is only useful if you have added your own quotes to the list.) Next you will see a standard Macintosh ╥Open File╙ dialog. If you wish to import one of the six quote lists click the ╥Desktop╙ button, then select ╥If Monks╔ CD,╙ click ╥Open╙ then select the ╥Quote Library ─╙ folder click ╥Open,╙ and finally select the Quote Collection you wish to open and click the ╥Open╙ button a final time. The new list will then be imported.
If you want to create a quote list of your own, you need to separate the quotes with a ╥delimiting character.╙ We use the vertical line (|) created when you type, ╥shift-backslash.╙ Below you see how two quotes from the Cynicisms list are separated in the import file.
Many open minds should be closed for repairs.
╤Toledo Blade|An elephant is a mouse with an operating system.
Here is a description and an example from the six lists included on the CD-ROM
Walden Zingers: Over 100 great one-liners like,
As if you could kill time without injuring eternity.
Emerson╒s Evidence: Over 125 gems from the pen of the great philosopher of the American renaissance, Ralph Waldo Emerson, such as:
What is a weed? ╨ A plant whose virtues have not
yet been discovered.
Writers on Writing: For those using the journal as a writers╒ workshop, I have included centuries of good advice from your colleagues, for example:
When you catch an adjective, kill it.
╤Mark Twain
Cynicisms: More than 150 cynical remarks about all things modern collected by Pete Johnson:
Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct
a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.
╤Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
Psalms, Selections: About 100 of the most beautiful and moving passages from the King James Translation of the Old Testament╒s book of Psalms:
My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is
from him. He only is my rock and my salvation: he is
my defence; I shall not be moved.╩
╤Psalms 62:5-6
Hindu Slokas: In Sanskrit, an individual verse of scripture is called a ╥sloka.╙ Because Thoreau and Emerson were more inspired by the ancient Hindu scriptures than the Old Testament, I felt it was essential that this American renaissance journal include quotes from Hindu texts as well as from the Bible:
Without attachment to the fruits of action, ever-satisfied
and free from calculations, he is verily doing nothing, even
though engaged in actions.
╤Bhagavad Gita IV:20
Jayanti, a friend of the monastery library, volunteered to compile a list of her favorite quotes from the Bhagavad-Gita and the Upanishads. Her friend, Alo, compiled a list of quotes from The Vivekachudamani or, as it is often translated, ╥The Crest-Jewel of Discrimination.╙ Both are members of the Vedanta Society of Southern California, in San Diego.
Written in ancient Sanskrit, the English translations from which the quotes were taken appear below. Hoping to improve readability, Jayanti did light editing and paraphrasing. She writes:
"My changes were made with general readers in mind, those who will perhaps be unfamiliar with Eastern thought. My efforts are not in any way offered as improvements to the texts. For example, the translators sometimes left a Sanskrit word in a verse because no exact English equivalent can be given. While the texts provide extensive commentary, I felt it was more suited to Brian╒s purpose to replace some Sanskrit terms with commonly used English translations.
I have undertaken the removal of gender specific pronouns to refer to Brahman ╨ the Absolute. Doing so was not an easy choice, for I suspect it will be seen as being ╘politically correct╒ by some. This was not my concern, however.
The concern is one of accuracy. The translations use the male pronoun in its universal sense, as was the then current English cultural convention. A Hindu would never imagine any other meaning to be intended. Brahman, God, the Absolute, never was or will be merely human, nor do the masculine and feminine Principles of the East translate into ╘sexual╒ concerns.
Indicative of doctrine-free Hindu metaphysics, Brahman is a neuter Sanskrit word, free of gender. Hence, ╘that╒ is also used, as in the reference, ╘that absolute Existence.╒ No term is ideal. ╘That╒ implies a distance and a thing-like quality. Again, Brahman is neither. One finds, especially in the Upanishads, many apparently contradictory statements about the Absolute, to impress upon us that Brahman, the Reality behind the Universe and the source all, cannot be grasped by intellectual understanding. Does this place Brahman beyond our reach? No, answers Hinduism. Brahman is to be known by direct experience. Such experience is possible because Brahman is the very well-spring of our own true nature, the Self, or Atman.
Because the path to Realization of Brahman as the Absolute is a long one, Hinduism encourages varied descriptions of God. Knowing none to be wholly accurate, nor wholly inaccurate, these various aspects or images act as our window or passageway, drawing us towards the Divine. This is necessary to our spiritual growth. We think in words, concepts; we cannot think otherwise. Knowing this, Hinduism does not require all to hold the same image of God. That I find it inspiring to think of God as the Mother and you find it satisfying to worship the Divine as Father is no cause for theological concern. Can the Absolute be altered or confined by our thoughts? Absurd! So long as our idea of God brings us closer to the grand Reality behind our little concept, the Hindu says ╘Good! Think of God any way you like.╒ ╙
The selected verses were gleaned from the following translations, with permission of the Publishers:
Srimad Bhagavad-Gita, translated by Swami Tapasyananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras, third printing, 1988.
Mundakopanisad, translated by Swami Sarvananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras, tenth edition, 1982.
Isavasyopanisad, translated by Swami Sarvananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras, 1981.
Chandogya Upanishads, translated by Swami Swahananda, Sri Ramakrishna Math, Mylapore, Madras, sixth edition, 1984.
The Vivekachudamani of Shakaracharya, translated by Swami Mahavananda, Advaita Ashrama, Calcutta, eleventh reprint, 1982.
