Captured Moments - Journaling Tool

Soul lives in depth of experience.

"The true art of memory is the art of attention." - Samuel Johnson

The Review/Summary journaling tool encourages us to look back over a journaling session or period of time to get the big picture of what's happened. Stepping Stones invites us to collect the facts of our lives and analyse the larger meaning of different events and experiences. These are both big picture tools.

With Captured Moments, we create a brief story or word picture that explores the depth and details of a particularly meaningful or emotional experience. It is a frozen moment in time, a written picture that captures the intricate textures of beauty or joy, frustration or pain. Re-experience the moment in depth. Focus on imagery, sensations, feelings and qualities. Be as descriptive as you can. Write about your experience using lots of adverbs and adjectives and metaphors. Explore the lessons it holds for you.

EXERCISES

Getting started:

• Select one of the peak experiences of your life. What do you remember most about it? How did it touch you? What qualities of life did you experience?

Go deeper:

• Practice deepening your awareness of a painful event. Allow memories of the situation to surface. Re-connect with the pain. Allow yourself to truly feel the pain, without resistance or judgment. Seek to actually feel the experience in your body rather than just thinking about the feelings in your head. What happens when you own your pain? Has this acknowledgement of your emotions shifted your understanding of the event in any way? Write about the process of deepening awareness.

Reach higher:

• Have you had a spiritual experience, a miracle or some unexplainable experience of bliss or pure love? Re-experience it in your writing. As spiritual experiences cannot always be described with words, pick a symbol for this experience and write about the symbol.

Check out our other 40 Journaling Tools for personal growth.