Creative Problem-Solving: Following Your Stream of Consciousness Written by Patti Prague
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Wonder what another journaler’s stream of consciousness writing looks like? This is a sample from a writer dealing with guilt over infidelity in a relationship: broccoli, sting beans, rage, rivers, rockets, take me to end of world and drop me off edge, oh columbus of mine with blueberries in your hair and apples in your eyes. cheeks of rosy red i am iam iamiamiam. skyrockets, fuses, short fuses burning til they can’t be stopped, racing madly through space trying to catch up with yourself. get off damned train. ribbons wrapped throughout my white matter, red, blue, green and yellow, trailing sadness and madness and getevenness. hearts a breakin, heads a breaking, hearts open and arrows leaking bloody mass you are. orange is color of my true love’s courage, black is color of my loyalty and fidelity. pull arrows out without leaving a scar, can you? bears watch over us as we sail through dragon-filled deserts, pyramids of shimmering green and gold and malachite, crystal balls guard entry. Although this may sound like gibberish to you, to journaler, it contained several clues about depth of her guilt, as well as insight into what brought about infidelity. Like dreams, symbols in a stream of consciousness journal session, are often best interpreted by dreamer himself. If you’ve never done stream of consciousness journaling, don’t be afraid to experiment with different approaches. For example, pick a topic--any topic--and writing everything you can think about it. Like fishing, or bicycles, or cats, or fans, or canyons. Frequently, when writing about a seemingly “random” topic, insight -- those ah-ha moments—will appear that actually solve a problem you weren’t even thinking about.
Patti Prague is content manager at JournalGenie.com, the only online site that analyzes your writing and then gives you instant feedback. Discover self-defeating patterns, find better ways to communicate in relationships. Contact her at mailto:patti@journalgenie.com
| | Happiness and Work: Your Life Depends On ItWritten by Craig Nathanson
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Can you make difficult choices? Making work-related change in mid-life to pursue a dream or passion generates a lot of issues. I have observed in working with my own clients that these issues generally fall into three categories: emotional, relationship and financial. Am I good enough? Can I can give myself permission to follow my heart? What will my loved one’s say? If they don’t agree, do I dare test a relationship or rock boat at this point in my life? Despite all “sound” financial advice to save for retirement, do I instead invest in myself now, thus perhaps turning my financial world upside down. Are my loved one’s willing to make this sacrifice? What if they are not? These questions will all come up. One will feel selfish and may well be accused of being self-indulgent of self-absorbed. Well, mid-life is a time to be selfish. This isn’t about change for its own sake, but to position oneself for second half of life, to be authentic and to shred external views and norms. During this time, it doesn’t help that society’s view is general belief that work continues to be something not necessarily to be enjoyed. As a result, most career theory and research has supported this notion by largely ignoring enjoyment factor. Even counseling psychology has largely followed same path. The focus has been on matching skills and available types of work. While this can be helpful for younger adults, in mid-life internal needs, desires and passions beg for attention. While society expects those in mid-life to simply roll over and prepare to die or retire (I am not sure which is worse) many in mid-life actually begin to wonder how they can start living. For many, it is a re-birth with new wisdom and self permission to follow your heart. Economic conditions can force people to ignore their inner needs and take jobs they don’t like to pay bills. This only helps to further ignore your inner needs. Jung believed that ego was important for development in first half of life but in second half, ego should step aside for humility. Achieving vocational passion requires looking inward to understand what brings you most enjoyment in your work. As a result, you can begin to understand relationship between achieving greater meaning and way you choose to conduct your life. It takes action to follow your vocational passion. I am not convinced that money can buy happiness at mid-life, but I am convinced that happiness can increase richness in your life. We each get to define what that means. It all starts with a simple re-examination of what you have done, are doing and might do vocationally in second half of life. In mid-life and later, it’s critical not to ignore your heart. In mid-life, it may be most consistent thing in your life when everything else seems in flux. Sadly, Robert wasn’t able to do this. My wonderful grandmother who lived well into her mid-90’s used to always say to me, “Bagel (that’s what she called me) just do what makes you happy.” I think now, I finally understand what she meant.
Craig Nathanson is The Vocational Coach™ and the author of, P Is For Perfect: Your Perfect Vocational Day. Craig believes the world works a little better when we do the work we love. Craig Nathanson helps those in mid-life carry this out! Visit his on-line community at http://www.thevocationalcoach.com
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