…there’s an unground stream of images and recollections within each of us. The stream is nothing more or less than our interior life. When we enter it, we ride it to a place where it wants to go.
      - Psychology Today, March 1981, By Robert Blair Kaiser, “The Way of the Journal.”

 There are levels of awareness below the surface of our consciousness that can provide insight into the issues of our lives.

Life as journey is an unfolding creative process whether you are an artist or not. A great work, and life, is based on a connection with the creator’s inner world. It grows out of a still and musing meditation. It draws from the pre-verbal, the half-understood, the subconscious. There is a wisdom inside each of us that often cannot be put into words but, with practice, can guide and shape our lives and our work. It is that which is holy inside us.

Your inner world is amorphous, unexplainable, and mysterious and so isn’t easy to trust. Nonetheless, it wants to help. In return, it asks for nurturing. It is shy, and retreats at the slightest provocation or self-doubt. It is a place of peace. It needs quiet. It requires faith.

Quiet reflection plays a major role in the lives of most successful artists and authors. It might be getting up early, making coffee, and sitting quietly looking out the window as the light comes. It might be gardening or long walks in the woods. Whatever it is, the artist wanting to create work of depth makes quiet reflection a regular part of life. Yes, they work hard, but first they connect with the reservoir of their inner world.

Journaling and meditation are acts of self-love, self-referral and self-healing. They help us understand the symbols and messages that our inner world offers.  Vague, amorphous insights emerge from those deeper levels; important truths that are revealed only in glimpses. Writing about concepts on the edge of our perception can lead to clarity. These techniques -- which rely on quiet time, reflective time -- can allow us to see the patterns in our lives and the options open to us. A life organized so that it takes into consideration the patterns of our past, and our unique potentials for the future, including creative potentials, is a different life than one spent reacting to this or that seemingly urgent demand or compelling impulse.

Some say they have no time for contemplation, for quiet reflection, for solitude, but they have lots of time for cell phones, for Netflix. Just because something clamors for attention doesn’t make it meaningful, worthwhile or powerful.

When I read phrases like “the art of business” or “the art of relationships” it suggests making time for crucial nuances and subtleties that cannot be easily put into words. When I don’t make time for the nuances, my life, my energy, suffers.

Friendship with yourself, with your quiet interior, is the basis of resourcefulness. A friendship with your quiet interior allows you to better understand the patterns of your life. A special power comes from diving deep into that world and accessing the wisdom it contains.

Through thick and thin, through all the ups and downs of life, having a close relationship with one’s own self adds satisfaction and perhaps survivability to a human life.

Make time to just float.

. . .

Journaling questions:

Do you make time for silence, for quiet reflection? For solitude? Those are at the heart of all spiritual and religious traditions because they are effective.

When you spend a few hours of quiet time alone, including at least some time with eyes closed, what images bubble up? Write them down, however vague and seemingly meaningless. Over time, patterns may become apparent.

When you imagine your inner world as a person, and ask it for guidance, what does it say? When you ask it how it thinks you are treating it, what does it say?

. . .

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