Journaling has been an important tool in my life. Despite that, I’ve struggled in Heron Dance to figure out how to explore the subject in a compelling way. I think I’ll set aside the subject for the foreseeable future, and just offer these final thoughts.

I use journaling to enter into dialogues with imaginary beings. For instance, I imagine my creative work as a being and ask it how I’m treating it. I consult with the quiet entity that resides under the distractions, desires and preoccupations of my life. I enter into dialogues with myself ten years from now. What worked with the decisions I made and projects I took on? What didn’t? Why? I consult with  individuals I have encountered whose wisdom and relationship with their inner world deeply impressed me. In these imaginary dialogues, I ask the following kinds of questions, and write the answers I get back in my journal.

There is an inner myth guiding each of our lives, generally unknown to us. I explore that in my journal. What do the patterns of my life indicate about the myth I’m living without realizing it?

What is seeking to unfold in my life? Where does the energy want to go? Where does my energy multiply and  grow exponentially? What is my potential as a human being? What is my potential to add to the lives of others? What is my unique potential, the song only I can sing?

The goal is to live in harmony with my inner world, with the current that underlies my life. How does my inner world describe my relationship with it?

What are the ten or twelve highlights of my life? What ten events or experiences expanded my concept of the potentials of my life? 

What is the goal of my life? Understanding that question is the great experiment of the human journey.

What questions in my life would I rather not deal with? What patterns would I rather not explore? How are those patterns preventing me from living the life I want to live?

What fascinates me most about life? 

What fascinates me are stories of people creating unique lives, and living them with courage and skill. They may be artists or adventurers or volunteers in refugee camps, but whatever life they seek to create for themselves, it is based on a clear understanding of who they are, what they want, what they have to sacrifice to get it, what skills they have to acquire, and what risks they have to incur to achieve their goals. Then they embrace their adventure. They take that step toward the gods. 

It took journaling to help me realize that that's what I wanted from life. I want to accumulate stories about people creating unique lives on their own terms. I accumulate those stories as a stamp collector might accumulate stamps. I do that from both books (memoirs, biographies) I read, of which there have been thousands, and interviews, of which I’ve conducted hundreds. That, and spending time submerged in the beauty and mystery of the natural world. And painting the deep sense of harmony and peace I find in wild nature. 

I want to get those three things out of life.