Journaling as reflective practice

Journals and diaries have been used ever since people could find ways of capturing their thoughts and ideas. Many people have used it as a deeply personal process, others to capture important moments and events in their lives. Journals can also be used as part of a conscious practice of reflecting and learning. As organisational development practitioners, often we are very action oriented and may not always make time to capture or document through writing. Our work may already be consumed with many other writing tasks like field reports, developing materials and donor reports and the thought of starting a journal may seem like an indulgence. If we can begin to see journaling as part of a reflective practice and not an indulgence we can begin an exciting self-directed learning process.

Journals can become an important reflective tool for practitioners who want to become more conscious of how they practice. The advantage of a journal is that we can be completely open and honest, and we don’t have to worry about how we write since journals should be private and for the writer’s eyes only. This provides potential for enormous learning and growth since when one looks back over a journal you are able to see yourself through your own eyes, in a sense it is a mirror, a silent ever listening friend and confidante. We are able to then start to see areas where we may be repeating the same patterns of behaviour which may land us in the same situation each time or we may become warmly affirmed when we see how our good qualities may have helped certain situations. We may also begin to see how events and people play pivotal roles in our lives. We may also become extremely creative as we write knowing our writing will not be edited, critiqued or evaluated.

Journals can be used in a number of ways:

Free writing – this involves just writing our thoughts when we feel moved to do so. This freedom allows us to write without constraint and we may be amazed by what emerges when we give ourselves permission to just let the pen flow and see what happens.

Reconnecting to and discovering your purpose - using creative means such as collage making, drawings, vision boards I have successfully tapped into my subconscious and found messages that connected to and assisted me in discovering what I really wanted to focus on in both my professional and worklife.  Here I would use mixed media like paints, found objects etc to create images, or cut and tear images and patterns out of magazines - these I would then write about or often find hidden messages in.

The images here are from a course I did called Moving Art where we did these journals as part of the creative journaling aspect of the course.

http://www.balu.co.za/balu-s-blog/86-movingart-courses-for-2015

In the field – as part of a work process, possibly at the beginning or end of each intervention, we may record our thoughts, feelings, learnings. When we look back over a period of time, we may be able to see patterns and trends and start to understand our work and ourselves better. We will also have a personal record of how we felt and acted in various interventions, helping us to do things differently when we encounter similar situations. Recording our questions from our practice allows us to begin to work with them.  It is helpful to record ideas and tools as they emerge, building up a personal practitioner toolkit.

During learning programmes – participants in learning programmes are given a journal to use throughout a programme. The facilitator may at first begin by providing relevant questions for the participant to use as a guide for journal entry. It is important that the facilitator create a dedicated quiet space for journaling to happen. Facilitators themselves can keep a journal throughout the process and record at the same time as participants, or create another space to journal. This helps to make the facilitator more conscious of the process and what is happening to the participants as individuals and as a group.  

How to make journaling a more conscious process

It is useful, once one has written over a significant period like a few months, to pause and go back over a journal and begin to highlight patterns or trends, thus allowing us to see ourselves over a period – through this process of reflection it becomes evident where our challenges may lie or where we need to enhance, improve or change. We may also see where the gaps are and where we could need help and support. By recording questions which we have about our lives or our practice, they can act as an ongoing guide to give direction to our learning. Learning thus becomes our personal ongoing responsibility.  

The purposes of writing journals

Jennifer. A. Moon (1999), in her book, “Reflection in Learning and Professional Development” writes about the use of journals (page 186 – 202). Below are purposes of writing journals which she outlines:

To record experience – with the emphasis initially being put on the recording rather than the reflective activity, although this may come later

To develop learning in ways that enhances other learning – writing a journal can, for example, encourage the valuing of personal observation and knowledge

To deepen the quality of learning, in the form of critical thinking or developing a questioning attitude

To enable the learner to understand their own learning process

To facilitate learning from experience

To increase active involvement in learning and personal ownership of learning

To increase the ability to reflect and improve the quality of learning

To enhance problem solving skills

As a means of assessment in formal education

To enhance professional practice or the professional self in practice

To explore the self, personal constructs of meaning and understand one’s view of the world

To enhance the personal valuing of the self towards self-empowerment

For therapeutic purposes or as means of supporting behaviour change

As a means of slowing down learning, taking more thorough account of a situation or situations

To enhance creativity by making better use of intuitive understanding

To free-up writing and the representation of learning

To provide an alternative voice for those not good at expressing themselves

To foster reflective and creative interaction in a group

In conclusion

My own experiences of journaling has shown me that it can be a powerful in centering participants during workshops, or help people connect to their own thinking. It can be a cathartic and purging process at a deeply personal level. It can also be enormously energising and release new life and innovation. Finally it can be incredibly grounding and satisfying and become a constant companion in a complex world!