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Dear Friend Welcome to another issue of Emotional Times. You are receiving this message because you signed up for the Emotional Healing Quick Start Guide. If you'd like to unsubscribe from future mailings, simply click on the link at the bottom of the page. Well, Christmas is almost here. Before you know it the holiday season will be over and we're going to find ourselves in 2006. A new year and an opportunity for a new beginning. Of course the opportunity for a new beginning happens every single day, but somehow it seems to carry a little more momentum at the first of the year. One suggestion: this might be a good time to start a journal. While I get a lot of value from writing out my thoughts and feelings on paper (processing my emotions), I don't consider that to be my journal. Here's an article I just wrote on the differences I see between writing in a journal and writing as a way to 'process' your emotions. Journaling vs. Processing Journaling, in one form or another, stretches back at least to the beginning of recorded history. Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs, and even European cave paintings thousands of years earlier, could be considered a form of journaling. The act of keeping a journal really amounts to anything you want it to be, but I consider journaling as careful and deliberate written records of the notable events in your life. A journal records the events that stand out - that matter - in a person's life. If you value your life, journaling provides a record of the events and emotions of the different phases you go through in your short existence on this earth. And if you don't value your life, journaling offers a chance to find what's currently hidden from view. Start a journal and you'll begin to uncover more of your value. Processing also adds value to your life, even though it stands as a completely separate function. Processing is the act of quickly and spontaneously writing out your thoughts and feelings about a particular subject. It involves choosing a topic and then letting the random thoughts and feelings come up, as they're recorded on paper. While journaling offers a perspective over time, processing gives you a deeper perspective of where you are right now, in the present time. You might say journaling gives you a horizontal perspective while processing gives you a vertical perspective. Journaling provides a record over time: processing offers a record of the moment, on a deeper level than a journal. A journal is usually stored and preserved and cherished; something you save for the future and refer back to on occasion. Processing papers usually last only a short time, and may be reviewed perhaps once or twice. After the information has been gleaned, the papers are usually thrown away. A journal often consists of a fancy notebook; a nice book; a 'pretty package'. Papers used for processing generally tend to be cheap typing paper, or any other scrap pieces of paper you find lying around the house. Also, journaling usually involves a more 'scripted' style of writing. You think about what you're going to write. It involves conscious, deliberate thought. Processing, on the other hand, is the complete opposite. You purposely don't think about what you're going to write down. Instead, you simply focus on the topic and write whatever pops into your head. With a journal, you'll usually write neatly and carefully. With processing, you don't have time to write neatly. Punctuation and grammar and spelling don't matter. Instead, you're writing as fast as you can - to keep up with your train of thought, wherever it may lead. The purpose of journaling - 1. To experience the joy and wonder that comes from recording and chronicling the events of importance to you. 2. To save that record for future reference. The purpose of processing - 1. To bleed off excess emotional energy; especially the 'froth' that so often surrounds us. For example - the anger that boils over and spills out onto others, or the fear that so easily consumes us. 2. To learn more about yourself - such as your motivation, your payoffs and your hidden agendas. It digs beneath the surface and allows you to take a closer look at what's really going on inside you. Journaling and processing both add value to your life. While they share certain characteristics, it's important to understand their differences. They could certainly be combined together, but you may find it more effective to process your emotions first, on separate sheets of paper, and then write down the main points in your journal. Information about journaling is straightforward and easily available: many books have been written on the subject, and many web sites are devoted to it. Much less has been written on the topic of processing out your emotions. To learn more about processing, and why it's so critically important to creating your life the way you want it, order your copy of the e-book, "How To Create Your Own Reality". *** http://www.emotional-times.com/blog.html (For a list of emotions.) http://www.forgive-yourself.com (To forgive yourself.) http://www.join-the-fun.com/bookletter.html (How To Create Your Own Reality.) all the best, Mark brought to you by Mark Ivar Myhre The Emotional Healing Wizard fiercely slaying your emotional dragons!