Meditation jurnal/log. how you do it and what it does

Blackmoth

For some time now i've breafly seen texts about meditation jurnals. but since i'm not good at wrigthing jurnals i wanted to ask. how do you wright one and what benefits does one get from it ?

lamaramadingdong

I have an ap on my iphone (Equanimity) that is a meditation timer that also allows a person to journal and tracks sessions over time. I use the journal function to jot notes of things that worked well, didn't go well, memorable experiences. I don't always write a note. Mostly, it reminds me I have a long way to go.

Floating_Abu

Feel free also to use this thread !

http://newbuddhist.com/discussion/12996/the-meditation-thread-post-your-meditation-here-#Item_6

patbb

http://kennethfolkdharma.wetpaint.com/forum/Practice+Notes

many people have their journal here, so you can read them and learn what they write on them, what they do, learn from their trials, errors and experiments etc...

also many meditation teachers on that website, sometimes commenting on the journals and answering questions, offering suggestions...

Blackmoth

thanks .. big help

ThailandTom

I personally tend to steer clear of journals of meditation. IMO with meditation it is about that specific moment and whatever may arise should pass in the same meditation, just like your breath does and that hindering thought. That is just me though, maybe you can learn things from writing certain aspects down, I just like to leave what was where it belongs.

specialkayme

I haven't started a journal or log yet for that reason. I was advised by someone a few years ago that writing it down is more about the progression. The progression happens naturally, as long as you practice. Meditation is more about the moment.

But I'm in no way saying that's "correct," just what I've been advised and why I haven't started one yet.

patbb

I personally tend to steer clear of journals of meditation. IMO with meditation it is about that specific moment and whatever may arise should pass in the same meditation, just like your breath does and that hindering thought. That is just me though, maybe you can learn things from writing certain aspects down, I just like to leave what was where it belongs.

thats a valid contention but with so many meditation teachers, advanced mediators praising the benefits that they themselves received from keeping a journal, aren't you temped to give it a fair trial and see if it is something that work for you or not?

I ask because i like to try things thoroughly before disregarding them, so that i have a direct experience with them. So i did hold journals and i keep on doing it on and off for about a year now, and the benefits i got from them were reaching far beyond what i could imagine.
It's the things that i couldn't think about before trying it that really sold me to the idea.
I would have never imagine how much motivation it ended up giving me, how much momentum it help me to gain, how many time writing and trying to express clearly what i was experiencing as oppose to just thinking about them, helped me make sense of everything...