Journaling for Spiritual Growth

By Marc Alan Schelske

Spiritual and personal growth is possible. Over the centuries, journaling has emerged as one of the most consistently transformative practices, recommended by leaders across spiritual traditions, therapists, coaches, and others. Why then are so many people intimidated by journaling today, while others try it only to give it up? Incorporating both ancient spiritual wisdom and current neuro-biology, Journaling for Spiritual Growth teaches you how to be present to your life and hear what the Spirit is doing within you. Through a gentle step-by-step process over six weeks, you'll learn:

• Why diaries and goal tracking can't transform us,
• What expectations undermine journaling's effects,
• What mindsets and questions are most helpful for lasting growth,
• How structure can be a gentle friend,
• How to create a sustainable habit for your life and temperament.

Endorsements:

"I kept waiting for this book to disappoint; for it to turn into something harsh rather than kind, rigid rather than flexible, even more harmful than helpful. It did not and I am grateful. If you have a nudge to find accessible ways to get your inner world out, Marc's step by step contribution to this adventure is for you. Read slowly, take your time, play with the work, and thank me later!"   - Wm. Paul Young, Author, The Shack, Crossroads and Eve.

 

"Marc Alan Schelske's manual on journaling is among the most accessible and practical guides that I've encountered...his contribution of patterns and principles that become healthy habits is an invaluable tool." - Dr. Bradley Jersak, Dean of Theology & Culture, St. Stephen's University, author, Out of the Embers: Faith After the Great Deconstruction.

 

"Some books about spiritual disciplines load up heavy burdens on the reader: ought's, should's, more, better, now… but not this one. Marc...guides the reader into the easy gift of journaling. This resource is a treasure." - Matt Tebbe, Co-founder Gravity leadership, co-pastor, The Table, co-author, Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms to Cultivate a Robust Faith.

 

"...Written for everyone from the merely curious to the deeply religious, you will find tools, training, and companionship for your journey... - Jonathan Puddle, Pastor and author, You are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You and Mornings With God: Daily Bible Devotional for Men.

"...This book is a friend for the journey, walking with us to discover the craft of journaling with curiosity and a sense of adventure." - Mandy Smith, Pastor and author, Unfettered: Imagining a Childlike Faith Beyond the Baggage of Western Culture and The Vulnerable Pastor.

"Journaling for Spiritual Growth invites you to a reflective and meditative life of spiritual growth and health. This gentle, intentional, step-by-step guide makes the abstract practical and doable. If journaling feels intimidating to you, or if you've tried and failed to develop this practice in the past, this grace-filled guide removes the stumbling blocks, equipping and encouraging you in a sustainable life of journaling. Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, you'll find space with Marc to bring your life before God through reflective listening and learning." - Susan Carson, Director, Roots&Branches Network, Author, Rooted (IN): Thriving in Connection with God, Yourself, and Others.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Live210 Media
• Release date: Nov 15, 2022
• ISBN: 9780988688230

Book preview

I kept waiting for this book to disappoint; for it to turn into something harsh rather than kind, rigid rather than flexible, even more harmful than helpful. It did not and I am grateful. If you have a nudge to find accessible ways to get your inner world out, Marc's step by step contribution to this adventure is for you. Read slowly, take your time, play with the work, and thank me later!

Wm. Paul Young

Author, The Shack, Crossroads and Eve.

Marc Alan Schelske's manual on journaling is among the most accessible and practical guides that I've encountered. As someone prone to binges and famines in my devotional writing, his contribution of patterns and principles that become healthy habits is an invaluable tool. Six weeks for a new way of being? Yes please!

Dr. Bradley Jersak

Dean of Theology & Culture, St. Stephen’s University, author, Out of the Embers: Faith After the Great Deconstruction.

Some books about spiritual disciplines load up heavy burdens on the reader: ought's, should’s, more, better, now… but not this one. Marc’s Journaling for Spiritual Growth invites you into an exploration of your life, developing the habit of journaling as you go. Simple, profound, and entirely practical, he guides the reader into the easy gift of journaling. This resource is a treasure; I highly recommend it.

Matt Tebbe

Co-founder Gravity leadership, co-pastor, The Table, co-author, Having the Mind of Christ: Eight Axioms to Cultivate a Robust Faith.

Marc has a deep awareness that there are significant things happening in and around us, ours to discover if we only pay attention. This book is a friend for the journey, walking with us to discover the craft of journaling with curiosity and a sense of adventure.

Mandy Smith

Pastor and author, Unfettered: Imagining a Childlike Faith Beyond the Baggage of Western Culture and The Vulnerable Pastor.

Highly practical and research-driven yet rooted in the mystical tradition, Journaling for Spiritual Growth is an accessible, gentle guide to exploring your spiritual life. Written for everyone from the merely curious to the deeply religious, you will find tools, training, and companionship for your journey. Perfect for groups or solo use, this will be of great benefit to anyone looking to cultivate greater awareness of God's presence in their life.

Jonathan Puddle

Pastor and author, You are Enough: Learning to Love Yourself the Way God Loves You and Mornings With God: Daily Bible Devotional for Men.

Journaling for Spiritual Growth invites you to a reflective and meditative life of spiritual growth and health. This gentle, step-by-step guide makes the abstract practical and doable. If journaling feels intimidating to you, or if you’ve tried and failed to develop this practice in the past, this grace-filled guide removes the stumbling blocks, equipping and encouraging you in a sustainable life of journaling. Wherever you are on your spiritual journey, you’ll find space with Marc to bring your life before God through reflective listening and learning. As you grow in the practice of being present to God and yourself, you’ll find the transformation and renewal you seek.

Susan Carson

Director, Roots&Branches Network, Author, Rooted (IN): Thriving in Connection with God, Yourself, and Others.



© 2016, 2022 by Marc Alan Schelske.

All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, scanning, or other—except for brief quotations in reviews or articles, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

If this is an ebook edition that you purchased, you may print out a single copy for your own use.

For more information and other use queries, please contact the author at [e-mail].

All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from either the New Revised Standard Version Bible (© 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by Permission), or the Christian Standard Bible (© 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission).

The publisher cannot guarantee the accuracy or functionality of website URLs used in this book beyond the date of publication.

Editor: Leanne Sype

Mental Health Consultant: Cindy Brosh

Cover Design & Interior Art: Tamara Zabaznoska

Interior Design: 2:ten Creative

2nd Edition, Expanded and Updated.

Print ISBN 978-0-9886882-2-3

Digital ISBN 978-0-9886882-3-0

Published in the United States by

Live210 Media

PO Box 220213

Portland, Oregon 97269

To Emerson

and so many others who, like me,

must learn how to live well with a chronically

curious, fragmented, and busy mind.

Acknowledgements

I am indebted to Christina, Emerson, and Lucas who give me space to write and cheer me on; my church family at Bridge City who encourage and help me work through all my ideas; and the many who interact kindly with me on the internet. I hope my words can be of use in your journey of spiritual growth.

Much thanks to the hospitality of the kind Benedictine monks of Mount Angel Abbey, in Mount Angel, Oregon, where much of this book was written.

My deep gratitude goes out to my brave and generous beta readers. This book is better because of you: Janine Smith, Raymon Yates, Tracy English, Kim Bruce, Kim Puckett, Michael Martin, Sylvia Harrison, and Bernhard Gildemeister. I’m especially indebted to Raynna Myers and Anne Lafleur who went above and beyond with in-depth feedback and insight.

I am so thankful for the many folks who helped bring this book to life: Cindy Brosh, who made sure my references to the brain and matters pertaining to mental health were both accurate and helpful; Leanne Sype, who is not only a skilled and gracious editor, but helped make my words more sensitive; Jonathan Puddle, who shared much wise counsel on the book and the publishing process; Susan Carson, who made launching the book fun and effective. I’ll never do this process alone again!

Thanks as well to the folks who made the amazing writing software Ulysses. This project was so much easier for your work. Finally, I want to acknowledge K.J. Ramsey and her designer, Conrad Garner, for the cover of her book, The Lord is My Courage, which so moved me and served as inspiration for the incredible artwork that graces the cover of this book.



Contents

Introduction

Week 1 - Choose the Right Perspective

Day 1 - There is No Shortcut

Day 2 - Neither Diary, Nor Artwork

Day 3 - It’s a Mirror

Day 4 - Meet Your Personal Growth Assistant

Day 5 - Understand How We Learn

Week 2 - Prepare Your Tools

Day 1 - Gracious Flexibility

Day 2 - Time & Space

Day 3 - Frequency & Faithfulness

Day 4 - Pen & Paper, Keys & Screens

Day 5 - The Key that Opens the Door

Week 3 - Understand the Essential Ingredients

Day 1 - The Spine

Day 2 - Silence

Day 3 - Inward Reflection

Day 4 - Godward Reflection

Day 5 - Prayer

Week 4 - Structure Your Journaling with a Template

Day 1 - Why Use a Template?

Day 2 - The 15-Minute Slow Down

Day 3 - The 30-Minute Guided Devotional

Day 4 - The 50-Minute Inner Life Reflection

Day 5 - Don’t Customize Just Yet

Week 5 - Empowering Your Habit

Day 1 - Notice Competing Habits

Day 2 - Anchor a Chain Trigger

Day 3 - Choose an Effective Reward

Day 4 - Notice & Name Your Wins

Day 5 - Live in Practical Grace

Week 6 - Ongoing Maintenance

Day 1 - Be Realistic About the Time Needed

Day 2 - Make Wise Changes

Day 3 - Implement an FTF Routine

Day 4 - Make Level Paths

Day 5 - Choose Faithfulness

Appendices

Appendix 1 - What is Spiritual Growth?

Appendix 2 - Building Your Template

Appendix 3 - Recommended Tools

Appendix 4 - Ways to Practice

Appendix 5 - Literature on Habit Building



Introduction

or How To Use This Book

This is not a book for reading, not really. It’s a book to guide you in doing. You certainly can read it right through, but there is a better way. Let me tell you a bit of what this book is about, and how I might be able to help you through these pages.

I’m going to assume that you’ve picked this up because you believe there is such a thing as spiritual growth.¹ I expect you desire a healthier inner life and more profound experience of God. You believe or hope this is possible. I’ve spent more than twenty-five years helping people with these very things. It’s not uncommon for me to find myself sitting on my front deck or at a coffee shop in a conversation with someone like you about the inner life.

What I share in this little book has been tested over more than two decades, shaped by personal experience, and sharpened as I’ve worked with others. There are many spiritual practices and many different personalities. What works for one won’t always work for another. Yet, I stand convinced that, for many, journaling is an effective and transformative spiritual practice. This book, however, is not about convincing you.

I start with this assumption: You are here to try something new or you want to strengthen an existing journaling practice. That’s why reading this book isn’t sufficient. Journaling is a practice you learn by doing. Reading is a frontal lobe activity, where your brain assembles the puzzle of letters, words, and grammar in order to synthesize ideas. Cataloging new ideas isn’t the same thing as spiritual growth, though. Spiritual growth happens in our inner world. It runs deep into our limbic system touching parts of us that are older than words.² This is the domain of Spirit. It is, if I can use a controversial term, mystical. We are entering the world of experience.

Of course, you’ll be reading. This is a book after all, but your reading must serve the more important goal of experience. You and I are going to try something books are ill-suited to accomplish. First, we’re going to help you build a new habit. Second, while that’s happening, I hope to help you have an experience that goes deeper than your intellect. My part is to share my experience organized into a path you can follow. Your part—and this is key—is to do the thing and then think about what happens. Literally do the thing. Journal.

I first prepared these ideas in a simple six-week course, delivered as a series of weekly emails. People seemed to find this helpful, so I expanded those emails into a short ebook. Almost a thousand people used this material in those original forms. I still get requests for it. I’ve re-written and expanded that material to include insight about how habits are built and important lessons I’ve learned about journaling since those first emails.

In order to walk you through the process of building a habit, I’ve kept the original structure. Six weeks, five lessons each week, each with a short reading and a journaling exercise. Five lessons per week mean you can take weekends off or have a margin of time to catch up when you fall behind. The readings present key principles. The exercises help you move from information to experience, taking small steps toward building your new habit. Each week’s lessons are tied together by a certain theme.

Week 1 suggests that a successful journaling practice begins not with our choice of tools or techniques, but with certain perspectives. For some, this might seem a strange place to begin. Shouldn’t we start by grabbing a journal? In my experience, no. Far more important than whether you journal in a blank notebook or on a computer screen is why you’re journaling at all.

Week 2 covers the tools necessary for journaling, although this extends beyond what you might think. Week 3 covers the essential elements that make journaling for spiritual growth different from other kinds of journaling. In week 4, I suggest