Stephen Bleile

OK, so we all have a bit of extra time over the holiday.  Maybe it’s time to bust out our old journals and take stock of where we are on our journey. (Hmm, Journey. Journal.  Are these related thoughts??)

I have been driving my father-in-law around Edmonton / Spruce Grove all day today.  It’s given me plenty of time to sit and really enjoy lobbies.  Dentists, massage therapists, doctors…  (The first two have the best lobbies.)  I busted out my journal in the lobby of the dentist and discovered that some of the stuff I wrote down a few months ago is as relevant now as it was then.

I was reminded that I am spirit, soul, and body and that I need to nurture each part of me. My body is the house I live in.  It is the tissues and organs and other things that make up the part of me you can see.  My soul is my mind, my will, and my emotions.  My spirit is where my intuition and true fellowship with  good friends occurs.

I was reminded that I need to be aware of which part of me is in the driver’s seat.  I need to be conscious of which part of me is calling the shots. If I only do what my body wants I will end up only drinking water, moving to a city where you walk everywhere, buying a plastic bubble to keep the dirty air out of my lungs and from touching my skin,  and learning to cook spinach wrapped broccoli – claiming I enjoy the taste.

If I only do what my soul wants I would find myself playing x-box all day while eating potato chips stopping this rigorous campaign only to go to the washroom and drink more beer.

If I only do what my spirit wants I’m not sure what would happen, to be honest.  I suppose I would pray, read my bible, hang out with friends.  Doesn’t sound too bad, actually.  Anyways, never mind that.  That’s not the point.  I’m just trying to show in my own awkward way that they’re different and some sort of balance is good.

You may not have a journal to refer to since you’ve never written one.  Sorry, there’s no store in the world that sells a copy of that book.  (Not even amazon.)  This holiday season may a great time to fix that problem.   Maybe you can start a 7 day countdown to Christmas? (Unless it’s really rude or revealing you can even post it here!)  I use multicolor pens in my journal when I’m feeling really artsy. Otherwise any old Bic will do.

There is a great set of questions you may want to use to get your journal pages full up on ink instead of blank.  Ask yourself these questions:

what am I learning about myself?

What am I learning about other people?

What am I learning about God?

There’s no need to actually answer the questions.  They’re just a good spring board to get you going.

And what does this have to do with a Christmas countdown?  Well, it just seems to me that this time is a good time to reflect.  It’s a good time to slow down for long enough to hear ourselves breathe – right from the deep down part of who we are.

Here’s an example of someone’s journal:  (Mine doesn’t have so many drawings.)