Tuesday, January 20, 2026
The way we observe physical hygiene for cleanliness, we must cultivate emotional hygiene for mental clarity. What practices could we follow to cleanse our mind? Meditation, journaling and mindful walking in nature. (The other two disciplines of the practice that I teach, Writing Meditation Practice, are reading and creativity.)
This month we are focusing on journaling which helps us clear the mental mess which is created every single day. Transforming our mind-mess in words and jotting it down is like someone lending an ear to our problems. Especially for the things we can’t share with any person. It reveals possible solutions to an issue at hand and heals emotional wounds. So if there is a difficult situation on your mind or something is hurting you or knotting your belly, why not jot it down on as many pages of your notebook as it takes to purge it?
An honest outpouring of words carries an energy; it has power. Dump it all out in your journal with honest intentions and watch how you come up with ideas that you can put into action. Writing those few pages daily replaces self-doubt with self-confidence and leaves us with a gratifying aha! moment.
For maintaining your mental clarity add silent meditation and a quiet walk to journaling. Practice these and see what happens. While journaling gets your personal feelings and thoughts out of your way meditation grounds you physically and awakens you to the sensations, feelings and passing thoughts. As you walk in nature, clearer and deeper thoughts surface. Inner cobwebs are removed and insights and intuitive ideas float up.
It feels good to empty the anguish onto your trustworthy journal. When you reread it after a year or two you smile how, at the time when you wrote these distressful or angst laden, emotions have gone and forgotten. The negative past is biodegradable. It decomposes into manure to nourish potent seeds of new ideas in the darkness of mind. By the end of this year you’d realize what a long way your journaling has brought you.
Lorraine
It does feel good to empty the anguish onto journal pages. I’ve also been burning sage periodically with the windows cracked (even in this freezing weather). I imagine all the bad thoughts flying out the window as the sage brings joyful energy to my intentions. It makes me feel better — ahhh, the small things!
Madhu B. Wangu
The moments when some senses awaken and we get to witness them, “small” joyful things snowball into ecstasies.
Jennifer D. Diamond
Good morning, Madhu! The emptying of extraneous thoughts clears the way for more creativity for me! Or does it feed my creativity? Thank you!
Madhu B. Wangu
It does both, Jenn. Clarity unblocks and empties the space. From that cauldron of spaciousness creative ideas are born.