Open the door to insight with random journaling

Want a fun way to generate invaluable insights and ideas you never realized you were looking for? Try random journaling.

The basic idea is to use something random as a point of departure for exploration. For example, today I happened across this random word generator. I generated a word, and up came "blocking."

From there, you can start the random journaling off with some questions. For example:

• How is this word (or this concept) relevant to my life?
• Where is this happening in my life?
• How is this showing up in my life? Are there any patterns where this is relevant?
• Could this be a symbol for something happening in my life?
• What are the associations with this word? How are they relevant in my life?

So I might explore where the blocks are in my life. How am I throwing up my own blocks? What kinds of habits, or beliefs are blocking me? What kinds of external obstacles am I encountering? Or I might look at from an American football perspective and think of blocking in terms of someone helping remove obstacles so I can run towards my goal. I might spend some time exploring what those obstacles are and who those people might be.

There's potential for all kinds of good juicy insight there.

Blocking was an easy one to explore. What about my next one...liver? Well, I started thinking about what a liver does. Its function is to remove toxins from the blood. Interesting. How could that apply to my life? Is there anything in my life that is a toxin that I need to remove? Anything that is having a negative effect on me that I need to change?

The beauty of random journaling is that wherever it takes you is completely unexpected. It lets you just flow and see where the exploration takes you. It encourages you to think laterally, and be creative in the associations you make.

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by Curt Rosengren, Passion Catalyst

Comments

[Judy Dunn]

I love the creative focus of this exercise, Curt. (Not an earth-shattering statement, since I am a lover of all words.)

It is amazing where one word can take you.

Interesting, on your word "liver," I was thinking about a totally different concept. Liver. One who lives. Am I being the liver, I mean living my life, the way it's meant to be?

I could really get sidetracked with this, being the random creative I am.

[Curt Rosengren]

Judy, no it doesn't surprise me at all that this one resonates with you. :-)

I love the two completely different directions our response to the word liver took us. Great example of how much potential for diverse exploration there is in one little word.