Two Stage Journal

A sense of peace as odds and ends of a daily routine fall into place. There are words on the page, progress on a manuscript, and some aches and pains that speak of old disciplines and heavy lifting. But the nights, the nights, the more time I have, the more time I waste, having slipped into that awful habit of relying on the television to feel as though I’m fully unwinding. It’s not all time lost of course. There are moments of great enjoyment and elation, but there are other moments that slip into the cardinal sin of bemusement. The truth is, I’m not reading enough, nor am I reflecting enough. Prayer is still alive, active, wonderful, but I must make better use of downtime, rather than rushing to the remote to make up for a ridiculous nostalgia for a time when I could watch an entire movie in one night (insert gasp here), or binge on numerous episodes of an addictive series.

I’m not reading enough. Nor am I journaling enough. In that, I could make more use of what I read, what I work through, in the process of journaling. Also, truly committing to what I call ‘two stage journaling’ (I made this up, promise), in which I reflect on the personal events of my day (first stage), before I draw out the lessons, perspectives, positions and postulations that I can share here on the blog (second stage). The journal has both, whilst the blog only has the second part. See? Neat, right?

Right now, the twins are in the tub, the rest are at their Junior Legion of Mary, and I’m holding off on feeding these two monkeys dinner, enjoying the simple pleasure of their raucous laughter and innocent play. I bash away at this graceless machine, and look forward to a night well spent. Perhaps I can limit the solo screen time to weekends alone, or something like that. Or scatter the reading and viewing intermittently. Or switch back to my old rule, in which the tv is turned off at 10:30 or so, setting aside specific time to read, journal and such. We’ll see. Unless I never pull this off.

Then I’ll see. You won’t hear a damn thing about it.