You can keep a brief-note meditation journal by only writing out very concise lines about your meditation session. It’s easy to start by writing about the type of meditation, time spent, your challenges, source of inspiration, and general feeling.
Remember to jot down your exact feelings because your journal is a tool and not just an article. Take for instance,
“Breathing meditation. 10 minutes. Lost concentration most of the time. Experienced calmness unlike before. Felt I could do better next time.”
This is very brief but powerful. It can help you remember what your previous practice was like and compare it with future ones.
The brief note journal is suitable when you don’t have enough time on your side to write elaborately. Or, when you can’t seem to think out what to write. It is better to start writing with the intent of creating a short record, then end up writing more. Instead of trying to write so much and encountering a feeling of failure.
- Extended Meditation Journal Entry
After your daily meditation practices, you can decide to give a full account of your feelings and experiences. This can take from a paragraph to a page or more.
If you are prolific at writing or good at narrating events, keeping an extended journal would be less of a hassle for you. Also, the amount of time you have on your side is a determinant.
When going for a meditation class or retreat or you have a coach, extended journaling will make more sense. This is because it is easier for someone else to read and understand your struggle. They can quickly make comments that can help you in the future.
Even if it is personal, you can quickly recall your feelings by glancing through a page of your extended journal. As a result, you can appreciate your progress and improve your self-affirmation.
With a double-entry journal, you write your daily meditation experiences on one page while leaving the other page blank. The blank page is usually the left-hand side of your journal.
Essentially, you are leaving a blank page so that you can make future comments on it. This is usually on your weekly reviews when you go through your journal for a progress report.
What you write on the blank page can be your points of reflection, things you learned, a summary of practice, etc. These will serve as your major trends for monthly – yearly review.