[2] Write your thinking, not think to write.

I always got stuck whenever I want to write, especially in my journal, even with prompts. What's blocking me is that I usually put too much focus on the writing. I think too much to come up with a good piece. And so there I am, just thinking and not writing a single word because I couldn't think of the best way to write what I was thinking about. But that's exactly why I came to journal in the first place, to let out my thought and be done with it!

And so I thought, again, and I tried to write without looking at my screen to not get distracted by what I was writing, and it resulted in a multi-paragraph journal that comes out of nowhere. Then I read it and recognized some things I would change about how I think about things. So, I wrote this as a reminder of what I have observed, a reminder on what to focus on when I journal, and how to achieve it. I find this as a good practice whenever I got stuck, and it can be used as a general journaling practice.

You have to write your thoughts for mental clarity. Think for yourself and write what you are thinking, not think to write. When you think to write, you put yourself in the writing zone and the writing zone has its own rules which restrict your thinking flow.

In the thinking space, there are no writing rules (no editing, formatting, grammar, no caring how you sort your words, or how you arrange them). One way to do it (write your thinking, not thinking to write) is to write while not looking at what you are writing. This takes away your focus on writing and the rules associated with it, so you can have a stream of thoughts flowing freely onto what you're writing on, whether it is a paper or a digital document.

Thinking flow should be free. It should just go without making corrections. And you want to write it so you can review it, acknowledge what's wrong and what to do to correct it, in retrospect.

The correction happens after you're done. Review what you wrote and infer how you were thinking and being, the state you were in when you were doing the exercise.

Don't delete anything, only review. Write another document that references the original exercise, or create a section in the same document. The key is to make both the original and the review easily discoverable.

When reviewing, if you come to a realization that what you thought are not based, or biased, or wrong, give some time for yourself to think. Then write how you would want yourself to think instead. Find the truth and be the truth. Maybe it'll take more than one correction, but small progress and the compound effect plays a big role in being and living towards a better life full of content.

Related: Meta journaling