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Report on Summer Intensive Journal® Workshop
Volume 29 Issue 7, 8 & 9 | Posted: September 26, 2015
The first two-day INTENSIVE JOURNAL® workshop was completed at the Church of Truth in James Bay last July 23 & 24. Fourteen participants engaged in a meditative, compassionate self-inquiry, exploring the trajectory of their lives from an inward perspective. The feedback from those attending has been positive, with several asking about the date and location of the next workshop in Victoria. Here are three statements from participants in the July workshop:
“To be able to hear my own internal voice with limited distraction was euphoric … capturing what exactly I was experiencing in the moment without self-editing or critiquing.” – CS
The first two-day INTENSIVE JOURNAL® workshop was completed at the Church of Truth in James Bay last July 23 & 24. Fourteen participants engaged in a meditative, compassionate self-inquiry, exploring the trajectory of their lives from an inward perspective. The feedback from those attending has been positive, with several asking about the date and location of the next workshop in Victoria. Here are three statements from participants in the July workshop:
“To be able to hear my own internal voice with limited distraction was euphoric … capturing what exactly I was experiencing in the moment without self-editing or critiquing.” – CS
“Through this journaling process, I feel I am reconnecting with myself in a new way but also opening to others and the world in a more honest and present way.” – AK
“If you are interested to explore your inner landscape in a private, creative and self-directed way then please take this workshop. It will enrich your life and make you a more conscious person.” – SO
In the interest of preserving privacy and confidentiality, these quotes are provided without full names.
The INTENSIVE JOURNAL® method is undertaken as a very private, inwardly reflective writing process. In a workshop setting, each person writes in their own journal workbook. The writing process follows a guided journaling structure developed by psychotherapist Dr. Ira Progoff (1921-98), a student of Dr. Carl Jung. There is no “sharing” of what is written.
At specific intervals in the 12 hour workshop agenda, participants are offered the opportunity to voluntarily “read aloud” what they have written – for the sole purpose of “giving voice” to their inward reflection – making the intangible tangible. There is no commentary, judgment or analysis of the readings by the facilitator or the participants. Each participant writes from an inward perspective, exploring their personal life experience.
The nature of the private process enables the workbook journalists to explore aspects of their life known only to them. Dr. Progoff described this inward reflection as a “going down into one’s well” – freed from the intimidation of judgment or analysis. The overall effect can be very liberating, as one gradually “integrates” elements of their self-understanding into a revitalized “wholeness”.
To quote from an article prepared by Robert Blair Kaiser for the March 1981 issue of Psychology Today: “…since I knew no one was going to see or hear what I was writing, I felt a sense of perfect freedom”.
A Second INTENSIVE JOURNAL® Workshop in November, 2015.
“The two most important days of your life are the day you were born and the day you discover why” – Mark Twain
The next INTENSIVE JOURNAL® workshop is scheduled for November 13 and 14, 2015. This twelve hour experience will take place at the Church of Truth, 111 Superior Street in Victoria, BC.
Central to the purpose of this unique journaling process, is to enable participants to answer the question “where is my life trying to go?” This would include persons who find their life in transition, feeling unsure about the future, perhaps seeking to recover from unfortunate circumstances or loss.
For those interested in attending, and perhaps unfamiliar with the unique journal method of Dr. Ira Progoff, there will a FREE Introductory workshop in early October, 2015.
This free “orientation” session will be a three-hour workshop providing an overview of the workshop process and objectives, an outline of the journal workbook, as well as some sample writing exercises. The INTENSIVE JOURNAL® method is a distinctive process, differing in structure and procedure from common journaling, diary writing or memoir preparation.
The way forward in one’s life can be creatively developed from a compassionate self-directed inquiry into the whole of one's life. Where has my life taken me to now and where is it trying to go? According to Dr. Ira Progoff, “Growth in a human being is essentially an inward process.”
The overall effect of a journal workshop has been described as a meditative inquiry into the “tapestry of self” – nurturing a sacred regard for the wholeness of all life.
If you are interested to know more about the INTENSIVE JOURNAL® work being done in Victoria, please contact Bill Israel by phone at (250) 744-0590, by e.mail at billisrael06@gmail.com or visit his website at billisrael.org. You can also access the Dialogue House website at www.intensivejournal.org to learn more about the program across North America.