Dadi Janki’s consistent message to her spiritual friends is to pay attention to the quality of the thoughts in our minds and to create spaces of silence in order to inculcate our most elevated thoughts into our lives.
The discipline of slowing down and observing what is moving right now inside of me is, in my opinion, one of the most basic and important of leadership disciplines. To be able to be more aware, some of us have developed the practice of journaling. To describe this practice we often use the analogy of a mirror. Things happen very quickly. Thoughts move at the speed of electrons―feelings move even faster―so how do we use a journal as a mirror to really look at what is going on inside of us?
The practice of journaling is very simple. Start with silence. You may want to play music. Relax. When it is time to open your journal, just write; don’t think; just write. Sometimes you will find that your hand just flows with words, while in other times the part of the mind that censors, edits, and takes over, thinks, “I don’t think I should write this way, because the teacher might not like it.”
To experience the real benefit of journaling, we need to suspend all of those filters that we have developed in our lives. We need to be in the flow of our thoughts and feelings. You may find yourself drawing pictures. You may find yourself writing sentences that don’t make sense, sentences that don’t have proper grammatical composition. Just let it go. This is what is meant by a journaling practice.
A journal is like a friend that you can take with you and have a conversation with. A journal is a personal tool, and the first ground rule is that you never ever have to tell anybody what you write in your journal. It is also a great way to capture things that are moving―thoughts, feelings, intuitions and images.
Notice
Let the awareness of being fill you. Notice the feeling of being and the richness of the present moment. If you are having trouble getting started ask yourself, “What is the meaning for me in the situation that I find myself in now? What opportunity is emerging from the inside?” Notice whatever comes up. The simplest method is to put your pen on the page of the journal and just let it move. In the fullness of this moment―here, now―notice what is emerging. It might be a particular question. It might be a sensibility or a feeling. It might be a picture. It could be anything. Just ask, “What is emerging in me, here, now?”
Reflect
Notice what is emerging and then reflect. Ask, “As I consider my path forward and attune myself to what is emerging through me, what might be some important steps in my own preparation, in building my own inner readiness? What might be important in helping me develop my readiness to serve what’s emerging?”
Respond
From this simple process questions may emerge that you are wrestling with or would like to pose. There may be experiences that you would like to share beyond the privacy of these pages. There may be discoveries that you prefer to keep confidential. I encourage you to strengthen what I call the practice of journaling, and what Dadi Janki may call, “keeping a chart.” For it is in this inner space of silent reflection that solutions emerge.
The above passage is a Foreword to Dadi Janki’s book, ‘Dear Friends: Messages For The Call Of Our Time’.
Dadi Janki was the administrative head of the Brahma Kumaris World Spiritual University, till she left her physical body on March 27, 2020, at the age of 104.
Peter Senge is Senior Lecturer, MIT Sloan School of Management and Co-Facilitator Call of the Time Dialogues.