The Journaling Experience

GIVE YOUR GRIEF SOMEWHERE TO GO.

In this episode of The Journaling Experience Podcast, we're talking about journaling through grief and loss and the importance of giving our emotions somewhere to exhale.

Grief has taken me through some of the hardest seasons of my life. I lost my dad nearly 20 years ago and later walked through my mum having Alzheimer's and dementia before losing her too. At 45, I found myself in the unusual and painful position of having already lost both parents.

After speaking at an event in London where we explored grief, loss and relationship breakdowns, I found myself thinking again about what happens when we carry grief without giving it an EXIT.

Sometimes we cry. Sometimes we talk. Sometimes we pray, journal, speak to a counsellor or simply sit with what we're feeling.

But somehow, the grief needs somewhere to go.

UNBLOCK THE VALVE. There were times in my own grief where I tried to keep it together, almost like a tap that looked perfectly fine from the outside but was completely blocked.

When I finally allowed myself to undo the valve and let the emotions flow, it was incredibly healing.

There is a time to mourn, but we're not given a convenient timeframe for how long that time should be. Grief takes as long as it takes. So give yourself time, but also give yourself permission to release what you're carrying.

MOVING FORWARD WITHOUT THE GUILT. One of the questions that came up in our live conversation was how difficult it can feel to move forward after losing someone you love. Sometimes moving forward can almost feel like you're leaving them behind.

But what if LIVING is part of how you honour them?

For me, making the most of my life, opportunities and the time I still have is one way I honour the people I love who are no longer here. They wouldn't want me mourning endlessly and not living.

That doesn't make moving forward easy, but it's a question worth sitting with.

YOUR JOURNALING PROMPTS In this episode I share questions from my guided grief journal, Healing Through the Storm:

What feels too overwhelming to face right now?

How can I honour my loved one while moving forward?

What advice would I give someone just starting their grief journey?

What memories bring a smile to my face when I think about my loved one?

You don't have to answer them all. Sometimes ONE question is enough to open up what needs somewhere to go.

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TREASURES IN DARK PLACES. I always want something meaningful to come from the difficult things we've lived through. Not because the painful thing was good, but because what we learn, write and discover in one season can sometimes become something that helps somebody else in another.

A journal entry can eventually become a conversation, a book, a resource or simply the words you know how to say to someone because you've walked that road yourself.

There can be treasures found even in dark, cold and painful places.

That's part of Journal. Publish. Leave a Legacy.

We also talk about my Grief Compassion Box, something I created as an alternative to sending more flowers. I call it a hug in a box, filled with practical comforts and guided journals to give someone a little space to breathe, write and process.

Whether your grief is recent or happened years ago, whether you're grieving a person, relationship, job or another kind of loss, I hope this conversation gives you permission to feel what you feel without rushing yourself through it.

Write.

Talk.

Cry.

Pray.

Get support when you need it.

And most importantly, give the grief somewhere to go.

THINK. FEEL. PROCESS. FLOW.

JOIN THE JOURNALING EXPERIENCE ACADEMY
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Join me in The Journaling Room LIVE every Monday at 9pm GMT / 4pm EST on YouTube @Camelleilona https://www.youtube.com/@camelleilona

What if the thought you keep having isn't random? What if the idea that came to you in the shower, while driving, in prayer, at 2am or halfway through doing something completely unrelated is actually worth paying attention to?

WRITE IT DOWN.

Welcome to the first episode of The Journaling Experience Podcast, a space for meaningful conversations, powerful questions and the kind of reflection that can actually change how you live.

I've been journaling for years. Digitally, in notebooks, on my reMarkable, in planners and wherever else I can capture what I'm thinking in the moment. My Day One app alone holds more than 10,000 journal entries.

Those entries haven't just documented my life. They've helped me process difficult seasons, capture prayers, think through business decisions and hold ideas I didn't fully understand when I first wrote them. Some eventually became BOOKS.

One of those books was Finding Divine Flow.

For years, whenever I wrote something that made me think, there's something in this, I would tag it #book. I wasn't writing a manuscript, I was simply CAPTURING. Eventually those scattered thoughts became something I could gather, organise and publish.

That's why I'm slightly obsessed with telling people to WRITE IT DOWN.

CAPTURE THE DOWNLOAD.
Sometimes an idea arrives suddenly, a sentence, a business idea, a title, solution, book, a strategy or something you suddenly understand.

I describe some of these moments as downloads from Heaven and I believe we have to learn to treat those ideas like they're valuable, like gold, like pearls.

Because what happens when you continually receive ideas but never create a container for them? You forget them, dismiss them or just assume you'll remember later.

Then later comes... and it's GONE.

That idea could have been THE book, business, solution, resource or something worth millions.

So here's a question worth journaling:

Where do your ideas go when they arrive?

VULNERABILITY → AUTHENTICITY → AUTHORITY
We also talk about something that sits at the heart of my work. Your journal can be the place where you are vulnerable FIRST.

Before the polished answer, you can tell the truth on the page.

As you process what you've lived and begin to understand it, vulnerability can become authenticity. And eventually, when you've lived it, processed it and learnt from it, you may discover you now have something worth TEACHING. That's authority.

But there's an important distinction for me: Write from the wound. Teach from the scar.

Capture what's happening while it's happening, in your journal. Be honest, process it, but everything you write doesn't need to be published while you're still bleeding. Some things need time.

YOUR JOURNALING PROMPT
I also pull a question from The Journaling Experience prompt book:

“Consider the relationships in your life: Who are the people that uplift and support you? How do those relationships contribute to your personal growth and understanding of yourself?”

https://v2.stan.store/Camelleilona/p/the-journaling-experience-ebook

Don't just think about it. Write about it. And maybe when you're finished, tell one of those people what their presence in your life has meant.

THIS IS THE JOURNALING EXPERIENCE.
We're going to talk about life, faith, business, books, relationships, healing, ideas, purpose, legacy and all the messy bits in between.

Sometimes I'll be joined by guests. Sometimes it'll just be me and you in the Journaling Room. But there will nearly always be a question worth taking back to the page.

Bring your journal.

THINK. FEEL. PROCESS. FLOW.

And when the thought comes... WRITE IT DOWN.

JOIN THE JOURNALING EXPERIENCE ACADEMY
The conversation doesn't have to end when the episode does.

https://www.skool.com/journaling-experience-academy-7092/about

Join me in The Journaling Room LIVE every Monday at 9pm GMT / 4pm EST https://www.youtube.com/@camelleilona