Make Spiritual, Creative & Dream Journaling weekend your spring getaway

I'm leading a three-day Spiritual, Creative and Dream Journaling retreat the weekend of April 25-27, 2014 at The Christine Center in central Wisconsin. If you or anyone you know might be interested in attending, see more here.

Make this hands-on journal-writing exploration your spring post-Lent and post-Easter getaway to greet the season with new inspiration. Perfect for beginning and seasoned journal writers alike. The Christine Center is set near a state forest with lodging in hermitages, each unique, that dot wooded paths. Delicious vegetarian meals are served in the main building where the workshop takes place, along with optional attendance at morning and evening meditations, chakra-focused chanting, wood-fired sauna, a sky full of stars, and more.

Spiritual, Creative and Dream Journaling Retreat
Three-day journal-writing exploration
Friday, April 25 - Sunday, April 27, 2014
Christine Center, Willard, Wisconsin, tucked away in a pristine setting in central Wisconsin in

Deepen your spirituality, better understand relationships, foster creativity and delve into your nightly dreams with more focus through journal writing. Over the course of this three-day retreat, leader Cynthia Gallaher will help you uncover the journaling method or methods that best suit your personality. You’ll take part in hands-on explorations of journal dialogs, Japanese haibun (journal entries that end in a short poem) and naikan gratitude journal methods, Leonardo Da Vinci-style notebooks, artists’ journals, modern dream journaling techniques and more.

This retreat provides a stimulating and non-judgmental atmosphere for both newer and long-time journal writers. By the end of the retreat, participants can experience more clear direction toward spiritual, creative and emotional renewal through journal writing, and be motivated to develop a regular journal writing practice. Tuition is on a sliding scale basis. Range is from $85-$125, plus meals and lodging.

* Friday night, April 25, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.: Journal writing introduction, overview personality quiz and getting started.
* Saturday morning, April 26, 9 a.m. to noon: Stepping Stones and Dialogues as the basis of modern journaling.
* Saturday afternoon, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Japanese techniques, artist and creative journals, and what would Leonardo da Vinci do?
* Saturday evening, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Dream journaling
What do you do when life gives you synchronicities, serendipity, coincidences or confirmations?
* Sunday morning, April 27, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.: Final thoughts for future journaling.

Cynthia will also include a few PowerPoint presentations, provide handouts and display selected books on journal writing.

At the completion of this retreat, participants will be able to:
~ Focus on the type of journal writing to fit his or her personality.
~ Access their own list of numerous, personal journal writing topics and questions.
~ Use journaling methods of Stepping Stones and Dialogues to address personal and creative issues.
~ Understand and use the Japanese methods of haibun and naikan.
~ Create a Leonardo da Vinci-style notebook, artist’s journal or other type of creative journal.
~ Create an active, personal dream journal.
~ Use journaling to explore & understand personal values, issues & memories.

Retreat leader Cynthia Gallaher is a poet, playwright, nonfiction writer and journal writer. She leads journal writing workshops in libraries, schools, centers and spas throughout the Midwest, and teaches an online course on journal writing at the University of Illinois at Chicago. ◦

Make Spiritual, Creative & Dream Journaling weekend your spring getaway

Make an introspective getaway before the holidays -- journal writing weekend Nov 22-24

I'm leading a three-day Spiritual, Creative and Dream Journaling retreat the weekend of November 22-24 at The Christine Center in central Wisconsin. If you or anyone you know might be interested in attending, see more here, click on the latest newsletter and scroll down to page three.

This hands-on journal-writing exploration can be an introspective, inspiring getaway before the holidays for those new to journaling and seasoned journal writers alike. The Christine Center is set near a state forest with lodging in hermitages, each unique, that dot wooded paths. Delicious vegetarian meals are served in the main building where the workshop takes place, along with optional attendance at morning and evening meditations, chakra-focused chanting, wood-fired sauna, more.

Spiritual, Creative and Dream Journaling Retreat
Three-day journal-writing exploration
Friday, Nov. 22- Sunday, November 24
Christine Center, Willard, Wisconsin

Deepen your spirituality, better understand relationships, foster creativity and delve into your nightly dreams with more focus through journal writing. Over the course of this three-day retreat, leader Cynthia Gallaher will help you uncover the journaling method or methods that best suit your personality. You’ll take part in hands-on explorations of journal dialogs, Japanese haibun (journal entries that end in a short poem) and naikan gratitude journal methods, Leonardo Da Vinci-style notebooks, artists’ journals, modern dream journaling techniques and more.

This retreat provides a stimulating and non-judgmental atmosphere for both newer and long-time journal writers. By the end of the retreat, participants can experience more clear direction toward spiritual, creative and emotional renewal through journal writing, and be motivated to develop a regular journal writing practice. Tuition is on a sliding scale basis. Range is from $85-$125, plus meals and lodging.

* Friday night, November 22, 7 p.m.-9 p.m.: Journal writing introduction, overview personality quiz and getting started.
* Saturday morning, November 23, 9 a.m. to noon: Stepping Stones and Dialogues as the basis of modern journaling.
* Saturday afternoon, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.: Japanese techniques, artist and creative journals, and what would Leonardo da Vinci do?
* Saturday evening, 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.: Dream journaling
What do you do when life gives you synchronicities, serendipity, coincidences or confirmations?
* Sunday morning, November 24, 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.: Final thoughts for future journaling.

Cynthia will also present a few PowerPoint presentations, provide handouts and display selected books on journal writing.

At the completion of this retreat, participants will be able to:
~ Focus on the type of journal writing to fit his or her personality.
~ Access their own list of numerous, personal journal writing topics and questions.
~ Use journaling methods of Stepping Stones and Dialogues to address personal and creative issues.
~ Understand and use the Japanese methods of haibun and naikan.
~ Create a Leonardo da Vinci-style notebook, artist’s journal or other type of creative journal.
~ Create an active, personal dream journal.
~ Use journaling to explore and understand personal values, issues and memories.

Retreat leader Cynthia Gallaher is a poet, playwright, nonfiction writer and journal writer. She leads journal writing workshops in libraries, schools, centers and spas throughout the Midwest, and teaches an online course on journal writing at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

◦

Make an introspective getaway before the holidays -- journal writing weekend Nov 22-24

Why record your dreams in a journal?

In the Robert Moss book, The Three 'Only' Things: Tapping the Powers of Dreams, Coincidence and Imagination, he cites "The Nine Powers of Dreaming:" 1. We solve problems in our dreams. 2. Dreams coach us for future challenges and opportunities. 3. Dreams hold up a magic mirror to our actions and behavior. 4. Dreams show us what we need to do to stay well. 5. Dreams are a secret laboratory. 6. Dreams are a creative studio. 7. Dreams help us mend our divided selves. 8. Dreaming is a key to better relationships. 9. Dreams recall us to our larger purpose.

And when we journal dreams on a consistent basis, perhaps for a two or three-week trial period, we may see a pattern develop that can help give us greater insight into that "other" side of ourselves.

◦

Why record your dreams in a journal?

Personal dream image inventory for your journal

Let’s say you’ve been journaling your dreams for some time now. Your recall and vividness of dreams are becoming sharper and your dream entries contain more detail because you remember more of your dreams. You will reach a point when you’ll feel ready to begin re-reading your entries. Keep an eye out for recurring themes, images and symbols. Underline them in your entries.

Start a new journal entry and list these images. Such images can be characters, themes, objects, locations, situations or sounds. Try to remember the context in which these images appeared and the emotions that surrounded them. What do these images mean to you personally? Do they relate to anything going on in your waking life? What do you think some of your dreams are revealing about yourself?

Most sleep and dream experts discourage “dream interpretation” books or dictionaries, insisting dream images are all extremely personal and can only apply to the particular person dreaming them. If you go to the bookstore and look through various dream interpretation books, you might notice that these books will usually not agree on the meaning of any one image! Many of the dream symbol interpretations are based on older cultures in more closed societies in which everyone thought along the same lines. And every different culture had their own interpretations. In today's mixed societies of individuals, it's a much more personal story.

Robert Moss, author of the highly recommended The Three “Only” Things, said, “You don’t want anyone telling you what your dreams mean. Dreams bring many gifts of power and you don’t want to give that power away.” You are the best judge and interpreter of your own dreams.

Dreams are not prophecies, largely, but are instead a means of finding out more about how you really feel about aspects of your own life. And dream journaling is a way to record and reflect on these dream issues.

◦

Personal dream image inventory for your journal

Why journal your dreams?

In the Robert Moss book, The Three 'Only' Things: Tapping the Powers of Dreams, Coincidence and Imagination, he cites "The Nine Powers of Dreaming:" 1. We solve problems in our dreams. 2. Dreams coach us for future challenges and opportunities. 3. Dreams hold up a magic mirror to our actions and behavior. 4. Dreams show us what we need to do to stay well. 5. Dreams are a secret laboratory. 6. Dreams are a creative studio. 7. Dreams help us mend our divided selves. 8. Dreaming is a key to better relationships. 9. Dreams recall us to our larger purpose.

And when we journal dreams on a consistent basis, perhaps for a two or three-week trial period, we may see a pattern develop that can help give us greater insight into that "other" side of ourselves.

◦

Why journal your dreams?