Journaling Activity

Journaling Activity

Journaling activity. (2016). In C. Forchuk, Arthur Labatt Family School of Nursing course work. London, ON: University of Western Ontario. Adapted with permission.

Reflect on a life experience that involved significant joy, sadness, conflict, anger. Situate the experience historically, personally and socially by asking yourself: What were the circumstances? What events preceded the experience? Utilize the life world existential—lived space, lived body, lived time, and lived human relation—as guides to reflection.

Begin to write the story. Try to be as clear and descriptive as you can.

When you feel that you have completed the story, put it down. Walk away from it for awhile. Then return to it and reread it. Does it seem true to life? Do other memories surface as you revisit it? Add them if they do.

Reflect on the following and write a journal to summarize the following:

• What themes emerged within your story? How do those themes speak to you of your life experience?
• What did you become sensitive to within yourself through the process of reflecting upon and writing this story?
• Why do you believe that you chose this particular story? Why did these memories emerge? How do they speak to you of your life and of the significance of your experience to whom you are today?

Come to class prepared to share your process and the critical reflection revealed to you within your journal.