JOURNAL, LIFE COMPASS and MULTIGENRE PROJECT : Tools for self-discovery

     In the course “Journey in Literature” we have expanded the meaning of journey and to be able to understand we did various assignments like the journal, life compass, and multigenre project. In the journal assignment, I was able to develop my informal writing, we were given a free space to be able to write our internal thoughts and emotions. The professor always said to “go for the jugular” and to “let go of my hand” which was a different approach to most of the written exercises I have taken. It was difficult for me at the beginning to write about my thoughts, since they were very rapidly changing, and my emotions/feelings. The journal exercise had a learning curve to it. In the start, I was very logical and almost writing like essays but through the exercise, I felt more comfortable and freer to write without any logical format. I now know how much we think and how many unconscious actions our brains keep up doing. Writing directly what I felt and what thought was in my brain was very relaxing and even helped me loosen up about certain experiences I go through. I sometimes read some of my entries and is like talking to myself. When reading I even got into why I felt that way and what I was thinking in the time of writing. Overall it was a very enjoyable exercise and it allowed me to be conscious of some of the unconscious thoughts and action my brain was rapidly going through and helped me love writing more.

The life compass was like a quick diagnostics of my current state or how I thought was my current state of being. The compass was based on four points like the spiritual at the top, mental at the right, emotional at the bottom and physical on the left. The maximum score was 12, being 3 points for each. That helped me look at how am I by quickly looking through the past life compass. I now know that a lot of factors affect the well-being of a person. The life compass exercise, although we didn’t have to do it all the time was a summary of my physical and mental state and if I wanted to know what affected it I can just read the journal entries.

The multigenre project was like a macro of all the journals and life compass. It allowed the creative part of me to take effect and also express visually some of the exercise specially with the collages. This class has helped me to learn more about writing and also learn about myself. I now know a way to express my emotions and thoughts that trouble me and relax. I really enjoyed all the experiences and assignments of the class specially the group project. All the tree assignments like the journal, life compass and multigenre project helped me to cope with all the stress of the semester and relax myself. A big part was thanks to Prof. Pittmann that showed us this wonderful tool to help ourselves express emotion and thoughts in writing.