Don't Think. FEEL

These past few months for the INGL 3135 class we were supposed to write in a journal at least 40 entries for 40 different days for 10 minutes. After the first 30 days another task was added, to write at the beginning of the entry a compass that was to show, in a range of numbers from 1-3 being the strongest,  how strong were the spiritual, mental, physical and emotional sentiments.   This new task was to last for the rest of the entries made. The main focus of the project was to see how my writing and thought change and evolve through a short period of time.

To start and use of guidelines the professor wrote on the board five (5) different key notes, called "anti-rules", which are the following: (Natalie Goldberg)


"Anti-Rules":

1- Don't Crossover
2- Don't worry about spelling , punctuation, grammar, etc

3- Don't think, don't get logical
4-Go for the jugular
5-Keep your hand moving




When one first see these guideline one could think that the professor just made my life easier, but the contrary. It actually was very difficult to follow the guidelines. First, it was instinct to crossover and it was more difficult not to crossover. In every single entry I crossed over and int he reflection had to state it to try to remember for the next time.  Once O thought about the guidelines to try to follow them i violated the "anti-rule" number 3, I was thinking on what to do.  "Anti-rule" #3 was also difficult to follow because, how could I not think? I didn't understand how could a person write for 10 consecutive minutes without thinking at all; I mean I still think its impossible because unconsciously our mind is thinking how to move the hand so that it can write. Yet at the end of the project I was able to dig deep in my thoughts and came up with some promising ideas.  Obviously as the time passed and wrote more and more entries I forgot about the "anti-rules".

As of March 20, 2015 I had written 41 entries in the journal; five per week. Many of the first entries written started off thinking and analyzing the "anti-rules" established for the project. I noticed that my writing changed depending on the place I wrote. For example, when I wrote in the classroom my thoughts focused on the tasks I had to do during the day and week.  When I wrote at home the entries were much more interrupted and shorter than the rest of the entries. The thoughts ended abruptly and many themes were written about. This was due to the noises and things I was dividing my attention with; example my dog, mom asking me to do favors, etc. 

Mila, my pet

Toward the end of the entries I was able to focus on what I was writing and many ideas came to mind and I just wrote them and everything that came to mind. I noticed that I'm really observant and like to have everything planned out; most of my time is thinking about the things I have to do and the best way to do them.This journey was interesting  because it helped me organize my thoughts and to focus on one task at a time and by doing so I would be able to excel and not get overwhelmed.