Journal writing involves reflecting on your experiences and emotions to foster personal growth, gain new awareness and insights, and achieve emotional healing. While there are many different methods and techniques, Dr. Progoff is recognized as the "grandfather of journal writing. However, he stated that his program is not journal writing but rather much more than that:
"The Intensive Journal method is not journal keeping, not introspective diary keeping, and it isn't writing therapy...it is the full scale active method of personal life integration for continuous and cumulative work."1
Participants at our workshops are often surprised by the power and effectiveness of our method. They may experience transformative insights, creative breakthroughs, and profound personal growth through our method.
So why are people of different backgrounds and interests able to achieve these results? The answer lies in the fact that the Intensive Journal method is more than journal writing; it is a powerful integrated system that is designed to help individuals connect with their true inner self.
Naturally, you may think that our program is journal writing since we use a journal to record our thoughts and feelings. Further our program name, Intensive Journal program, include the word "journal," so you might think that it must be journal writing! However, Dr. Progoff cautions against that line of reasoning by stating that the Journal exists to provide a place for us to record our thoughts.
Dr. Progoff implemented his theories of human development to provide a practical tool for people to
use in developing their lives. Some of the many core attributes of the method include:
As a depth psychologist, Dr. Progoff believed that self-development takes place when people work at a deep inner level. Accordingly, in our workshops, after a leader explains the exercises and how to do each step, you work in silence at progressively deeper levels as the workshop progresses and thereby become further removed from your daily routine. see Workshop Atmosphere
You work privately, knowing that you do not need to read out loud what you wrote to others in the group. No one in the group comments on what another person has read out loud. This allows participants to be honest with themselves, and not to censor or to edit what they have written. The leader will provide nonjudgmental feedback to readings, helping participants connect with their feelings and recognize other areas of their lives that may relate to the subject in question.
The group provides a positive energy, as you work in unison but in privacy, and a discipline to help you
move forward in ways that you could not alone. It is a safe therapeutic environment, allowing participants
to explore their thoughts and emotions deeply. These are some of the many benefits that you can obtain from
attending an Intensive Journal program.
Neutrality is another important component of the workshop atmosphere. We are not trying to influence your
inner process, but rather help you connect with it. Therefore, the terminology, procedures, and the manner
in which the workshop is presented are designed to achieve this important goal of neutrality.
The Intensive Journal workbook is structured with guided exercises that correspond to key areas of your life. Examples include your life history, personal relationships, work/special interests, body and health, society, major events, dreams and imagery, and meaning in life.
The structure offers several benefits. First, it enables you to organize your thoughts and experiences by subject area so that you can develop further what you have written. Second, you can then employ the Journal Feedback process (see below) which provides a powerful way to form new integrations of your thoughts, develop momentum, and see connections and relationships between different areas of your life.
As a university based research professor at Drew University, Dr. Progoff studied the lives of creative persons to determine the process that made them lead creative and dynamic lives. He then mirrored those processes in creating the Intensive Journal method so that people of different backgrounds could lead more meaningful lives.
Dr. Progoff also studied the works of philosophers, theologians, psychologists, and others. He had a
unique ability to take abstract concepts, synthesize them, and make them practical for your use in the
Intensive Journal method. As the user, you do not need to know what is behind the Intensive
Journal method, only how to use it.
Intensive Journal exercises are designed to take you to a level of depth to tap into your true self. The exercises help you make tangible your thoughts and experiences that are often so elusive and difficult to describe. You then learn how to work with your writings to develop them further.
The structure also enables you to implement the Journal Feedback process, which Dr. Progoff consider to be one of his greatest contributions to the field. See description of the Journal Feedback process.
Simply stated, the Journal Feedback process involves reading back your entries and then either deepening your work in that section of the Intensive Journal workbook or moving to related sections that correspond to areas of your life that call your attention. You then work in the related area and continue this iterative process of reading back, deepening your work or moving to related sections.
The Journal Feedback process enables you to move from one area (section) of your life to another, deepening your work, and then seeing connections and relationships. It is a dynamic iterative process, which create a momentum and energy as you move from one section to anther. As more than one area of your life comes together to form a new integration of awareness, you grow as a person as you uncover connections between different areas of your life. This is the heart of how Dr. Progoff intended for the Intensive Journal process to be used, and why he considered the Journal Feedback process to be one of his major contributions.
In summary, you can clearly see that the Intensive Journal process is more than journal writing.
The atmosphere in which we work, the structure of the Intensive Journal workbook, the individual
exercises, and the specialized techniques such as the Journal Feedback process are some of the many
ways that enables the Intensive Journal method to be a powerful method for individual growth. It can
help you achieve personal transformation, unlock creative breakthroughs, and embark on a journey of
self-discovery.
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1 "Notes on the Intensive Journal® Method and the Transitions of Life: a Program for Pastoral
Use," by Ira Progoff, PhD., International Center for Integrative Studies, Forum for Correspondence and
Contact, July 1978 (Volume 9, Number 4), pp. III 39-46.