How Cacao Inspires Mindful Journalling
Many practices can be deeply enhanced by the presence of a cup of cacao. This medicine has a way of opening our hearts for expression, whether that’s through dance, art, conversation or my favourite - as a writer! - journalling.
Let's dive in.
There’s something very sacred to me about a warm cup in one hand and a pen in the other. One of the reasons for this could be because it’s a practice I’ve carried all over the world. From balmy Spanish evenings to lazy days at Lake Atitlán, writing is a place to call home and not only in the physical sense. It is also a very grounding practice for our emotional and mental state, calling us home to the heart of the matter.
There is a synchronicity that occurs between the brain and heart when we write, especially by hand. The movement of our wrist, the gentle caress of the pen on paper, the forgetting of time and place as we transcend into the Higher Mind and Heart.
It’s here that true expression can take form, as we direct energy out of our bodies and safely on to the page. It doesn’t matter what we write (this can sometimes stop people from picking up the pen) because it’s a practice of:
- Finding our voice
- Silencing the inner critic
- Letting our expression be uncensored
- Not thinking about other people’s opinions
- Releasing shame, guilt, fear and anxiety over what we feel
- Learning about ourselves
- Deepening connection to our emotions
Trust me, I understand if it’s a practice you struggle with. But that means you’re going to benefit even more from meeting the resistance and writing anyway. You’ll be amazed at what lives at the heart of your fear.
I have used so many excuses to avoid the practice of journalling. For example, why do I feel the need to buy a new journal every time my mood changes? Why do I need every page to look perfect? Resistance. Elizabeth Gilbert has a great quote in her book Big Magic where she lists all the excuses we use to not get started:
You’re afraid you have no talent.
You’re afraid your dreams are embarrassing.
You’re afraid of what people will say if you express your personal truth.
You’re afraid of unleashing your innermost demons.
You’re afraid you’re too fat. (I don’t know what this has to do with creativity but experience has taught me that most of us are afraid we’re too fat so let’s put it on the anxiety list for good measure.)
That line always made me laugh because once we hear our fears voiced out loud, it puts them into perspective doesn’t it? Journalling is also not for anybody else, it’s for you. You never have to share what you write with anybody else. You can burn it if you want to (I regularly do, it feels amazing!)
The thing about Mother Cacao is that she softens all these edges of our doubts and trepidations. She’ll guide you lovingly through the practice and allow what needs to be expressed to rise to the surface, meet it with love and graceful acceptance. We learn to embody this compassion the more we sit with her, and the first person we need to show that to is ourselves. From there it will extend naturally to everybody else, as we deepen in our capacity for empathy, understanding and discernment.
The more intimately we get to know ourselves, the more we’ll recognise how much of what we carry doesn’t belong to us at all. Offer it to the page, the fire, the earth. Offer it to Mother Cacao and allow her to transform it all to love.
Written by our Sacred Scribe
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