As I sat up this morning pondering my next blogpost entry I was listening to the recent, bonus episode of the podcast Road Work (you really need to check it out). They were talking about change and the whole concept of impermanence. As the podcast ended I thought, “Can a journal help someone cope with suffering, is it helping me?” Of course it can...of course it is. Maybe the bigger question is, “How (as a practice) might the Theme System Journal help someone (me) through various moments of suffering?”When I look at what I’m doing with the journal I see lots of potential...I just need to grant myself permission to sit with it and think about what is happening on the page. Today is one of those days.Suffering comes as a result of either wanting things to change (and they don’t) or wanting things to stay the same (and...you guessed it...they don’t). When I look at the Daily Themes section and see that I struggle with “Right Speech” (I’ve only ranked myself a “full circle” 3 out of 35 days) for example...this provides a moment of reflection...it allows me to be more conscious (accept dare I say) that this concept of “Right Speech” is something I can easily “slip up” on and most of the time I do (at work) it’s because I either want things to stay the same (a version of reality that I am clinging to) or that I want a version of reality I am not happy with to change more to my liking. Another observation...most of my “Rants” in the Journal Pages section are work based and are the result of my own struggle to come to terms with impermanence.This reflection isn’t intended to make me feel better. It’s more of an attempt on my part to be more mindful...to cultivate a bit of peace and mental silence in my life...all as a result of re-reading a few pages in a journal. I think I am worth that on a more regular basis!