We really should keep journals

At the moment I'm working on a couple of projects at work involving putting together learning materials for people to help them to be better resourced at work. In one of them, I'm proposing to encourage participants to practice, at least from time to time, journalling and other self-reflective disciplines. Some of it is emboldened by knowing that research in psychology etc seems to show that they help well-being in various ways. For me the sweet-spot is that they are also involved in spiritual disciplines helping us to relate positively to God. 
I'm amused/bemused by this bit:

... you shouldn't view journalling as an attempt to formulate solutions to your problems; the real benefit comes from the third-person perspective that's attained when you externalise your thoughts. It's interesting to speculate whether the effect may be similar to that of meditation: not changing your thoughts and feelings so much as changing your relationship to them – so that you no longer take them to be an unquestionable, intractable, non-negotiable reality. Why you really should keep a journal, no matter how cheesy that sounds

The reason is not because of the starting advice: I think it's vital that we find ways not to approach problem-solving directly at times. No, I'm convinced that finding the third-person reframing is vital and is part of cultivating a proper obliquity. The reason for my a/bemusement is that it seems that prayer is clearly going to perform this function (obliquely to relating to God, naturally). I guess that it's the relatively large amount of research on mindfulness meditation that pushes the mention of meditation to the fore, but really the way that this is being explained does seem to indicate that prayer can function in this way. In fact, I think it is time to look more carefully at the 'fashionable' mindfulness/meditation research and consider how the various aspects uncovered are represented in Christian spiriutal practice. I do this in an earlier blog post albeit in a very outliney sort of way which references an article which actually prefigures some of the Guardian article's references.

I'm also interested to note that the advice is to not do it daily but less frequently. That'll go well with some of the people I'm wanting to work with on this. Check out this article for a bit more thinking and advice on the topic.