Allison Byxbe is the author of Journaling as a Spiritual Practice and the founder of the journaling communities Saturday Pages and The Inky Collective. She is a former writing professor turned journaling teacher dedicated to helping others find healing and wholeness through taking pen to page. She lives in South Carolina with her husband Ben and three kiddos.

Website:

https://allisonbyxbe.com

Welcome to 12-Minute Converse with Jesus Believers.

God chose first to have a conversation with us, his creation.

Our prayer is that this listening space brings growth and transforms your life forever.

Praise God for you, Alison.

It's a great pleasure to connect with you.

What part of the world are you in today?

Yeah, thank you so much for having me.

I am in Columbia, South Carolina, where it is very hot and humid right now.

Even though you're close to the sea, that's wet, isn't it?

It really is, it really is.

But yeah, we've just had a lot of rain recently, and that rain, the humidity just seems to kind of hover and stay.

Were you born in South Carolina?

I was actually born in Florida, but I have spent most of my life in South Carolina, so I consider it home.

Do you miss Florida?

You know, sometimes, and my husband and I joke some about wanting maybe one day to live there just because there's, you know, a lot of fun things down there.

They get sunshine almost year round.

But what I love about South Carolina is we do get a bit of change in season.

So we get a fall and a little tiny bit of winter and a spring and then lots of summer.

For some reason, the leaves come to mind.

It's beautiful when the leaves change, when you get to see the leaves change, yeah?

It really, really is, yeah.

And if we go just a couple hours north of us up into the mountains, we see that the leaves are even more beautiful.

So sometimes we'll take a short day trip up that way to do that, to see those.

Tell me about your path and journaling and where it really ignited.

I've loved writing since I was a little girl, so I've actually journaled, what I would say is my whole life, but where it really took off and ignited for me was when I had a, when I was in my 30s and our youngest, our oldest son at the time was about a year old and he was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition.

And so I did what I always do and I wrote about it and I journaled and through those journaling, through that journaling, prayed through my, through the words I was writing as well.

And what I noticed, the reason it became such a kind of lit such a fire in me is because I noticed that God was using the journaling and that conversation with him through my journal to really help me heal and process life with a child who has a disability.

And it was the, I think it just was a season where I could only be really, really honest because I was so emotionally raw.

And that honesty just really brought me into the presence of God and allowed him to speak into, you know, our difficulties and our grief and the ways that we were really wrestling with our new, with his, with our son's diagnosis.

You're speaking in plural, where an hour.

So do you share the writings of your journal with your husband?

I do.

And not all of the time, but there were definitely times where I, you know, my husband, Ben would come home from work and I'd be like, Hey, I really want to read you this thing that I wrote in my journal today.

Cause it was really meaningful or it really helped me gain some insight or clarity, or it helped bring some peace to questions that we have and we're wrestling with.

And he was always very gracious, has always been very gracious to listen when I wanted to share those things with him.

Does he journal?

Not as much as I do, but he does journal now.

Definitely sees the value in it.

He's actually even sat in on some of the journaling classes that I have taught.

And then he and I were able to co-lead a journaling retreat together with some other couples.

And so that was a lot of fun as well.

Do you see more women showing up for the journaling classes primarily, or is it, has it been an even crowd?

Definitely more women.

There is just something, I think, where people tend to think of journaling more as something that women enjoy and do, but I will tell you at a recent journaling class, I had a 93 year old man attend, and that was such a delight.

I told him he helped me break a record.

I'd never had somebody his age, attend one before.

And that was a lot of fun to see him be a part of that.

So yeah.

Let's jump into the do's and don'ts of journaling.

Please open me up to what the class would be like.

What, what are you actually doing in the class?

So the do's and don'ts, I tell people, there's only one wrong way to journal, and that would be to not journal at all.

But beyond that, the only real guideline I give people or specific guideline I give them is to be honest in what they write down, because the point is to be honest, to process, to ask hard questions, to really figure out what you think and where you're at in your heart and your soul.

And so that honesty piece is really, really important.

But one of my favorite things to do in a class is to look at metaphors in scripture.

So ways that God is described as being present or showing up in people's lives.

So, you know, you have examples like God shows up in a burning bush with Moses, or he shows up as a gentle whisper with Elijah.

Jesus describes himself as living water.

And these are all images that help us understand something about who God is, and what it is like to be in his presence.

And so what I teach people to do is think through and write through those, those images, those metaphors, those ways of understanding what it is like to experience the presence of God.

When did your relationship with God really become ignited?

Well, I grew up going to church.

My dad was and still is a pastor.

And so I really look at that childhood as a foundation for knowing that God existed and learning about him.

But when I went to college is really when that my walk with Jesus ignited.

God was so gracious to put me in community with other people who loved Jesus and were following him and trying to live a life that leaned into his goodness and his kindness and his mercy.

And so being around and encouraged and spurred on by other people really was where I saw some deep roots for my faith take hold that have really continued to grow and support, support me as I navigate life even all these years later.

Has journaling been a seasonal habit?

Or is it a habit that you do daily?

I don't necessarily journal every single day because, you know, life is life and there's lots going on.

I think of it more as a rhythm.

And so usually at least once or twice a week, I'm opening my journal and writing things down.

And it's become such an ingrained habit and practice for me that it's hard to imagine not doing it because I have seen how it has been so transformative and meaningful in my life.

But at the same time, I recognized that everybody's lives and schedules look a little different.

And so I never tell people, oh, you have to journal every single day for it to be impactful, because it's just it's not true.

It's like any habit.

You know, the more you engage with it, I think the more benefits you begin to see.

But even occasional journaling tends to have a place and serve a purpose.

Tell me about your family and how they've been affected by seeing mommy journaling all of the time.

My husband and I just celebrated our 17th wedding anniversary.

And then we have a 15 year old son, a 13 year old son and a 10 year old daughter.

And they see it as very normal to pull out a pen and a journal and to write.

You know, my kids aren't I wouldn't say that they are regular journalers, but they all have a journal.

And I do see them pull it out sometimes to write things down.

And they they understand how beneficial it is, because I think they've seen they've witnessed just my own growth and spiritual formation through the journaling that I have done.

And so I know that our children learn so much just by what they see.

And then I hope as they grow into adults that they will that it's a habit they'll continue to cultivate as well as they grow up.

Future years listening to this conversation five years from today, what's the message you would leave for yourself?

Keep taking pen to page.

Keep writing down your thoughts, your prayers, your questions.

Let it be a habit that sustains you from now until you're 93 years old.

Love that.

Yeah, that was 93.

Nine and three is 12.

We love the 12 numbers.

Yes.

Biggest benefit to journaling is what?

The biggest benefit to journaling is the ability to gain clarity and make sense of the life that you're living.

Allison, in closing, is there anything else you'd like to share with our amazing audience?

Yeah, just that if it's if journaling is something that you're interested in making a

more regular practice, you can go to allisonbixby.com and find some of my resources there,

including my recently published book, Journaling as a Spiritual Practice, which is full of journaling

um journaling tips as well as prompts, and also explore some of my own story that brought me

so passionately into teaching others about journaling.

If I may say, it is beautifully designed.

Yeah, so we'll have the links in the show notes.

Again, Allison, a pleasure.

I treasure.

Thank you for being on What is Inspired by 12 Minute Conference.