Why Madeleine L'Engle Called Her Journal a Free Psychiatrist

     Most people who have known me well for more than a few weeks know that Madeleine L'Engle is my favorite author, though she is not my namesake.

     Who is Madeleine L'Engle?

     I have to briefly explain that she is the genius behind the book series A Wrinkle in Time. Most people have at least heard of the first book of the same name since the release of Disney's movie in 2018.

     But what I love most about Madeleine L'Engle is her soul's similarity to mine, a revelation I had while reading her first published journal, A Circle of Quiet (Crosswicks Journal, No. 1). I gave this book five stars on Goodreads, and it moved at lightning speed to the top of my favorite nonfiction books.

     I've gone on to read L'Engle's other Crosswicks Journals, and I recently finished one of her nonfiction books, Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art. This one had been quoted so many times by many of my favorite bloggers, and I knew it was a must-read for a creative mind.

     Returning to L'Engle's books has been like visiting a favorite grandmother. In Walking on Water, her thoughts on journaling only confirmed that we are kindred spirits.

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     We all have spiritual lessons and reflections to work through, and L'Engle best summarizes why journaling about these thoughts is so helpful, even if you don't consider yourself a writer.

     "A help to me in working things out has been to keep an honest - as honest as the human being can be - unpublishable journal. Granted, much of my nonfiction work is lifted directly from my journals, but what I use is only a small fraction of these numerous, bulky volumes. If I can write things out, I can see them, and they are not trapped within my own subjectivity. I have been keeping these notebooks of thoughts and questions and sometimes just garbage (which needs to be dumped somewhere) since I was about nine, and they are, I think, my free psychiatrist's couch."

~Madeleine L'Engle

     L'Engle's published writing is honest and free, but she has copious amounts of "garbage" that got her through tough times and allowed her soul to be less bogged down as it worked through its own reflections.

     While talking thoughts out with friends and family is also wonderful, nothing can beat processing your loudest thoughts in the quietest way. Perhaps working through the chaos in silence will allow you to better help others through their own chaos.

~Madeline