It has been a while since I’ve written here.
Not because I stopped believing in journalling.
Not because I stopped reflecting.
But perhaps because I stopped making the time for it.
Life filled up.
Work expanded.
Responsibilities grew.
People needed me.
Opportunities stretched me.
And slowly, quietly, I began putting everything else first.
I am sure you can resonate.
The irony is not lost on me — that someone who speaks about embodiment, nervous system regulation, life coaching and alignment can still fall into the rhythm of “later.”
I’ll write later.
I’ll pause later.
I’ll reflect when there’s more space.
And later became almost two years.
I swim often.
Long distances.
Head in the water.
Breath rhythmic.
The lagoon holding me.
For hours, thoughts move through me like currents.
Insights surface.
Questions arise.
Little aha moments flicker into awareness.
The water becomes meditation.
And yet, I realised something gently confronting:
I clear my head in the water —
but I don’t always release it onto paper.
The thoughts pass through.
The wisdom visits.
But without writing, I don’t anchor it.
I don’t witness it.
I don’t honour it.
Recently, at a retreat, I was reminded of something simple:
Journalling is not productivity.
It is conversation with your soul.
It is how we empty the head and meet the heart.
It is how we regulate the nervous system without forcing it.
It is how we notice what is ready to be released.
In my work as a Life Coach and Energy Alignment practitioner in Langebaan — whether in person or online — I guide others back to themselves every day.
This was my reminder to do the same.
Because when we stop journalling, it is often because we have started prioritising everything else above our inner voice.
We respond.
We deliver.
We hold space.
We support.
But do we sit with ourselves?
Creative journalling, reflective writing, even simple doodling are not indulgent. They are grounding. They help clear the mental load. They bring coherence between mind, body and heart.
Talking from the Heart is returning not because I suddenly have more time — but because I am choosing to place this practice back where it belongs.
If you, too, have been thinking your thoughts but not releasing them…
If insights come while driving, walking, swimming, lying awake — and then dissolve…
Perhaps it is time to give them somewhere to land.
A page.
A pen.
A few honest lines.
“What wants to be released from my head today?”
That is enough.
With warmth,
Marléne
Self & More Coaching
Life Coaching Langebaan | Energy Alignment | TRE® | Online & In-Person