This ⇄ That Journaling
Updated: Sep 26
What is it?
This-That journaling is a journaling practice that asks you to compare two (or more) concepts that you feel have a relationship worth exploring.
For example:
Respect ⇄ Acceptance ⇄ Understanding ⇄ Reverence
Jealousy ⇄ Envy
Empathy ⇄ Sonder
Anxiety ⇄ Fear ⇄ Excitement ⇄ Anticipation
Gratitude ⇄ Optimism
Interesting ⇄ Stimulating
Love ⇄ Lust ⇄ Attachment
Intentional ⇄ Mindful ⇄ Deliberate
Patience ⇄ Tolerance
Happiness ⇄ Contentment
Notice ⇄ Wonder
Understand ⇄ Appreciate
When you journal this way, you are creating clarity around the concepts you chose to explore.
You'll decide what they mean to you, what their relationship means to you, and how what you've discovered informs your values and boundaries.
How Does it work?
Doing this is a practice of identification, clarity, and precision.
Funny enough, I"ll do a little This ⇄ That journaling in this explanation. 😅
Identification and definition are two different things:
Identification = Accurately pinpointing what something is.
Definition = Citing the conventional understanding of a word or concept.
Sure, the two can be used interchangeably depending on context and what you understand the terms to mean.
The point here isn't the semantics and defining things "right", it is to identify what the concepts (not the actual words) mean to you personally.
Identification is important for self-understanding.
If the concepts and your relationship to them remain vague, you remain confused.
The uncertainty gap might be filled by you adopting a prescribed meaning, even if that meaning is in disagreement with your values.
When your concepts arise in real-life scenarios, you might find yourself reacting to them rather than responding to them.
If they become something you can identify and understand for yourself, you grant yourself the opportunity to choose what to do with this knowledge.
What will you do with it?
Are you creating a stance? Value? Boundary? Do you pause in neutrality? A resolve is not guaranteed, however, now you can be intellectually and emotionally honest about that.
How to Do It:
How you approach it depends on how you're comparing them.
You might decide to freely brain dump instead of using a particular structure.
You might make a chart or write about each item individually then compare after.
Keep in mind, the purpose is to discuss the concepts rather than the terms themselves. So avoid semantic sparring with yourself. 😉.
Avoid treating these prompts as a step-by-step on how to interrogate a concept.
I cannot teach you every question you should ask, critical thinking is not a plug-and-play protocol.
Thinking for yourself and generating your own questions is what makes your entry authentic and yours.
I can still give you some guiding thoughts to help get your mind sparking and to help you understand what I mean by "interrogating" concepts. 👇🏾👇🏾👇🏾.
Guiding Prompts:
Before and during the session:
Start by meta-journaling: Why are you wanting to discuss these concepts?
Starting with dumping the reason why you're choosing these concepts will reveal the theme and purpose the rest of the entry will revolve around. It'll be the spark that gets your mind pondering on what to journal about next.
What does each concept mean to you personally?
Journaling about what each item means to you in isolation creates a distinction between the individual items so you can compare them easier. Think of it like laying out all your ingredients and tools before you start preparing to cook. Sure, you can gather things, prep, cook, and clean all at the same time and be fine however, some preparation beforehand gives you a clear idea of where you're going, makes the process more seamless, and less mentally demanding.
What conceptions of these terms have you heard from others?
This is asking you what you feel conventional meaning is. Consider the connotation and associations that you believe society tends to assign to the words.
Think about scenarios where you see these concepts in action. Describe them.
What other phenomena do these concepts make you think of?
Is there anything else, whether it be other terms, stories, situations, ideas, or philosophies that you feel are related?
After the session (you can journal about these too):
What is this clarity driving you toward?
Are you considering any new boundaries or values?
What things do you still have questions or curiosities about?
Is there anything that feels unresolved? Is there more you'd like to explore? You can note those questions for next time.
Why do It?
This ⇄ That journaling is: practicing clarity.
It is a deliberate choice to thicken those "fine-lines-between" we love to point out so much.
Our learned understanding, personal understanding, values, expectations, and boundaries around the chosen concepts gets revealed.
With that clarity, we can get precise in about how we feel, what we believe , and why.
How might that understanding inform your choices?
