Therapy Café — Christchurch, New Zealand
Christchurch, New Zealand 🇳🇿
If there is a city that is capable of soothing you, then Christchurch can be the one. I visited this elegant city more than a decade ago. It was the second city I enjoyed when I planned my trip to New Zealand for my honeymoon. I have stayed in the Heritage Hotel, right in the Cathedral Square, the heart and center of the city. It enabled me to explore the city easily, sometimes walking, and at many times hopping on and off the city tram.
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. The Christchurch urban area lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula. It is home to 389,700 residents, making it New Zealand's third most-populous city behind Auckland and Wellington. The city was named by the Canterbury Association, which settled the surrounding province of Canterbury.
— Wikipedia
In visiting the city of Christchurch years ago, I was thrilled to have a floral festival at the time. It just fit well as a travel destination for the honeymooners. The nearby Botanic Gardens were also a great spot to spend time in. The nature, the rivers, the trees, and peaceful city streets and walks were all a blessing to our trip.
Therapy Café — Pin 📍
In this post, I would like to virtually visit a new place. I want this to be anchored in my journal so I can arrange to visit it in the future. I wanted something that feels and tastes like the sole of the city center of Christchurch. So, I researched and screened a number of options. The final choice was a café on the route of the city tram, with a modern and cozy indoors —Therapy Café. This café resembles its own name to a fair degree. It seems to cure you with its menu of coffee and snacks, a kind of mood therapy in a way.
Therapy is a stylish café with daily fresh-made sandwiches, salads and slices. It also offers a cafe menu for breakfast and lunch. It takes pride in providing great coffee and fantastic service, consistently with a welcoming feel.
— Therapy Café Facebook Page
One of the reasons that got me pick this place is being on the tram line. I love cities that have vintage trams available as a transportation, and as an attraction alike. In each of the cities I visit, I look for trams to board. They are usually gentle and smooth rides. They allow you to explore a city on a very slow and pleasant pace. I wish we could ride our lives like we do on trams.
Tram of Life
Riding a tram is an experience in and for itself. Being a rail vehicle, running over tracks, and manoeuvring the streets and the bustling life of a city is simply an amazing thing to do. I always take up the background in this kind of rides, observing whatever passing by. Becoming passive in these rides is part of the experience. Yes, a tram can be a ride to some places, but it is also a ride through places and memories.
I was contemplating the idea of riding a tram of life. One that allows you to ride life like a vehicle, sit back in the background, and observe without much of worry or judgment. Becoming the observer of your own life, besides being the one who lives it. Taking side tracks while going through the main track. Being able to observe, to reflect, to witness, and to enjoy, the things that you could have missed from the seat of actively living life.
From experience, I can say that journalling allowed me to do just that —riding a tram of life. As a tool of observation and reflection, I got into the habit of writing about my life. When I write, I kind of take a seat in this tram of life remembering and registering the things that moved, rejoiced, saddened, or enraged me. Journalling is practically my vehicle set on the tracks of my own life.
The great thing about journaling is how it can give you a “tram tour” of your own life, if that is a thing, especially when you visit it after a distance. Journaling allows you to observe, to vent at times, but more importantly to learn not to judge —yourself and those around you. It is a fantastic way to live your life twice, like many people have noticed from their experience in journaling.
Journaling For Joy
I have been writing for as long as I remember. But my writing was kind of rigid and usually for specific goal or a purpose. I would write long and informative articles related to career life on my blog, for instance. My writing had become sporadic, always looking for a purpose, and at many times procrastinating and skipping. It was only late 2021, when I discovered the beauty of journaling as a daily habit. Simply opening my journal (usually electronic), and starting to type whatever goes in my mind. Fast forward about a year, and I had discovered that I wrote more than 1,000 pages —all in the confident and safe space of my private journal.
All I did is to have no rules about journaling. I simply wrote without much worry about editing, or making things right and readable, or whether my writing made sense. The fact that I was journaling for myself, and not for publishing in comparison, made it much easier and a lot more joyful. The only rule I had in this experience is to simply journal everyday. That is it!
In looking for a book about the habit of journaling and the amount of joy you might get from it, I found a nice and encouraging one called “Journaling For Joy: Writing Your Way to Personal Growth and Freedom” by Joyce Chapman. In her book, Joyce talks about her experience and insights on keeping a journal. It also gives you the why, what, and how of journaling that helps you develop this interesting and productive habit. We journal, not only for the sake of journaling, but also for the sake of understanding, clarifying, regulating, for meaning, and for joy.
Journaling For Joy: Writing Your Way to Personal Growth and Freedom
Journaling for Joy enables you to take a close look at who you are and what you want. In an original approach to journaling, Joyce Chapman guides you to write from your heart and soul with the aim of arriving at joy - the joy that comes from knowing yourself as an intimate friend and living the life you have created out of conscious choice.
The innovative techniques in Journaling for Joy will show you how to:
- Capture the meaning and joy in your daily life.
- Discover your patterns and ways to change them.
- Understand your relationships with others.
- Access the wisdom and creativity of your imagination.
- Awaken the writer's voice within you.
- Actualize your dreams and visions.
* Journaling for Joy is filled with over 200 dynamic journaling techniques
I would like to leave you with quotes from the book, hoping it can excite you to read it.. and more importantly, to start journaling.
On the truth that joy is within, and how journaling can help validate or extract it:
“Inside us is joy. Something inside knows where our joy lies. We may temporarily forget, but we do know what we love. It’s natural to be happy. It’s natural to be healthy. It’s natural to be alive and creative. If this is happening in your life, your journal is a wonderful place to write about and play with it. If it isn’t happening, then something’s getting in the way. Something may be crying out to be resolved. Journal keeping provides a way to discover what is keeping you from feeling healthy, creative, and joyful.”
— Joyce Chapman, Journaling For Joy
On the act of journaling as a way to empty a heavy and busy mind:
“The act of writing makes thoughts become real and brings a deeper level of release than just verbal communication or thinking can do alone. Expressing your thoughts and feelings in writing moves and frees you. Journaling lets go of the heavy internal weights that have held you down. The effect is a lighter and more joyful spirit.”
— Joyce Chapman, Journaling For Joy
On “no rules of engagement” in journaling, simply journal and have fun:
“Journaling is a natural process. I find there is no right or wrong way to journal. There are no rigid rules, no authority you need to impress and no failing grades. Just let yourself write as you feel and think. Be exactly as you are. Accept and honor whatever comes without judging, censoring or correcting it. Allow your gut reaction or intuition to come forth. Also allow yourself to play, experiment, be humorous, and have fun!”
— Joyce Chapman, Journaling For Joy
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