What is Journaling 101? A blog for journalers, writers, and people who want to get in touch with the most fascinating person in the world – themselves!
I have been journaling for over 47 years now and since the day I began, I have been intrigued by the fact that I never run out of things to write about! I was sure that if this habit was so powerful for me, everyone else would want to journal too. So, I invited some friends into my living room and we began writing and sharing. Then I left my living room and began to share my love of journaling with larger audiences and groups. Many, many times people have shared that he/she can feel the excitement washing over them as they begin to journal and learn more about themselves and the world around them. And I love to be part of that feeling!
One of the biggest hurdles some people face as they begin journaling is that they start off like a rocket and then often forget to put journaling on their schedule. Journaling is not necessarily keeping a “diary” but it is also not writing chapter and verse either. I know some journalers who write intermittently and others who faithfully write daily. There is no “right” way. There is only your way.
One reader wrote to me after reading my book Journaling For Joy, that the best part of reading the book and her start in journaling was that “I had introduced her to herself.”
What a wonderful adventure! Learn who you are by letting yourself tell you! So grab your pen and journal and join with me to be true to who you are!
Read the suggestions, questions, or tips below and then let your thoughts flow and write to capture whatever comes into your mind! Sound fun? It is!
In joy, Joyce
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To begin…Ask Yourself:
What do I think/feel, right now about keeping a journal and what would I like journaling to do for me?
Why do I want to keep a journal?
What do I want my journaling habits to be?
What kind of journal or computer program do I want to use, and why?
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After you have answered the first questions you might like to continue by keeping A Daily Log
When I first started to journal one of the techniques that I practiced was to keep a daily log.
Today I know that this technique is one of the reasons I quickly realized the value of paying serious attention to my life. By recording my life in my daily log, I found that I was the person in charge of what I really wanted in my life. I was becoming much more aware of “being the main character” in my life. (Now this may sound strange to some of you but the truth is I was allowing my life to…just happen most of the time. And I was really excited to reflect at the end of each day and write in my daily log what did or didn’t happen. I could and would be more awake and aware. It was time for me to live in choice!)
Keeping a daily log is very much like the “Dear Diary” journaling that most of us have done in our journals and diaries throughout our lives. Are you saying, “I know I already do this, or I do write every day about my day, or…Well, I’m suggesting…let’s all do this for several weeks and notice if anything shifts or changes because of committing to the “daily-ness” of practicing a habit.
So…every day during this month of January sit down daily, open your journal, write the date, a record your day. Remember this is your log so you can write one word, one line, or pages and pages. Then as always, I suggest to, reread and give yourself some “feedback” or a new journaling assignment you want to do.
If this is a new practice for you here are a few tips: Close your eyes and visualize the day. Ask yourself some questions to spark your memory. Questions like: If I titled my day, today, how would I title it? What did I do first this morning? Was I looking forward to my day? Who were the people in my life today? How did I feel in the late afternoon? What was my evening like? What was the best part of my day, why? What would I have liked to change? Is today a day I’d like to repeat? Why, or why not? What do I want to remember from living my life today?
Loved what Mary sent to me so sharing it here.
THE JOURNAL KEEPER • Mary Worthington • March 2020
USE ALL YOUR EXPERIENCE
Having kept a daily journal for 45 years, I have learned that the magic of journaling is to use all of
my life experiences to learn, change and grow.
Having watched me weather the storms of life with my
paper and pen in hand, one of my most important mentors once remarked, “Your Journals are Grace!” As
I look under my bed, in my closet and tucked in between my favorite books, I find journal, after journal,
after journal. And all I can say is Grace….Grace….Grace.
GETTING INTO MY COMFORT ZONE
All my life I have heard the words, you need to get out of your comfort zone to grow. So I did!
Global Travels, Advanced Education, and unexpected illnesses, mine and others often threw me “out of
my comfort zone”. Now, in these challenging times of quarantine, I am faced with a seemingly bigger
challenge, that of GETTING INTO MY COMFORT ZONE. It is day three of full quarantine in our
apartment, and I am focusing on just what do those words mean? For me, it is savoring the silence with
pen and paper, and no definite plans other than remembering to order our meals.
HOSPITAL SHIP “COMFORT”
As I watched the beautiful hospital ship sale into New York Harbor yesterday, I flashed back to the
hospital ship my surgeon father was on during the four years of World War II. It was the Solace, a name
akin to Comfort and Mercy. The Solace was not the glorious pristine white with bright red cross, it was
battleship grey. It’s ominous presence spelled sadness, suffering, death. Sadly, the Comfort in all its
beauty speaks the same solemn words of darkness.
QUARANTINE IN THE UPPER ROOM
Perhaps we have all had experiences in our lives when we had to be in quarantine for periods of
time. My most memorable experience came when I was in France at age 20. I was part of the Smith
College Junior Year in France, and we were in Aix-en-Provence for two months of introduction to the
French way of life. In those early weeks, my roommate was diagnosed with Typhoid Fever and sent off to
a nearby nursing home. I stayed behind and was led to a very small room where I was to remain for my 3
week stay. Far from home, I found peace in a small white bible I had brought from home. Most
importantly, I was nurtured by nature as I looked out over the gardens of the Cezanne Villa.
PRISON CORRESPONDENCE
In the early 2000, I was part of a group that corresponded with Prison Inmates. It was a
fascinating experience as I read their tales of prison life, knowing that it was not my place to offer any
platitudes or solutions. It was a time for me to sink deep and speak from my heart, offering whatever
nuggets of inspiration I could offer. I have those letters and I am rereading them now. I am nurtured
daily by my own words as I find the “pearls of wisdom” that I offered to them while they were incarcerated.
‘KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE LIGHT • YOU’LL BE GLAD!’
Over a year ago, my therapist of 17 years past away after a futile battle with Alzheimers Disease.
His death came suddenly, and It was hard to end this relationship that had been so helpful and
meaningful. Much to my surprise, it was not over. A few months ago, we had a speaker here at the
Mirabella, a woman who facilitates “The Gathering” , a special day care program for people struggling
with Alzheimers. During the video of a day at “The Gathering”, I thought I saw my friend, but there was no
name and his face and words had already changed. Minutes later, he appeared again playing his flute,
as his name flashed across the screen. Then his words poured forth as if for me….and you.
“KEEP SHINING YOUR LIGHT! YOU’LL BE GLAD!
I like that in my journal, I am able to express how I truly feel about something. It is not always appropriate to speak your mind with co workers or even family members. It is the way it is nowaday with all the “appropriate” comments and behaviors, but journaling is a great outlet to set our mind at peace and move on 🙂
Hi Roselyne.
I just now reread your post and wanted to say …I loved reading your comment! I also LOVE journaling, as you can likely guess.
Here’s an excerpt* from my Journaling for Joy book that you might like to read to spark your interest and facilitate you on your inner journey.
*Why Journal? To find the missing pieces; say the unsaid; understand your life process; reach into the hidden recesses of your self; achieve clarity, direction, and certainty in your life; move forward out of chaos and confusion into focus and balance. Keeping a journal will reveal the patterns of thoughts, feelings, and behaviors in your professional and personal life. Why journal? To do what makes your heart sing!
Some of the many important results you can achieve through journaling:
* To know who you are.
* To turn problems into opportunities, gifts.
* To learn to trust yourself as your own counselor.
* To release feelings, turmoil, stress.
* To access information from your subconscious mind.
* To find answers to what seems to be unanswerable.
* To capture the teachings of your past.
* To record experiences and thoughts you want to keep and remember.
* To awaken the writer’s voice within you.
* To communicate with others when talking is difficult or impossible.
* To integrate what you are learning from a class, lecture, or life situation.
* To know yourself as a spiritual being.
* To heal the past.
* To live from being awake and aware of the present.
* To create the future by conscious choice.
* To understand the connection between thought and health.
* To understand your partners in life.
* To discover your life purpose.
* To develop a step-by-step plan to reach your goals and dreams.
* TO CAPTURE JOY!
Just for fun, I thought I’d post a handout that I often give out at talks.
WHAT HAS JOURNALING HAS DONE FOR ME?
I began listening to myself.
I started to be in dialogue with everyone and everything in my life.
I took responsibility for my experiences.
I stopped giving advice.
I stopped having headaches and sore throats.
I wrote about painful memories, took the learning from them, embraced them and let them go.
I wrote letters to friends and family who had died and experienced healing and/or completion and closure.
I stopped trying to control and began to choose.
I became proactive rather than reactive.
I wrote about my fears, my feelings and stopped trying to be something or someone I’m not.
I found I had a “writer’s voice.”
I felt enriched by my own ideas and thoughts.
I asked myself questions and found I had my own answers.
Through journaling my life purpose was given to me.
I’ve experienced automatic writing and excitedly expanded my thinking.
I’ve talked with mentors who have become my friends – my advisors.
I examined my beliefs and kept those that serve me and “noticed.”
I integrated information quickly from classes, lectures and books.
I realized that what I considered weaknesses are truly my strengths.
I’ve identified what is important to me and live accordingly.
I have realized inner peace.
I now live in the CREATIVE PROCESS rather than problem-solving.
I am more joyful than I imagined was possible. I am living in the JOY.