Posted by: Barbara
Posts:18
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| 12/04/2007 12:18 PM |
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| Do you journal? Do you _wish_ you did? If you journal, what tips have you found to help you keep at it? What has journaling taught you? Share some of your experiences with our New Morning Community. |
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Posted by: janellerobinson
Posts:2
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| 12/29/2007 8:44 PM |
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| I have journaled for years. I do not feel bad if I go days without writing. I write when I can and want to. One thing that has been good for me is keeping more than one journal. I have a "gratitude" journal in which I write things for which I am grateful--usually at night before I go to bed. I have a journal for special inspirational thoughts that I have heard or read that I want to meditate on and not forget. I often use this journal to take notes from TV, radio, or books. Another journal is used to briefly document the happenings of my life. Another journal has only pictures. The key is have fun and give yourself freedom to use the journals in an enjoyable way. |
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Posted by: EmJay
Posts:1
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| 01/03/2008 10:31 AM |
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| I've kept a journal since I was 11 years old. I try to write every day, and when I succeed it's usually because I take the time to write first thing in the morning. I also use plain sprial notebooks. Every time I've tried to write in one of those fancy journals with a beautiful cover, I freeze up. When the container for my words is humble, they flow more freely. |
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Posted by: RebeccaAnn
Posts:3
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| 01/04/2008 10:50 AM |
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I have been told many times that I journal and my 10 year old teases me because I currently have about 10 small composition books that I write in. I have always had paper and seem to always be writing. I couldn't write so it was even half way readable til I was 11 yet I wrote my first story when I was 7 and my first poem when I was 10. My brother taught me to make letters. To this day he encourages me. At an early age he told me I am the writer. I am the storyteller and the poet. I am the keeper of the family stories and history. Though writing is hard for me and there are days I can't hold a pencil, my brother and others tell me I am a born writer.
In my journals I write special things for books, tv, etc. I write poems and stories. I write our family history and everyday events, etc. I don't write everyday, but I always have paper and pencil because I am a writer and never know when something special might come. Often I write stories and lessons for my children.
RebeccaAnn |
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Posted by: rainsilverstar
Posts:12
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| 01/08/2008 10:03 AM |
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Yes, I journal. I don't always journal every day. Sometimes I'm going through something and don't write for a month. I try my best to keep my journal a positive force...so I try not to use it to vent. If I want to vent my husband is gracious enough to listen to me. There are other times when I have nothing to say. It's not a bad thing...just nothing to say. Me being quiet is a new and cool experience  . Other times, I'm just so in the flow of living life that I don't stop to write it down. But I love love love journalling! That's what keeps me coming back. I adore being able to flip through the me I was a month ago, 6 months ago, a year ago, two years ago. I've figured 'things' out that have changed me, my life, and the way I live. It is a priceless jewel to me.
I make the journals that I use and they are the most beautiful journals I've ever seen  . I could relate to the frozen feeling of using a beautiful journal. But I got over that. Journals are meant to be written in. A blank journal, no matter how pretty, is a sad, sad thing. It's soul purpose is to open itself to you and to hold a memory of who you were at that particular moment. Covering a beautiful journal with yourself only makes it awesome'ly beautiful! That's what I think anyways.
I'm a lover of ~no lines~ Lines in a journal kill me. Sometimes I scratch out funny drawings (even though I'm not very good at it). The other day I even put a few strands of my own hair in there (currently my hair is purple) because I wanted to be able to see them later when it's 'normal' again.
Mostly when I'm writing in my journal I think this: Perhaps I will die before my husband. Maybe my daughter will need advice after I'm gone. It may be that my grandchildren will want to know how I became the person that I did...how I got through the struggles that I got through. I have some doubts about my great-grandchildren meeting me and having enough time or enough smarts to get to know me. And the great-great-grandchildren are probably out. Now, these recordings of me will be here long after I am not. What a lovely gift to give all those people. Sure someone could say, "Oh she was this or that." But to read my own words saying "I am this and I am that and I feel this and I love that and this is how I lived a life that I intensily adore"....now, that's worth every moment I spend journalling. Plus, I personally think it would be cool to read someone's journal. Oh not those fancy published ones....a real handwritten one with the ripped pages and scribbles and stray purple hairs. But maybe that's just me.
As you can tell...I'm very passionate about journalling. 
Melissa |
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Posted by: Marlinky
Posts:9
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| 01/16/2008 9:58 PM |
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Like many of you, I journal using several different ones for different topics, challenges I'm trying to overcome, and just to log my thoughts. I also have a couple just for quotes...as a writer and photographer making inspirational cards/posters the quote journal is invaluable!!
I also have Sarah Ban Breathnach's "Discovery Journal" which is photo album size and created to hold discovery collages... I love this journal as a pictorial journey of discovery and dreams...
Since seeing the new movie out "The Bucket List"; I decided to add to my gratitude journal some additional dreams I'd like to fulfill...I encourage writing down things to try to achieve or experience and not wait for a terminal diagnosis to be the motivator!!
Whatever piece of paper, box to hold writings in or what...I encourage doing it...I'm so grateful that my parents kept a variety of writings... in fact, after my Mom died, my Father had a small black six ring notebook that he took with him everywhere and wrote wonderful letters to my Mom in it...a way he kept connected to her after her death...
So writing or typing on the computer; creating journals by scrapbooking methods; spiral notebooks; or bound journals purchased...they are all wonderful ways to Pass Legacy Forward to our loved ones...
Keep journaling...
Maralene
www.adventuresinlivingsite.com |
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Posted by: Eularee
Posts:3
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| 09/16/2008 12:54 AM |
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I find journalling difficult because it seems to be exposing my deepest thoughts on paper that someone else may find and read. In other words, they are mine and would hate for them to be misunderstood. Not that I have anything to hide, but coming from a big family, I suppose privacy is very precious to me.
I do however, find it helpful to write things down when I am angry, desperate or remorseful. It is a cleansing after which I can choose to burn the written word or keep it in a safe place. I hide it in the hopes that no one will find it but also as a reminder that my feelings have value, if only to throw across the room like mud on a wall and then wash it away.
Quotes fill the journal books on my shelf. I find them in the most unusual places sometimes. There is a great one on the sidewalk in San Francisco...it is worth the trip just to read it. I don't suppose that is really journalling but it does help express thoughts and feelings and feel less vulnerable than my own. |
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