Why Journal?

Journaling is a form of deep thought and meditation where a person writes her stream of consciousness or a specific purpose such as gratitude, travel, exercise, or reading (just to name a few).  Journals help clarify thoughts, especially when writing with a stream of consciousness because thoughts and ideas surface that the writer did not know about until she started writing.  It is an excellent endeavor because writing down feelings, responses, and insights into daily events presents an excellent opportunity to discover what a woman thinks and feels about different topics.  Specific topic journaling allows for the cataloging of certain hobbies such as exercise and travel.  It is a fun way to create an historical account of something that you enjoy doing.   Journaling is an exercise in passion and persistence as it takes both to establish the habit.

Pen to Paper

Since the beginning of time or when pen and paper were invented, people have been keeping journals. Mostly autobiographical, these journals contain the daily happenings, sojourns, or the interests of their authors.  Covering a wide range of topics relevant to the author, these journals then became part of the person’s history.  Writing by pen in journals was the only option up until very recently.  A handwritten journal is considered an art form and can be very beautiful.  It is very personal and creates a keepsake to have as a reference in the future.

The Digital Diarist

Today’s journaling can take place virtually anywhere.  There is no need to put pen to paper any longer.  You can create our digital diary all day long! With social media as ubiquitous as it has become, it would behoove us to take advantage of it.  If you are a blogger, your platform is endless and you can post as much as you like.

There are also many other means of recording your journal: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Tumblr, Snapchat, YouTube, and most likely more. What all these mediums allow us to do is share our message with the world.  The people that you meet from around the globe are fascinating and it would not have been possible to share your story with them just a few years ago.  Be sure to keep in mind that this type of journaling is not private and whatever you send into cyberspace, most of time, will have already been seen once sent.

Journal Ideas

1.     Success Journal / Gratitude Journal

Counting your successes and being grateful for each one will lead to a happier, more productive, life.  Keep a Gratitude Journal just for this purpose and see how your life changes!

2.     Favorite Music / Movie Journal

When you think of a song or movie that you would like to own or have on your playlist, keep it in your journal so that you won’t forgot it!

3.     Goodbye Journal

Writing down troubling past events can help you resolve them in your mind.  Don’t let bad thoughts live in your head rent-free any longer!  Evict them now!

4.     Stream of Consciousness Journal

Spending five to ten minutes writing anything that comes to mind can be liberating.  Try it and see where it takes you.

5.     Exercise Journal

Record your latest exercise statistics and watch your progress!  It’s also good to reflect on how you felt and what time of day you did each workout.  I have kept exercise journals for years and I enjoy referring back to them from time-to-time.

6.     Creativity Journal

This is a very simple journal that may not have any real organization.  However, it does cater to one’s creative side in that it is chalk full of ideas, observations, sketches, and magazine clippings that could be used to inspire any type of creative work such as drawing, painting, and writing.

7.     Travel Journal

It doesn’t matter how much or how little you travel, recording those special moments in a travel journal is priceless!  Be sure to take lots of photos and include them as well.  Get in the mindset of treating every trip like an adventure and document it as such.

8.     Reading Journal

If you are reading a good book, why not remember it with a few notes in a journal?  After reading a chapter or two, summarize what you’ve read by writing four or five sentences in your journal.  You’ll love reliving your book when you find what you’ve written in a    future discovery.

9.     Selfies Journal

Take and print selfies often and put them into a journal.  Be sure to caption each one with the date and where you were.  You’ll be surprised how you’ve changed even in a year!