MY BLOG

A Journal Can Be Your Best Friend and More

October 17, 2024

As long as there has been something to write on, humans have been keeping journals. You could even say that the earliest cave drawings were journals — capturing the events of a hunt, drawing pictographs that related stories, creating images of the sacred.

A journal is a place for recording a life, safekeeping memories, dwelling within and working through. Journal writing is a way to know and express ourselves. It’s a safe haven, a best friend and a trusted confidante. Within the pages of your journal you can try out ideas, explore your feelings, rant and rave, vent emotions and tell secrets.

Since there’s no right or wrong way to keep a journal, anyone can do it. You don’t need expensive equipment or a lot of time. The tools are a notebook or blank book and a pen. You can use a computer, but writing by hand is more physical; it keeps you in touch with your breath and your heartbeat. And, writing by hand, you can write anywhere, anytime.

You don’t have to write every day, but the more frequently you write, the easier it will become and more productive you’ll be. If you can set aside twenty minutes or a half-hour every morning or evening, or during lunch break, and simply begin writing, you’ll be amazed at what you’ll discover.

You don’t need a lot of instruction to begin keeping a journal; there’s really no wrong way to do it. Here are some ways to begin:

● start with “Today I ...” and write the first image or words that appear. Don’t worry about spelling, punctuation or grammar. In fact, don’t worry about anything, just write.

● start with “I feel ...” or “I want .. “ or “I think...”

● start with “I remember ...”

● describe what you see out your window, or the weather, or where you are:

“It’s 7:30 in the morning and I’m sitting at my kitchen table ...”

In journal writing, it’s important to keep the pen moving and not stop to think or edit or rewrite. Just keep writing the next words or images that want to be written. When you come to a natural stopping place, go back and reread what you’ve written, then write more if you have additional thoughts.

Journal writing techniques focus on going within, writing feelings, reflections, thoughts and opinions, and provide a forum for processing emotions that arise from introspection. Certain methods offer opportunities for specific kinds of self-exploration; others help in working through issues and in grieving and healing. For example:

● Letters. Write a letter to anyone in your journal: partners and family members, parents and grandparents (even if they’re no longer living), pets, strangers, bosses, co-workers. A letter provides a way to say what you want to someone even if you can’t say it in person. Simply begin with “Dear ______” and fill in the person’s name. You can even write letters to inanimate things — businesses, corporations, organizations, countries. Or to yourself.

● Dialogues. In your journal you can carry on dialogues with people, events, places, situations, even an aspect of yourself or with your body. You may be amazed at the give and take of dialogue that can be created when you simply trust the process and write down what ever comes to you.

Before you begin a dialogue, pause for a moment, close your eyes and bring an image of your dialogue partner to your mind. Then, when you’re ready, begin by writing your name or initials and write a statement of your intention and an invitation. It might look like this:

PT: Grandmother, there are some things I’ve been wondering about, will you dialogue with me?

On the next line write grandmother’s name or initials and wait for her response. Don’t force what you want to hear, just wait and write what comes to you intuitively. You may not always get a response, and you may hear comments that will surprise you. Sometimes the responses may not be what you want to hear. Also, it’s not unusual for a third party to spontaneously enter into the dialogue.

A number of very good books about journal writing have been published, among them:

● The New Diary ,Tristine Rainer, Jeremy P. Tarcher, Los Angeles, 1978

● Life’s Companion, Christina Baldwin, Bantam Books, New York, 1990

● Journal to the Self, Kathleen Adams, Warner Books, New York, 1990

● Writing and Being, G. Lynn Nelson, Lura Media, San Diego, 1994

● At A Journal Workshop, Ira Progoff, Tarcher/Putnam, New York, 1994