Journals and Papers

Hope is something we conjure up in deep times of sadness and grief. Hope comes from within, an awakening, a desire, something to believe in. Hope moves us forward, gives us a sense of purpose. Hope is anticipation of a better time to come.

When we journal, we sometimes journal for hope, especially if we are going through a rough time. We journal to write words we believe in, words to give us comfort. A journal becomes a cane in times of hardship. We can lean on it; use it for support and strength.

If you have cancer, or know of someone who is suffering from the disease, or are survivors, the Hope Every Day Journal by Compendium is a delightful gift for the journal writer. It features uplifting, meaningful quotes on every two-page spread that give hope and inspiration.

With every cancer battle, there also come many success stories. Explain first steps taken, fears that are faced and conquered, healthcare workers who have helped. Write about friends and family who have stayed with you and provided support. This small gem of a journal is a wonderful tool for wellness and to track a powerful journey of hope.

We all set them. Whether it’s for weight loss, achieving financial gain or for personal reasons, we all set out with goals or New Year’s resolutions each and every year. Did you do a lot of journal writing in 2009? Would you like to do more in 2010?

Once way to ‘jump start’ your journal writing in 2010, is to begin an entry by jotting down your goals with regards to your journal writing. Ask yourself questions such as:

• How often do I want to write.
  • Be honest and if you simply don’t have the time to write every day, then don’t plan on it. You may choose to have a journal handy and nearby just in case you are ready to write. Maybe there is that one hour out of the week - perhaps while waiting for a child to finish an activity that you can pull out a journal and write.
• What do I want to write about?
  • Take a few moments to think of some topics that interest you. Maybe you want to write about goals, relationships, emotions, or events. If you make a list at the front of a new journal (dated 2010), when you feel the urge or have the time to write, but can’t think of something to write about, you can check the list you made and choose a topic.
• Where will I write?
  • You may decide to take your journal with you to a favourite coffee shop, or park. If you are the type that wants total privacy, you might like the bedroom, or den. If you have an idea of the places you like to write, then you won’t feel intimidated to pull out a journal and start writing. You may even remember to bring a journal with you, as you predetermined your favourite places to write.
• Do I need a new journal? 
  • Nothing motivates like a new, unopened journal. No, they aren’t meant for saving for ‘good’. If you were lucky enough to receive a journal for Christmas, then this is a good opportunity to crack it open and start your entry. If you are not quite getting that fuzzy feeling with an older journal, then maybe it is time to seek out a new writing journal - hmm - maybe even a leather one.
• Where will I find the resource topics (prompts) to help me get started with a journal entry?
  • This blog entry you’re reading now, gives you a great start to 2010 journal writing! There are also a number of books and resources at the bookstore or library on journal writing. You can use the internet and look for ‘journal writing prompts‘. Prompts are one or two sentences that you can use to open a journal entry. You read the sentence, and then just free write what your brain suggests after reading the prompt. Just like the topics you listed, you can also jot down some prompts specific to your interests to save for a later time when you need something to write about.

By writing the answers to the above topics, you have already created a great start to your 2010 journal writing. When you do pick a time to write, take into account the hours in the day when your mind is fresh and you are feeling creative.

I call it ‘regrouping’, which is my term for getting in touch with my spirit source. At some points in life many things can and do change and these changes take you away from your self goals, dreams and the route you feel you should be going in life. We are dragged into situations we don’t want to be in, doing things we really don’t want to be doing that leave us wondering, “What am I doing here, now?”. It is at this point that I use a journal to get me back on track to what I feel my life is about and to help me regroup my thoughts and feelings and get ‘back on track’. I’ve found it is the only tool that helps me personally, and it may be a great tool for others. It’s almost akin to using a brush when you are having a bad hair day.

I make time for myself amidst this chaotic realm of doing what others feel I should be up to and sit down with a journal that fits my mood. I have a special journal for my spiritual writing. When I sit and write, I write about where my life has gone, and what I’d like to be doing. I write about things I am grateful for. I write about goals, dreams and outcomes. The entries are very personal and most likely not shared.

Some people take a walk when life gets too hectic. Me, I pull out my spiritual journal.

I’ve been pondering lately, whether a person can have too many journals, especially last night when I went looking for a journal I had used to write some personal thoughts and goals. I couldn’t remember where I had put the journal, but even worse than that, I couldn’t remember which journal I had even used. I wonder if I am the only person in this position, or if others have had the same problem?

Over the years I’ve managed to accumulate more than a fair share of journals. I have leather ones, and spiral ones, some inspirational types and some I received as gifts. The hardest time of the year for me is staying out of the stationery stores in August and September around the new school year. It’s amazing just how many new styles of journals and writing notebooks they come out with each year. Invariably I pick up a couple. I’ve even resorted recently to sneaking journals into the house.

Now I do keep all my unused journals in one spot. The problem arises when I grab a journal for a specific purpose - such as writing goals, or notes about some emotions I am dealing with. I journal in different areas of the house, or I may take journals with me and store them in a favorite bag or on a shelf for later use. It seems every writing subject requires a new journal, and herein lies the problem - I’ve got too many on the go.

I also don’t believe in ripping pages out of a journal I’ve started and attaching them to another journal, or rewriting the entries into other journals. To me, the writing style and it’s messiness or neatness goes along with the subject matter and the date the entry was written. I’ve come to realize though I may have to gather all my journals I’ve touched with entries into a box and label it “Journal Storage”. At least then I could flip through them all and find what I am looking for.

As for a solution to my problem, for me there isn’t one. I shall continue purchasing the cute, odd, beautiful-gift-type-of journals, writing specific subjects unique to the style of journal, even if it is only a few entries, and trying not to misplace them. I do believe a central spot of storage though would solve part of the problem.

If you like a different journal for every specific subject on your list, then check out my store at Journals and Papers. Perhaps I should sell storage boxes too!

I realized how important writing was to me when I could not do it anymore. In April I had an accident (no fault of my own) and broke my right forearm, both bones, one in two places and had to have surgery. this put an immediate halt to any writing projects I had on the go, to any journaling I wanted to do and to general typing, as I am right-handed. The typing is coming along, caps still pose a problem - seems no matter how hard I push the key, the cap just won’t work - but it’s getting better (*smile*).

Have you ever thought what writing means to you. If you are a constant writer like I am, you will certainly understand. I am the type that always has a journal in close proximity. They (journals) are everywhere in my house. You never know when I might get the urge. The worst part with my injury was that I couldn’t write even a simple note. As I undergo physio therapy, the writing is getting better. Sometimes I have to hold my forearm while writing. Seems to ease some of the pain.

While I was ‘incapacitated’, I was able to meditate on my love of journal writing and I realized it is a part of me that will never go away, and I am really happy to have this forum to talk about journal writing and share my thoughts with you. So I am back and sorry for the delay in blog posts. Hopefully I can do better as I heal more each day.

Sometimes it is nice to be able to find journal entries that were written in the past, but if you haven’t created a way of finding specific entries, you will be searching through many pages for a long time. There is an easy method to catalogue journal entries into a table of contents (TOC) without too much effort.

1. When starting a new journal, leave anywhere from 2 to 3 pages at the beginning of your journal for a table of contents (TOC). (If you have a journal with more than a hundred pages, you may want to leave more pages open.)

2. Excluding the TOC pages, number the rest of your journal pages, at the top or bottom of each page. You can center the page numbers or put them in the corners. Be creative with this. Use a colored pen and write the numbers in calligraphy if you want to.

4. When creating a new journal entry; date it (left or right hand side) and give it a title (centered).

5. In your TOC, on the left hand side, write the page number of the entry you are working on, followed by the title and date (see example).

6. You can even take it a step further and add a one line description below your TOC entry, if you feel you’d like more of a reference about your journal entry.

7. If you have a journal with sections, and you write in your journal in different sections based on a particular subject, you can also split up your TOC into the sections pertaining to your journal topic area.

8. When you have finished filling up a journal (a rare event at my desk), you can place from and to dates on the front cover and spine (if applicable) and a general title (e.g. nature journal, or traveling Europe).

The unique thing about this way of cataloguing entries, is that you have a means of finding entries, and you also have a date reference. You’d be surprised how many years go by and how many journal volumes you can go through. It is cool to wade through old entries and see what types of subjects you were working on. If you are journaling for future generations, they too will have a point of reference for when the piece was written.

One thing I have wondered is: when sticking to a lined journal, am I limiting my creativity? I am a writer and have very little artist flair inside of me, so I prefer a lined journal. I write - period. I only doodle when I am on the phone. I very seldom draw, add to or trace anything into a journal, unless I am specifically doing scrapbooking.

Should I expand my journal experience and buy an unlined or blank journal? Would I feel compelled to doodle or draw in it? I know if I write poetry I might feel more inclined to add a flower or something to the page. If you are like me and are looking for more creativity with your journal writing experiences, and want to expand your entries, try adding some visual effects and details. Artwork added to journal pages help to define your story in more detail.

With a blank journal, you can add photographs, sketches, make a collage or do calligraphy. What about using color? Perhaps describing a vibrant sunset with splashes of reds and oranges across the page. An angry entry might be embedded within a dark shadowy cloud. There are many different types of colored pens, and acid free archival pens that could be used to color words, sentences or drawing on a blank journal page. Play around with calligraphy and different writing styles.

If your inner artist wants to come out, by all means, draw, paint or sketch around a paragraph. Use inner imagery to show your feelings. Test your journal page first to make sure that the medium you use won’t destroy pages below it. You can protect the rest of your journal by inserting a piece of waxed paper with a blank sheet of paper on it and place it underneath the page you are working on.

I’ve seen some journals, where people use ribbon to create an attractive border. There are many scrapbooking tools that are available, such as stamps, decals and specialty paper for cutouts. If you are describing a favorite walk, what about picking up a special leaf or small flat-sized pebble to attach to the page.

Journal creativity doesn’t have to exist with just words. Try embellishing your journal today. I am always envious of playschool children. They never seem constrained to the page they are working on. Color and words flow, things get added to the page, and they do it with such flare. Don’t be afraid to release the inner child and expand your journal entries.

Not all journal writing is the same. Some people keep journals just because they have to. It’s part of their makeup it’s ‘in their blood’ to quote a cliche. Their entries can be varied and many depending on the day, week, month or emotion they are feeling.

But, what if journal writing is not that way for some folks. What if they picked up the journal for another purpose, for a healing purpose. What if they are screaming inside and have no other outlet, except to write furiously that which they are compelled to write.

Sometimes we need a journal just to get us through those tough spots in life. Those dark periods where there is no respite from the pain, but to write about it. Are you coping with cancer? Fighting grief? Dealing with separation? Divorce? Climbing out of depression? Contemplating suicide? The tough stuff hits us when we least expect it. If you need to, seek professional help through your dark times. Many professionals do have journal writing as a part of therapeutic healing.

Journal writing is easy, it’s private and it’s soul searching. the blank pages and pen in hand seem to invite your thoughts. When you no longer need your journal, you can save it for a look back in reflection of those times that you had and managed to pull through. Or you can burn it. That is what makes it uniquely yours; the choice of how it is filled and what you choose to do with it in the end.

Have you ever gone back and looked through some of your old journal entries? Sometimes it can be a real eye opener. If you have, do you find at times that you really feel like you don’t know the person who wrote the entries? That happened to me recently. I looked through a creative journal I had started in 2001. I had crayoned throughout, clipped magazine photos and added quotations and put little creative sayings in to match my journey of thoughts at that time. I didn’t do very many pages, but for the ones I did, the writing is very profound.

I am really amazed at some of the quotations I wrote, and wonder where they came from. Was that really me? It’s my hand writing, I put my signature below each one (I do that when I’m writing so that I know they are my words). Your past journals are but pieces of your heart and soul at a given point in time. We are forever changing and can’t expect that the things we write about will be the same things that affect us a few years from now. Don’t be afraid to go through your old writing journals. Your entries can reveal some things about you that you may have forgotten.

Here’s an entry from my Discovery Journal I’d like to share with you:

“Waves leave behind ripples in the sand,
like the tides of life
forever changing, always rearranging.
Enjoy the beauty of the ripple changes.
Study not for too long,
for tomorrow another tide comes,
which will change the surface of the sand once again.”
(2005  by Patricia L. Atchison)

I just attended a workshop on Pilgrimage Journal Writing - very in depth - but one of the tools we used to start journal writing was Meditation Cards. First we did a deep breathing exercise for about 5 minutes to relax and concentrate on our breathing only, then we were instructed to go to a table and pick out a card from a set of 3 boxes. One set was Tarot cards, the other Mother Teresa meditation cards, and a third set of spiritual cards. When I went to the table, I looked at the Mother Theresa cards, as I love the work she did. My eyes fell upon the ‘Joy” card, and I knew that was what I could journal about.

The card was Mother Theresa on “JOY“

Joy is prayer
Joy is strength
Joy is love
She who gives with joy gives most.

The following is an excerpt of what I wrote for my journal entry:

Joy

Joy fulfills me. It gives me peace. It enlightens my day. It uplifts me. It carries me away to brighter heights to a life worth living, to that which gives me hope.

Joy is that element of life we should strive for, that which we should ultimately attain. With joy comes peace, strength, love. When you have joy you can give of yourself. You are also open to love. Your light of joy shines from within to comfort others, to invite them into your bright world.

With joy you cannot have darkness, there is no room for it. Light is all that prevails. Joy. A simple word, so much happiness with it, so much to strive for, so much to feel, so much to give, so much to be, so much to have. JOY!