Journals and Papers

I’ve been noticing recently that retired seniors are coming up with activities they can do, which are meaningful, creative and a lot of fun. Some of these activities are off-chutes of others, such as scrap booking and taking journal writing to a new level.

I’ve met one lady who wanted to take photos of me at my home-based business office. We both live in a rural area, and “just for fun – and something to do”, she was taking pictures of local businesses, printing them, adding business cards and brochures, and notes about the business and compiling it all into a scrap book page. One thing to note here is that in the country, not all businesses of the norm. Some are quite different and encompass anything from ranching to knife carving to taxidermy. Once her project is finished, she’ll have a memory book full of interesting businesses and people she met along the way. (In the future, it can always be donated to the local library.)

Not knowing what to do with his time when my Father-in-Law retired, he decided to continue his computer work, but made a shift from business to personal writing. His days are always busy and sometimes it’s hard to keep up with all he does. So everyday at night or during the day he writes a few paragraphs about his activities and people he was with. He adds such things as ticket stubs, cards, receipts and photos. He’s not even six months into his daily journal and he has already filled up a 3 inch binder full of writing and collectibles from his activities. He loves doing this, as it is an activity that again lets him interact with others, not to mention his children love it too. Now we get to know what keeps him so busy!

I am sure there are many other ideas on how seniors are keeping journals. Please comment on them and share your ideas here on this blog.

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.

Do you want to leave something for your child, for the world? Can journals be preserved? Can they become a family legacy? You bet! Have you considered willing your journals to a caretaker; someone who will cherish them and make sure that they are passed throughout the family, or given to a grandchild? Maybe there are some journals that you really wouldn’t want to share. In which case, that should be known too.

You can select a close friend, or someone in your family to be the keeper of your journal collection upon your death, especially if you have kept volumes of journals that include family stories and events. Even if your journals are specific to you, it might be nice for a future grandchild to know who you were and what your were about. Imagine a teen in the family having trouble and not knowing where to turn, being given one of your journals during a casual conversation. The teen wonders what he could even find within the written words, but after reading a few passages is engrossed in a life that seemed just as confusing as his is now, and he feels somewhat of a kinship for someone he has never met.

For those journals where you don’t wish a soul to view, leave explicit instructions to your journal caretaker about how to dispose of them. Perhaps you want them burned or shredded.

Your journals might be a form of a memoir and could be publishable. Do you want the family to pursue such a project and publish your memoirs? Can they use your journal entries? What if you had close ties with an organization over your life and had written several entries about events and people. Should these be made public?

It’s hard enough trying to figure out and get a will drafted up for your personal items, let alone determine where your volumes of journals are going to go. But if you were an avid journal writer and have a significant collection of journals, it might be worthwhile thinking about what is to happen to your writing after you are gone, or unable to write anymore.

One person’s writing (no mater how trivial or important to the author) may be another person’s treasure.

Spring has arrived and so have two new product lines for www.journalsandpapers.com. Each journal line is Canadian made and has something truly unique to offer clients.

Re-cover Journals are hand-made in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The company offers a ‘novel’ concept (excuse the pun), with the journals covers bound from old book covers. “Re-cover Journals specialize in transforming used hardcover books into delightful and innovative journals“, explains this small, socially-conscious company that loves recycling. Each journal is unique and one-of-a-kind. Old books, destined for demise, are picked up at garage sales and flea markets, and the covers are used to make a hard cover journal, filled with 70 pages of 100 percent recycled blank paper. The journals are coil bound and have durability and strength, not to mention a quirky cover depending on the book choice. A great gift idea for someone wanting a unique journal.

Pebblestone Papery Journals are handmade in Calgary, Alberta Canada. These beautiful hand bound journals are covered in hand-screened, Japanese Chiyogami cover with a coordinating silk Japanese book cloth binding. “At Pebblestone Papery, we proudly create beautiful and unique stationery, combining lush, handmade papers with modern design.” says Veronica Stewart-Cameron, company founder. The smooth 120 (240 sides) lined ivory interior pages are ideal for ink or pencil. Available in a writing journal, there is also a blank page sketchbook or larger journal size. Both sizes are of archival quality and are acid free. These journals are sturdy and stand up to the elements, such as humidity and different environments, making them also a great travel journal.

Discover these new journals today at Journals And Papers, featuring quality journals and fine papers for the creative mind.

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.

You may not find a journal or work planner for every need. For example, if you are looking for a food diary or food journal, it may not be in the format you require.The same goes for a yearly planner. When I go planner shopping, I always come home empty handed because all the planners are the same! Hourly by day, by week, or by month. Keeping track of my work tasks and needs are different and to that end, I would like to share an article with you on how to turn a journal into a Weekly Work To-Do Journal/Planner Template. Whew that’s a mouthful.

Within this article, is a template that you can incorporate into any journal, lined or unlined. It explains how to use the template and provides some detail on how to keep a weekly work to-do list within a favorite journal. Download this article: Weekly Work To-Do Journal/Planner Templatefor more information.

I was just at a sale with some of our journals and talked with a lady (lets call her Jane) about her travel writing obsession. Apparently Jane’s friends laugh at her journal writing antics, but are appreciative that if they ever need to remember anything about a vacation, they can use her journals as a resource.

Jane said, “I literally log EVERYTHING.” From the moment she steps out of her house, her journal is open and she writes down everything, from the weather, to the roads taken to what the cabbies say, what her hotel looks like, and the places she visits.

Another thing Jane takes with her is a complete scrapbooking kit including scissors, glue sticks and highlighters, as she collects every stub, receipt and item of interest and attaches them inside her journal. If she can, she even prints her photos and includes those.

By the time her vacation is finished Jane has a completed journal/scrapbook of events that took place, what conversations transpired, and thoughts about the sights she saw.

Now if that isn’t a true journal writer I don’t know what is. What types of writing do you do on your vacations?

Writing in a journal through illness is a great way to relieve stress and release the silent voice that screams to be heard, but wishes to scream in silence. Mostly, we don’t want to burden our family members with true feelings of the illness we are suffering, especially if the illness is terminal.

I recently lost an aunt to brain and lung cancer. She kept journals for most of her adult life. Several hardbound journals lined her bookshelves as her life experiences unfolded over the years as stories within these journals. When I heard about her illness, I thought that she might want to describe her feelings as she fought the cancer, so I sent her a “Her Life” journal. I thought as we prayed for a healthy outcome, she might like to write about her journey of the battle she was having with her health. When she was well she could look back over those pages, or place it on her bookshelf with all the others.

Sadly, with chemo treatments and radiation, she was only able to write a small bit before she had trouble seeing and writing. She did continue drawing and “doodling” (she laughed when she told me that) inside that journal. She lost the fight against cancer a few months after she received the journal. I hope that by jotting down a few things, my aunt was able to find some peace from the pain that engulfed her. Now her journals are being passed onto her children so they will come to know the strong woman behind the words.

You don’t have to be a writer to keep a journal; in fact journaling has a variety of benefits and advantages for everyone. Keeping a journal allows a person to track their thoughts and feelings and retains them for future reference. Everyone has said at some time “what was I thinking?” People who record their feelings in a journal can look back on their entries to better understand themselves.

Journaling is a proven stress reducer. Once you write something down it’s not as likely to bother you anymore. Keeping a personal journal is a great tool for goal setting. By writing down your goals you can actually see and better understand what’s important to you. Organization is also a benefit of journaling. Cataloguing what you want to accomplish each day is a great tool to help you get those things done.

Journals are also a wonderful gift for friends or family members.