Journals and Papers

Yikes! Sometimes I don’t even want to remember my dreams, let alone record them in a journal. However, by journaling about the dreams you have, you can begin to understand and interpret your dreams better. Our dreams are a doorway to our inner selves. When we journal about our dreams, we discover truths about ourselves. We can be open and honest, jotting down the dream and the meaning we derive from it and how it relates to our inner most thoughts and feelings.

So what do you record? Start with the date and time of the dream. Even afternoon naps can get you dreaming, be sure to jot the time of the dream. You need something to remember the dream by, so give it a title. I recently dreamed that Oprah interviewed me about a book I had written. Unfortunately, I flubbed up the interview and demanded a retake. I was told there were no second chances. Would this be reflective of how I view my life at this time? In this instance I’ve dubbed it my “Oprah Dream Interview”.

Explain your dream contents. What was it about? You can go into as much detail, or as little as you feel like. Then, can you define your dream as a story in less then 5 sentences. Finally, what was your dream ending?

Emotion plays an important part of your dreams Have you ever woken up with tears streaming down your face, or your teeth clenched so hard your jaw hurts? Journal the emotions your felt while dreaming. Are they related to any vivid images you had?

I find that throughout the day, if something triggers a feeling in me, I will have a dream about the subject. This can be as simple as seeing a commercial or reading a news article or discussing a topic with friends over dinner. What were the events of your day prior to the dream your had?

Now look at all that you have written about your dream. Can you find a pattern or connection? What is your interpretation of the dream?

Finally, journal about the message you think you have derived from your dream. What meanings did you discover?

The above guidelines are just that, if you find there is more to the dream you’d like to record, perhaps images, or colors, then journal about that too. Include all the sensory details. Even bits of conversation that stick out in your mind and people involved are clues to your life’s innermost thoughts revealed through your dreams.

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!

Have you ever looked through an old photo album and stared at a photo wondering where it was taken and who the heck was in the photo? Sometimes when we’re on vacation or at an event we take snapshots of something that must have been important to us at the time. Maybe we met someone that day who was really funny and we made a connection so we took their photo. Maybe they are a distant relative from a family reunion. Whatever the story, if it is worth journaling about, then add the photo too.

Is this much different than scrapbooking? Not really. However scrapbooking usually takes into account a complete vacation or event worth recording. I’m talking more about individual incidents or memory journaling, where you can use one or two photos to compliment a journal entry and vice versa. 

If you have some ’snapshot moments or stories’ that you’d like to remember, consider printing your photos and putting them into an album that also acts as a journal. Try a larger format journal - 8″ or 9″x 11 3/4″ to 12″ with blank/unlined sheets. If it is acid free, that’s even better as you’ll be preserving the journals for years to come. Make use of an acid free pen too.

You can get artistic and make it ’scrapbook-like’, or simply write your journal entry around it. You can even consider a theme for your photo journals e.g. Where are my cousins now?  or Favorite tour guides and what made them so special.

I’ve often thought about starting a wildlife photo journal. Living in the country we have so many incidents relating to animals and we take photos. It might be cool to remember years down the road when and what happened when we took the photo. If I do, I’ll share it with you. 

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.

Are you having trouble getting back into the rhythm of your journal writing? I find having during the holiday season, or actually going on holidays is the biggest disruption to my writing whether it be journal writing or fiction writing. It is so hard to get back into the groove and before you know it, a few weeks have gone by.

If you are sitting looking at your journal and wondering what to write, here are a few fun and simple exercises to get your muse out of the holiday spirit and into a creative one:

• 2009’s Weather seems to be starting out with a bang and hitting all areas with some severe stuff. Describe the weather in your area and how if affects your life.
• Free write about someone from your childhood. Free writing is a technique where you picture your subject and start writing. Continue writing with no interruption, no going back to edit and NO censorship as you write. Kinda like writing from the heart.
• Goals are always a hot topic. What are your goals, ambitions, hopes and dreams for 2009?
• Write a Letter to an editor or someone that you may have an issue with. Is there someone you need to forgive this New Year? You don’t have to send it, just leave it in your journal- for your eyes only.
• Writing Prompts are something you can use to jump-start your journal writing. Check out Journal and Paper’s web site for journal prompts

These few exercises should help. If you are writing everyday, congratulations and good for you!

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?

I thought this would be appropriate seeing as I am off on a short vacation. Do you journal while away on vacation or traveling? There are many types of journals one can use for traveling. You want a sturdy journal, one that will hold up well, especially if you are back packing, or a soft leather cover type to mold into small luggage areas.

What things would you write about? I like to write about the sights and sounds of what I am seeing, the culture and how it affects me. When I was in Mexico, I sat for a few minutes and just listened to the ocean and tried to write down words that would describe what I was hearing. It was actually quite difficult especially without a thesaurus at hand. Even moreso, as my other senses of smell and touch (the wind on my arms) were also sensing, combining for an overall feel of what was going on around me. It is a great writer’s exercise. I just figured it might help me if I ever wanted to set up a beach scene in a story or novel.

I can’t seem to go anywhere without a journal in hand, and if I am travelling to inspirational places, that makes it all the more fun to be able to write when ever and where ever I want.

Come on, we know we have all felt it at one time or another. Road Rage. I believe the feelings road rage triggers are felt in all walks of life and not just on the road. So how do we take care of those feelings? What is the best way to address them?

Have you ever thought of keeping a journal for those times when life is just beating you over the head? You come home and grump at your wife or husband or kids. They don’t deserve it and can’t figure out what is wrong. Try taking a moment and sitting down with a journal. Write freestyle. Don’t think. Just write!

Don’t know where to start? Think about the  one key thing that happened to you that you just can’t get over and let go. Perhaps it was the guy who cut you off. May-be the gal who was going to slow and trying to put on makeup behind the wheel, or what about that jerk that was on the cell phone and tried to make a lane change right next to you.

If not on the road, were your bad feelings caused by an angry customer, someone who yelled at you, or a boss that demanded more than you could give.

You would be surprised as you let your writing flow, that the incident that caused road rage might not be what is really bugging you. As you write, more and more feelings will come out that you might not realize they even existed. The journal can take it. Pen everything you are feeling.

After a few pages, you will start to relax, the stress will leave you. You will feel extremely exhausted, but at the same time you will feel light, almost refreshed, somewhat like how you feel after freshening up in the washroom with a cold facecloth.

You can let it go and then go and face your family with a grin of apology for being so grumpy.

Sometimes, journal entries don’t always have to about writing down your feelings and thoughts. You might like to journal a story. Even if you aren’t a writer of fiction, sometimes journal entries can lead to some great story detail. I’ve seen some entries where the journal writer starts putting down feelings, but then somehow a story shapes itself out of an experience by the author.

Did something happen today which touched your heart and you have to go home and pull out your journal right away and jot it down? Did you see someone who has character appeal, and that person stayed with your thoughts; your imagination goes into overdrive and you start creating a story. Write it down in your journal.

Journals can be used for many things. Some people feel that the journal acts as a diary, where a chronological ordering of the day must be preserved. Others use their journals for poetry and drawings, quotes and comments or ideas. One other purpose can be to create stories. Let your mind wander into fantasy and see where your thoughts take you.

It’s fun reading what you’ve written too. You never know when you might decide to enter a writing contest, and lacking ideas on the spur of the moment, an old journal entry might twig a great idea.