Want to Start a Journal this year?

 Around about this time every year, people everywhere think about how things will be different next year. One of the new practices people start at the beginning of a new year is journal writing. What is a journal? Just a book. It can be blank, have lines, have dot grids. It can be plain like a composition book or pretty with a hard or soft cover, or fancy like a leather bound notebook. This is a picture of my journal for this year above. I like to write by hand but I also have a program on my computer, and a digital journal on my ipad that I write in with my apple pencil. 

Whatever book or software you choose, it will hold all your secret thoughts for this year. All you secret plans. And all your memories. You are the author. You put in your journal whatever you choose. There are NO RULES. Not grammar, not neatness. You can draw, or stamp, or practice calligraphy or handwriting in your journal if you like. You can write prayers, or things you learn about, or memories of your grandkids or your romance with your spouse. You can record what you talked about on phone calls with friends. 

You can explore all the good and bad experiences of your life - and your journal will help you process your rants and angry words you wish you could say...if you weren't so polite. You can keep it all or tear out a page or two if you want - but I never tear it up myself. I write a little disclaimer to whoever might read my journal in future years saying that I am a work in progress. I often write how I'm feeling in the moment I'm writing. The next moment I might have changed my mind. I write so I don't wreck a relationship. If you read something negative in here about yourself, that was in a moment of heat. Not necessarily how I feel all the time about you. I processed it and moved on... OR you can write a note about respecting your privacy and burning your journals when you die. It's your book - you do you!!!

How to get started?

Open the book. Pick up a pen and write. Write about your day yesterday. Write about decisions you need to make - pros and cons. Write about your friends Write about your enemies. Write about your children's funny moments. Write about your grandkids and how precious they are. Write about your spouse - how much you appreciate and love them. How you resolve to make life better with them. Write about all the funny stories of your past - especially at this time of year - Christmases in the past. Write about how life changed this year - the year of the Covid pandemic. Write about how you wish things would change. Write about What I Wish for this coming year. Write a little or a lot.

Then join our group Journal Keepers and get more writing prompts each day to keep you writing your neat experiences and your totally awesome thoughts every day throughout the year. 

OH YES! You don't just have to write. You can add doodles and paintings and stickers and pretty things and copied poetry and pictures and whatever it is that floats your boat!! NO RULES remember?? Only what you want to put in it. It will be whatever you make it. 

Do it your way and come join in the fun with the Journal Keeper FB group adventure this year.

Tis the Season! For Goal setting and Resolution. Business or Goal journals

Around about this time of year our thoughts turn to resolutions we can make or goals we can set or refresh. We all have things we want to accomplish in our personal or business lives. A Goal journal can help us.

With the popularity of all manner of different planners these days, there is NO shortage of ways to keep track of your goals. Two of the more famous types of planners or guides in which to track your big hairy audacious goals are Bullet Journals and Powersheets.

Bullet Journal is a term coined by Ryder Carroll. A "BUJO" is a planner you design yourself. In it's most minimal form, it contains some sort of calendar where you mark down appointments and fixed date events. Then you list your daily or weekly and monthly items TO DO and mark them off when you have finished them. The idea is that you break down your goals into the smallest steps possible to create forward movement toward your goals. Each day brings you a step closer to meeting your goal.
The beauty of Bullet Journaling is that it can not only be a planner but it can also be quite a good record of the events of your days. And adding notes to each daily record can help you track and remember what you have accomplished or done during each day.

Here's an example of one of my pages

For more information about Bullet Journaling check out this website
There are many people who have monthly "plan with me" videos on Youtube. These can run from minimalist black and white lists to beautifully illustrated works of art. Suit yourself!! That's the only rule. Watch the videos and see what appeals to you.

Check out Kara Benz - Boho Berry here
or check out Instagram and Pinterest for more photos of people who do Bullet Journaling.






One of the things I have used for setting Goals for the year are Powersheets. Lara Casey from "Cultivate what Matters" and her team have designed a workbook where you answer lots of questions about what you think and what's important to you in your quest to be more intentional about living a life of purpose. These planners are so popular this year, the year long books are all sold out already, but you can still get undated 6 month powersheets from their website. Check out the website and blog to see it something like this might work for helping you get a handle on all the most things that are most important to you this year.

For business, I have used a goal planner by Lisa Jacobs called, "Your Best Year Ever 2018." You can get this on Amazon in a bound book form or in a downloadable format you can print out yourself on Lisa's Etsy shop. Although this is not a planner, but a goal setting workbook, you will find yourself doing a complete review of your last year in business, and then setting goals and direction for your upcoming year. The questions dig deep into your HOW and WHY of your business ideas.

This year Lisa has also prepared a personal version which you can get here.

I am not an affiliate of these recommended resources (yet) but I have used them and I love spending time at this time of year not only writing out my responses to these questions in a notebook but I also enjoy re-reading the previous years records. I can see steady progress toward the things I most would like to do in my life and in my business to live intentionally and purposefully in my personal life and business.

I think lots of people who keep journals enjoy being a little introspective at this time of year.
Let me know if you have any other tools you use at this time of year to set goals. I'd love to hear about them and check them out for myself.
How do you track your progress toward YOUR goals?

Start a Journal Jar!

A Journal Jar can be a helpful gift for someone who loves to journal or for yourself. Use it for those days when they just can't think of a thing to write!

Get a fancy jar from an antique shop or use a large jar that you have painted with chalk paint - the latest artsy thing to do with old jars. :-) Add some ribbon and some wrapping paper or a fabric circle to cover the lid and you have a very pretty little gift for someone. Add journal writing prompts and quotes that you have printed out and cut apart into strips. If you print these on different coloured paper it adds a little something!

Add a fancy tag with these directions: "Pick one a day...If you find it interesting, write about it in your journal. Or pick another idea from this jar."

Get some free prompts for your journal jar online
OR
Come back here each month to find 31 new prompts to add to your collection. January Journaling Prompts will be added January 1st - Just in time for you to make yourself a Journaling Jar!

Why not subscribe to my blog posts by email? You will get all my posts delivered as soon as they get posted and you won't have to remember to come back to find more prompts to keep you journaling all year long!

Let me know in the comments below if you are going to use this idea for yourself or for a special someone in your life this year.

Happy journaling
Debbie

Are you EXPECTING?? Do you have children?

If you are pregnant or if you are a fairly new mom (or even an older one) you might like this journaling idea. Start a journal of your thoughts about your pregnancy and about your hopes and dreams for your new baby. This goes beyond an official baby book but you could use a pre-printed one and add pages in if you like. Include the ultrasound photos of course! Each month you can take photos of your baby bump and then write about your thoughts and preparations for the arrival of your new special someone. As your child grows up, you will be able to recall with them how you anticipated their birth. (I can promise you that you will forget a lot of things about your pregnancy and early childhood memories - especially if you have many children - it all starts to run together! LOL)

If you continue throughout the years to catch up this journal every month, or even a few times each year it will become a family treasure! Review and retell the stories of each child's life to them on their birthday as they grow up. Not only will it remind you of forgotten memories over the years, but it will impress on your children their uniqueness and their importance in your family's history.

Here's a quote by a friend from a journaling list;
"Once after cleaning out a cabinet in my study, I came upon a baby book of my first child, Morgan. In this book there were lists of firsts for her. Her first tooth, first Christmas, first crawl, first walk and even her first haircut were included! Morgan and I sat down and went through the book, and it was a thrill to reminisce about her early childhood. As  we talked about all the highlights of her life until now, she enjoyed seeing and hearing about the journey of her life."

It's a VERY good idea to do this for each child - even though it does get harder as you add more to your family. You will never regret taking the time to jot down things to add to the book - and taking time to sit down with a coffee for a few minutes once a month to write down a few thoughts in each book.
If you forgot to do this and you would like to - there is NO time like the present to start. You will be surprised how many things will come back to your mind as you start to write the story of your child's birth and early years! And it could be a wonderful present for them in the future.

Have you kept a journal like this for your children? Share how you record thoughts in your family journals and stories of how you have shared them with your children.

Happy journaling
Debbie

A sense of possibility...

"In the private spaces of your journal, a genuine sense of possibility is renewed with every blank page."
Stephanie Dowrick p 2 Creative  Journal Writing

Do you remember September school days? The new blank books that still smelled like printer's ink? The new pens with fresh blue ink? Decorating a new cover - writing your name and the subject on the front? Stacking them all very, very neatly in your new desk?

There's something inspiring and exciting about a new book - or a new white page.

Anne of Green Gables said "Tomorrow is a blank slate with nothing written on it yet."
Each new day can be the same in your journal. Some people are put off and intimidated by a blank page...Learn to savour it! Look forward to filling every page in your book.

Do you come to your journal excited to write on every new blank page?
Sometimes all it takes is a new perspective to make it enjoyable again...

What do you think about when you see a new blank page to write on in your journal?

Intensify your pleasure in life's journey...

Journaling gives you the opportunity to experience a moment more than once. The first time in real time and the second time on the page.

What's so cool about keeping a journal is that you get to enjoy the moment as you live it. If it's a great moment, you will enjoy it again as you write all the details, and capture the dialogue, all the things that led up to the moment you SO enjoyed.

I find this when I write about babysitting my grandkids. They say and do the funniest, cutest and most spectacular things! Like the visit last week with my grandson. He came up to me and gave me a big hug and said "I missed you Grandma!" Ah, the words a Grandma lives for! I rubbed the top of his brush cut head and told him "I missed you more! You guys have been sick - are you feeling better? He said yes...and my grandaughter was right there so I included her and asked " Did you lose those loose teeth yet?"  Nope but I have more than one that's wiggly now - and I got a demonstration....

Yep - living it all over again - a little slower as I write it - and I get to enjoy the moment AND hold onto it for as long as the writing lasts on the page.

"The faintest ink lasts longer than the memory"

When I plan an event and write about all the things that actually worked out!! Surprise! I feel a greater sense of accomplishment and appreciation for all the parts that worked together.

I will remember these things much longer because I noticed the moment and wrote the words down. And when I read it again down the road, it will bring back that memory just as if it were yesterday. Because you know, as you get older, that memory will not fade away...

Focus on the good things in life.
Appreciate the little things in life
Cherish the people in your life.

What about YOU?  What are you going to write about today?

An enjoyable form of writing

Journal writing is the most enjoyable form of writing.

You don't have to write for anyone else in the world - only for yourself !
You can write with no deadlines - no rules - anyplace you want to write.
It's solitary...
You can totally be who you are on the pages of your journal...
No pretending - no masks.
It's relaxing and very therapeutic. If you felt anxious before you sat down to write, you will feel less anxious when you are done - usually!
If you felt overwhelmed, you will notice that as you write, issues start sorting themselves out and you find a plan of action...
Journal writing brings peace to your soul...


How to make it more enjoyable

Find a place

A quiet comfy place at home
A restaurant with the sound of chatter in the background
A park surrounded by the sounds of nature or children at play
At the beach with the sound of waves lapping on the sand
At the kitchen table with the smell of supper cooking.

It's portable! You can write in your very favourite places in the world.

Treat yourself to comfort

A lovely book and a pen exclusively for writing
Add soft music and a scented candle
Hot tea or coffee or hot chocolate with whipped cream made at home or by your favourite barista
Curled up on the couch or in your favourite chair close to the window with a cozy afghan, and favourite snack - light instrumental music in the background to draw you into the flow...
Instant atmosphere

Do it your way
An exclusive leather binding with creamy silky pages and a fountain pen
A composition book with blue lines and a ball point pen
An artist's sketchbook with blank pages, coloured pens and calligraphy markers
Paints, stencils and stamps
Instant creative outlet

Pick a writing prompt if you need it or just write whatever you are thinking about in this moment. Let your innermost thoughts pour out onto the page
Describe your setting
Write it as a letter to yourself - your spouse or as a prayer to God.
Free yourself from perfectionism - from spelling and grammar rules.

Share how you make your journal writing time more enjoyable than it already is...

Instant reflective time
Instant alone time

And write...

What are YOU thinking about?

Cultivate wonder...

Cultivate your sense of wonder
Are you learning about new things? A lot of people recently learned tons about giraffes as they watched the web cam birth of April's baby giraffe! Sooo interesting!

Maybe its a new hobby or maybe you're gardening and you're learning about companion planting. Take some time to add a photo or a table of information or scribble out your ideas and facts about what you're going to do in your garden this summer. Draw out your ideal garden plan and put it in a gardener's journal.

What are you going to DO with that stuff you're learning about? I've been learning to identify lots of birds lately. Start a birding journal. Put a photo of a loon in your journal and all you have learned about their nesting habits. Birds and Blooms magazines are great for this and then you don't have to keep the whole magazine - only the parts you're interested in.

There is LOTS to "wonder" about in this world. Lots to learn, to notice and to study about. Cultivate that curiosity and use your journal to capture the new, exciting and very interesting info you found today.

What are you learning about lately?  Create a section in your journal or a whole new journal dedicated to your specific interests. Maybe you'll become an EXPERT! You never know where your interests will take you ...

What are YOU interested in? Share some interesting facts below! Tell us all about the things you Wonder about....

Capture the moments of beauty...

Oh Look!!! The first crocuses are up!

Look at these gorgeous flowers <3 <3
and my hubby is all about
cute little critters for Valentines

This rainbow is so beautiful after a day of rain...

Capture moments of beauty in your journal.

The internet these days is all about photos - visual beauty portrayed through digital photography. Even if you're not a bonafide photographer - if you have a smart phone you have a camera on you all.the.time! Use your photos to beautify your journal. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. Some things cannot be described adequately in words. A photo will instantly bring back the astounding moments of beauty in the everyday-ness of life. As an artist, I find these beautiful moments move me emotionally and trigger creativity in my soul.
There's nothing I like more than to go out with my camera or my sketchbook and try to capture the beauty all around me. It inspires me creatively and enriches my memories of moments in my day when I come upon something so pretty I have to get my phone out and snap a pic.

I keep a journal in handwriting but I also keep a computer journal. Either way, you can add photos of beauty into your journal. Some people will sketch the scene - some people might take a photo and print it out to paste in their book - and some will copy the photo into their journal and then use words to describe the situation or the place or the event that captured their imagination.

What's in your home? Your yard? Your neighbourhood? Your city? What can you find that inspires you, that you admire? Photograph it and keep it in your journal to make pages you love to look at again and again.

Post some photos that have inspired you this week on our FB groups
Journal Keepers
Christian Journal Keepers

Thoughts...ideas...tension

I found this in a Jane Davenport drawing book "Beautiful Faces"  It's SO true!

What to put in your journal...

What shall I write about today? That is the eternal question a Journal Keeper has when they open their journal to write...

I almost always start by recording the events in my day. If it's in the morning, I write about the day before. If it's at night I write about that day's happenings. I usually just make a list of the things that happened. It primes the pump and I like looking back on my daily parade of events and how it's changed over the years. Some year, if I have Alzheimers, I will reread it like a really good story book...Maybe.

Sometime during the writing, or after the writing of my list of things though, I ponder and reflect on different aspects of my day. I don't just make a list - I embellish the list with:

• observations about my day or the people in my day
• insights about what I read or studied
• memories that I've been reminded about as I saw things that reminded me of yesteryear
• impressions of people, places, things I saw
• feelings about events and interactions
• plans to remember for down the road
• analysis of why things went the way they did
• dreams of how my life could be better and how I will try to make it so...
• hopes for the future
• failures - "what the heck?" moments!
• successes - "WOW - that was God!" moments
• happy, funny times - like the time when Hudson said... or when Lyla did...
• and sad times - including tears - there are more tear stained pages than I would like to recall...

I pick one or two off the above list.... I don't write for 3 hours a day LOL. Capture your most important ponderings...

Journaling is more than a "bed-to-bed" list. It's alive with all my further thoughts on the day and reactions to events I want to remember...

What do YOU think???

Memories...

OH! Remember the day that happened????

Nothing is more fun than sharing memories with my sisters or my dad of when we grew up. Childhood memories are the only things holding us together these days it seems. Our families are growing and we are busier than ever. Our locations have changed over the years and the once a year family gathering doesn't always include all of us. So the times when we can get together I usually try to turn the talk to memories of some kind. The ties that bind...

My Grandpa kept a diary all his life. It was usually a little tiny Moleskine notebook - one each year-  with space for like 2 lines for each day!  Earlier diaries had a two-page spread and you had to squeeze all your words into little tiny lines... No room for extra thinking there! Later notebooks had a page for each day. The writing is cryptic with lots of initials to decode but even the little bit he wrote each day is a treasure to me.

Grandpa's diaries - one for each year

1945 Diary - one page spread per week!

I recently looked up my birthdate in Grandpa's diary for 1957 - there you now know how old I am!
Heartwarming to read about that day according to my Grandpa...

"R (my dad) came at 4.10 (that's a.m.) to announce arrival of Debbie Ruth (me) at 2:30. Up 7. to Sc as usual. We went to P.C. (port credit) P.O. (post office) & A&P (grocery store) shopping. Home & spreading manure till noon. After lunch had sleep on patio in sun. Ada went to hosp. to see Pat & the new baby. I spread more manure then over to Sc for usual work. Ada joined me & did washing. After supper we went to Hassell & got some plants. Took Elwood home. Got more plants at greenhouse by W's. then to Lundgreens for some more. Found S fam. had been here while we were out. Ada (Grandma) phone D. re baby. Lil Wright & Marjorie Dudgeon here for nearly an hour. Reading. Bed 11:50.

Fair warmer."




Can't imagine my kids being so excited about their firstborn that they woke me up at 4:30 a.m. to tell me! It's so nice my Grandpa captured that and that I can "see" that excitement of my dad - all these years later. My Grandma visited my mom every day in the hospital and many days after I was home too. My mom's mother had passed away a few years before. I was not Grandma's first grandbaby. She had MANY by then, but she went over and helped my mom out - and probably held me and fed me on those visits. Awww.... I feel loved even now.

Even though he only wrote a little bit each day, there's a lifetime of memories I can read years later.

When I started writing in my journal I only wrote about MY events. I try to include more details since I read Grandpa's diaries. There are so many questions I ask my dad or ones I wish I could ask Grandpa. And, after reading a few of Grandpa's journals I started writing about what all the members of my family happened to be doing that day. And sometimes I will include photos in my computer journal.  My life is not just about me but it's also about my family and my interactions with them. Maybe they'll be like me and will love to read and recall the days we did this or that. Will like to read about their Grandparents in my journal and their cousins or their friends of long ago?

I've missed a lot of those things from their very early years but I'm trying to catch them now - because I know how valuable my Grandpa's memories are to me... I hope my memories and family stories will be valued by my kids down the road...

What about you? Are you writing with a mind that someone down the road might WANT to read about your daily events and get to know you in a way they could never have known you in person? Will you tell the family stories in your journal? Have you got some family stories that are precious that need to be remembered?

Types of Journals - Writer's Notebook

Do you love to write? Then a Writer's Notebook / Journal is for you!

A writer's notebook is a special kind of journal. You write things down as you learn them - or as you think up an idea - or as you do research for your writing. There is no end to the possible things to include in your writer's notebook. It's a tool for learning, for practicing and for exploring ideas.

Grab yourself a writing instruction book and take notes of writing ideas you come up with as you read it.

Read the newspaper and cut out articles that give you ideas for a novel or give you statistics you might need for your non-fiction book. Even cutting out and pasting in good titles can help you learn to formulate your own.

Take a few minutes and explore your topic with mind-maps. Put a word or topic in the center of your page. Quickly brainstorm more words and topics that come to mind and link them with lines - like spokes on a wheel. Keep on coming up with more ideas and words until you have exhausted every possible thought related to your topic. You may be surprised at where your thoughts take you. Your brain loves to play games like this...this thought is connected to that thought and oh I remember this memory and that game...and so on and so on...You can also draw little pictures if you like.

Cut out a picture from a magazine and use it as a writing prompt. Make up a story.

Copy passages from your favorite authors novel. Look for great examples of description, settings, and turns of phrase.

Make lists of books you want to read or books you have read and write your thoughts about them, about the writing style and what you notice about how your favourite author writes. Study the greats!

Record snippets of conversation you overhear in a coffee shop or a line up.

Make lists of your favourite words, your favourite character names and whatever else you can  think of to add.

List titles you come up with for your next great novel.

List ideas of topics you want to know more about.
Research recipes they might have made in the 1800's or things you learn about shipbuilding - anything that you might need to know to write your book or articles for magazines.

List all the things you know about. What are you an expert at? Write it down and find a place to write an article to share all you know about....

Keep track of publishers you might want to submit to.
If you find out the editor's name of your favorite magazine, make a note of their contact information.

Use your writer's journal to collect any and all ideas that might be of any use at all to your future "magnum opus"

Here are the sections I have in my Writer's Journal right now:
To Do
A section for the writing course I 'm working on
Quotes
Article ideas
Book ideas
Life stories
Family stories
Research
Blog ideas
Social Media ideas
Creative Writing ideas
Publishing - a list of places I could submit articles to
Authors to follow
Books to read - and notes on books I read
Grammar - at the end because I don't want to look at that until the end but I keep checklists for editing and the rules for the things I get wrong all the time, and words I tend to misspell - mispell- miss spell?

Have fun with this. Add to it every day. Practice writing.

What else can you think of to add to your writer's journal? Have you read any good books that would help new writer's get started keeping their own writer's journal?
Please share below!

A season of new growth...

It's spring! It's spring! The birds are throwing seeds out of the bird feeder for the squirrels. The dog wants out every 10 minutes to chase said squirrels. (At least he's getting his exercise!) And I'm taking photos and sketching, trying to get to the studio to paint and taking long walks by the river with my hubby instead...

And you... how are you doing?

Recently I was doing a review of my goals - a little bit late this month - and I did some journaling in that process. I thought I'd write and tell you how I use my journal to track progress and design a path of growth for myself personally, in relationships and in my business.

At the beginning of the year I sat down for several days with my journal and some other notebooks and set some goals for myself.I wrote them all down and outlined my plans for making them happen. One of those goals was to track my painting more carefully through this year. Another was to enter ALL the local art shows I could and a couple that were further afield. So this month I have been busy painting to meet those goals.

Every three months I have marked on my calendar to review those goals and see just how I'm doing and what course corrections I need to make.

When I actually got around to doing this in April, I took myself out for a date at a local coffee shop with my notebooks in a tote bag and started to write down all the things that happened in March first. Just a list of accomplishments, events and things that went well. Then I noted some things that didn't go well and then I wrote about why and what happened (briefly) to stop me in my tracks.

Then I looked back over the pages I wrote in Jan and February. I was a bit surprised at all the things that have happened since the beginning of the year. In spite of being sick for 4 weeks in the middle of that time, I still got a lot done! And I AM making progress toward those goals I set . That made me feel great!

I think we tend to forget the good and we remember too much of the 'not so good'. Why do our brains do that???  It's good to look back and remind ourselves of our progress and collect the GOOD memories in our journals!

After reviewing my goals again, I wrote down what I needed to do in the next 3 months to work towards them for the next three months. There are areas of my house and areas of my business that need to be more organized so I made lists of things to do to bring that about. There are relationships I want to keep working on as a regular thing - my kids, my grandkids and my friends. I thought about things I might do with them or for them in the next little while so I'm consciously building and maintaining with those people who are very important in my life. Being purposeful...not just letting it drift.

Then I looked ahead to my year. There are some things now coming up in the fall that I need to prepare for today. There are some goals I let slip because I was much busier than I had thought I would be and I made adjustments to those long term plans. I always seem to bite off more than I can chew. At least there's forward motion! That's the aim. Plan for growth. Plan to accomplish stuff. Plan to be... what I know God wants me to be.

It's all about tracking what you've done, and then planning where you're headed for. I think a lot of journal keepers are planners like this - or wish to be!

There are all kinds of things we track in life. When I was a little girl we tracked our height on a doorpost to measure and see in black and white how much we had grown. And in our journals, we can still keep track of how much we've grown. You are also able to design a path of growth for yourself
- not just physically (although a weight loss journal is good!) but also as a way to keep in front of your eyes those written down goals and ideas for things to achieve and aim for in all the other areas of life too.

Here are some examples of practical things to track in your journal:

Books you have read. Write about them and what you thought after reading them
Make a page for recording decisions you have made - why you made them and then draw up a chart to measure your stick-to-it-ivness.
Every month have a sit down with yourself (in a nice coffee shop :-) ) and record your goals.
Measure how you are doing with monthly or weekly checkups. Reset your course accordingly.
Make a template on a sticky note with questions to answer on each day's journal page - especially if you're trying to break or remain proactive about habits you want to change or to add.

Keeping a journal is a great way to look back from time to time to see how far have you come. In art after a person has been painting for a good part of their lifetime, they will have a retrospective show that shows their favourite paintings. You will see the key paintings in their life that showed them new growth in skill or genre or subject matter. You will see the paintings that meant the most to them.

If it's important to you, include it in your journal. It's your own personal "Retrospective."

What will happen to your journals?

What if someone reads your journal and finds something you wrote about them. What if they are offended or hurt by what you have written? 

What will happen to your journals after you die? 

Will you allow someone to read them?

Here are some suggestions from a journaling group I belonged to:

"Have you ever had anyone read a journal of yours with unwonderful
results??? Yes, my husband read one of my journals early in our
marriage and was upset about something he read. I told him that my
journals are a reflection of what I am thinking and feeling at the
time that the pen is on the paper."

Just because you wrote down your thoughts one day, that does not mean you have felt that way every day since then. We often write our thoughts down as a way to work through to a better mental space and heart attitude. As you write you will find your problems get exposed and resolved in your own mind. 

Sometimes you don't even write down that whole process of change. You only write bits and pieces of it.

So when someone reads what you have written, they are only seeing on paper part of your thoughts. And often I write so that my nastier words don't reach other people's ears and destroy their days.

Amy went on to say:

 "I actually have a disclaimer that I glue into the front cover of each of them. It says basically what I just wrote, but it also says that no matter what may show up on any single page, the overwhelming truth of my life is that I am a grateful and happy child of God doing the best I can in the midst of a busy, homeschooling, teaching, traveling, mothering, married - andsometimes discouraging and lonely life. It's all in me, so it's all in my journal."

************************
Here are Gail's thoughts...

"I feel better knowing that if someone picks up a journal and begins
to read it, when they see the disclaimer, they will know that I have
given thought to the possibility that they might read it.

"I liked Amy's statement that she will be too busy in heaven to worry
about people reading her journal when she's gone. PLUS if someone
picks up our journals to read, that person will know immediately what
it is, and he/she will have to decide whether or not to continue
reading. If they read, then they must bear the burden of having
broken into our private spaces and will have to deal with the
consequences. I don't think that I owe an apology to someone who has
broken into my belongings and found something hurtful. It is breaking
and entering, isn't it???"  

* * * * * * * *

I got my Grandfather's diaries after he passed away. I have read some of them. They are so interesting to read. My feeling as I read was - I wish I could ask him more questions about this. I actually asked one of my uncles about something that was written about him. His writing was so brief - but my uncle was able to explain more of what had happened to him way back when. It opened more family conversations and memories. 

I read about Grandma and Grandpa's reactions when my dad and mom eloped the day before the planned wedding date. Grandpa said Grandma gave Dad an earful! I can bet - remembering how she spoke long ago...

I looked up what my Grandfather wrote about the day I was born. It was so fun to read how my dad was so excited to come and tell his parents the news about his first new baby girl. It showed me how much my Grandma helped out my mom during her first few days at home. It made me feel incredibly special to read about their reactions to my birth. 

Reading about these special events and memories from long before I could remember a thing, made me feel like - no matter how much I might find out that might be negative or taken wrong, the good memories will far outweigh any negatives. I think finding a loved one's journals would be a very comforting experience for those left behind after I'm gone. A disclaimer or explanation at the beginning of each journal volume would probably serve as an adequate reminder that I was trying to work out my opinions, attitudes and longings in the best way possible. Even "working out my salvaton with fear and trembling..." 

I hope that I will include enough positive remembrances in my writings that no one will think I hated them... It might even remind me to actually write down the positive things I think about other people in my life. Why do we always wait until someone is gone to say good things?

What do you think? I'd love to hear what you think you will do about your journals...

Would you consider adding a disclaimer to each of your journals? Would you want your journals to be destroyed without letting anyone read them?

Keep writing,
Debbie

A lesson from Anne Frank...

"I want to write, but more than that, I want to bring out all kinds of things that lie buried deep in my heart."  Anne Frank

If you've never read The Diary of Anne Frank you should. It's the story of a young girl hidden away from the Nazis during WWII. Writing gave her a way to express her thoughts about her life at that time. We are still reading this young girl's diary years and years after she has passed away and learning that she was not so different from you and I.

You will find as you write down your thoughts that more and more comes flooding up from the well of thoughts and feelings inside of you. Like a spider does, you pull out longer and longer thread to spin your web of thoughts. Some things may surprise you - you didn't know you thought that! Some things you might like to hide from - honesty can be brutally painful at times. As your pen moves across the page it stirs up more thoughts, more emotions than you ever knew could have been buried beneath the initial surface chicken scratch on your journal page

After you learn to let go and write down whatever comes to mind you will find yourself making discoveries - making connections - making sense of your circumstances, your emotions and your thoughts. Find out what's buried in your heart and excavate it using a pen - or a computer keyboard. Whatever it is, get past the mere writing and discover what lies hidden in your own heart. Prepare to be surprised...and delighted...and provoked.

Keep writing,
Debbie

Talk to yourself....

Tell yourself the truth
Ponder and reason...

Argue it to yourself - Decide what you really think about a subject.

Write about confrontations. Rewrite how you should handle the situation better the next time
OR
Tell that person off - what is the root of your problem with them? Write all you wish you could say to them and find out what it is that really has got your goat!

Journaling is a healthy way to spout off without having to wish you could recall those words you should never have spoken out loud!


Learn how to say things with tact...
Practice HOW to say a thing
Rehearse it
Then say it diplomatically and with reasoned out arguments for your opinion.

Do you ever do this in your journals?

Keep writing,
Debbie

Start a journaling habit…

It takes only 5 minutes a day to start to make journal-keeping a good habit.

So if you are new to journal-keeping just find 5 minutes today to sit down
and write.

Set a timer for 5 minutes.

Start with the date.
Then write about one thing you did today or yesterday.
Write about the first thing that comes to your mind...even if it's nonsense. 

The idea is just to keep the pen moving!

Write about what you notice in your surroundings

Write about what you read lately.

Write about your kids or furbabies.

Write about the weather lately if that's all you can think about

Write about how you feel about all you wrote.

Put a shiny star on your calendar for every day that you take 5 minutes
to add something to your journal. ( I don't know why stickers are motivating
- they just are!)

If you find 5 minutes a day for 30 days, you will have started a very good
habit.

Seeing the growing number of pages helps keep you motivated.
The satisfaction of writing - the feeling of actually moving the pen across
the page - is what keeps me going back to the page day after day. 

Seeing a good habit start to form in your life - will keep you writing too.

If you would like to make this a challenge for yourself I suggest that after
you write, you post a note on the FB list saying "I wrote today"

https://www.facebook.com/groups/ChristianJournalKeepers/
https://www.facebook.com/groups/JournalKeepers/

Deb E

Should I start a new journal??

A common question at this time of year is..."Should I start a new journal for the New Year?"
What if my previous journal isn't full? Is it OK to leave blank pages...

Of course, this is something you have to decide for yourself! But here are my thoughts. Make a Pros and a Cons list...

FOR a New Journal
1. A new journal gives you a fresh new start
2. It will be fun shopping for something new
3. The pages will be white and clean and crisp and never before written upon - just like my New Year will be.
4. I'd like to turn over a new leaf and this will enable me to start something new - leaving the Old behind
5. New goals - new year!
6. I'd like to switch to a new system

Use up the Old
1. Filling the pages of your previous journal will give you a sense of accomplishment
2. Using up the old will be less expensive - I'm frugal like that!
3. There are a LOT of pages still left unwritten
.
4. I like my present journaling book
5. I can make it fresh by changing pens, using colour, adding to my style of journaling.

Whichever way you decide, you can make some changes!

In your old journal, draw a title page for your new year using coloured markers. Or print out some photos, make a card stock insert (coloured) to mark the new section in your book. Add stick on tabs to mark the beginning of 2017 in a way that stands out.

Changing to a new system
I presently write in some nice bound journals but I might like to change to an Arc binder system or three ringed binder system so I can add things or change my pages around at will.

Whichever way you decide, you can make some changes that will bring back fresh motivation, energy and joy to your journaling time.

Keep writing
Debbie

Goal Setting in your Journal

Every year at this time, I spend my down week between Christmas and New Year's using my journal to review my past year and set new goals for the upcoming year. This year is no exception!

Here are a couple of the tools I use to do my reviews and to set my sails for the New Year. I don't make resolutions... I set Goals. Then I make action plans to work towards them bit by bit through my year.

One of the best tools I have found for my business goals is Lisa Jacob's Your Best Year Ever 2017 workbook.

http://www.marketyourcreativity.com/2016/09/best-year-2017-expect/

I love the no-nonsense planning advice Lisa gives. She helps you focus first on your sucesses and roadblocks from the past year. There is room to analyse what went well, to look hard at your roadblocks and how they happened and then to make plans for the upcoming year. Knowing why things happened the way they did helps you try to avoid making the same mistakes in your planning the next year. I've found it very helpful to follow her blog through the end of the old year and into the new. She is really transparent about her own goal setting and weaknesses which I find strangely comforting - like I'm not the only one who struggles with procrastination and biting off more than I could possibly chew.

have a look, follow her blog and you will get a good idea if this tool is for you.

One of the best tools for my personal life - setting reasonable goals is Lara Casey's Power Sheets. Again, Lara is the most transparent as she writes and shows examples of her own personal goals for the upcoming year. She has coined the term Progress not Perfection as she thinks through all the areas of her life weekly to decide what needs Tending to each week. Progress is made in small achievable weekly steps that bring you closer to living an Intentional life that meshes with your unique life goals. I think what I enjoyed best was the extra help that you get from her blog posts and giveaway freebies during the year. They help keep you on track as you think your way through your year. I add these to my journaling all the time! Lots of questions to think through to figure out what you really desire to see happening in your life.
Check out Powersheets  http://laracasey.com/  #2017Powersheets

Happy Planning!