Journal Keeping

Wednesday, November 30, 2016 | Davilyn at Wednesday, November 30, 2016 |

I have gone in spurts throughout my life where I have kept a written history type journal.  I did keep out some details, because of that “fear” of anyone ever reading it.  My husband would always tell me that he wished he knew what I was thinking, and so some years after we had been married, I had printed out a copy of my journal from the time I had met him, up until that recent point in time and I gave it to him for Christmas.  He and my kids love reading it still.  I also have some treasures of my grandparents and little snippets of their journals that they kept, and I consider those great treasures.

You sit and stare and that blank page wondering what you should write, thinking of your day and knowing that you can’t write some of the things that happened, because you never ever want anyone else to know.  You don’t want them to know what you are really thinking, or how you really feel.  You don’t want them to know the dumb choices you have made.  And you most certainly don’t want anyone to ever, ever learn about your deepest, darkest secrets.  So what do you write in your journals?  Or how do you keep a journal that could be of benefit to you, and not necessarily let others read it, or even know about it.

Journal keeping is always something that I have been taught – but it isn’t an easy task.  As I have been blogging and growing in my writing department, I have come across different ways to keep journals.  It doesn’t mean keeping a diary like it use to.  You know the ones we all had when we were little that had the little lock and key with them, because we wrote of our secret crushes and our best friends.  Ya, we all had those ones, but a journal is so much more today.

My daughter has an old notebook that she keeps a copy of every movie ticket she has ever seen in the theaters.  She thinks it will be fun to share with her kids someday.  It also helps her remember certain movies and who she went with to see them.

I love this idea of keeping a journal through your art work.  I have a daughter and son who neither of them love to write anything, but they do love to draw.  Why not draw in your journal your thoughts, your dreams, and your happenings.  I would love to see them do this, but as of now, I haven’t convinced them that this would be a great idea!

I don’t write in my journal anymore, I write it on my computer.  I keep a journal notebook on my computer, but I also keep several blogs.  Some of those blogs are for specific purposes, and some, like this one, and just for my own thoughts and feelings.  You can set up a blog so easily and in minutes be typing away.  You can keep your blog private so that nobody has access to view it, that way you can write whatever comes to you and whatever your “deepest, darkest secrets” are.  Or you can have it open and write those secrets anyways and not worry about who reads about your life.  I have seen it done so many different ways.

It really doesn’t take much time to maintain a blog, and the nice thing is that you can write on it as often or as little as you want.  it can be whatever you want it to be.  But this isn’t about blogs, it is about keeping a journal.

If you are a great photographer, keep a blog or a scrapbook of sorts, about your daily happenings, your family, friends, workplace, trips, or any other adventures in life.  Great stories can be told through pictures.

I love quotes.  I have many notebooks that are filled with quotes and thoughts that I have gathered through the years.  Quotes are a great source of motivation and inspiration to me.  They have a way of reaching out and touching that one tiny spot that pricks your mind and they can say what no other could.  Keep a quote journal, and perhaps a thought or two about why you like the particular quote you wrote that day.

Keep a heroes journal, about people in your life that mean the most to you, or even those everyday heroes you see, that perhaps seem invisible to everyone else.  Perhaps you could talk about the people in your life and why each of them is a hero to you.  That would go a long way to helping us see people in a different light, if we are watching and picking out those qualities that make them one of our heroes.

Create a jar with writing prompts in it, so on those days you don’t really have any inspiration to write about, you can pull one out of the jar and just follow the prompt.  There are lots of writing prompts on the internet, just give them a google and see what comes up.

We used to keep a family journal for a very brief period of time!  It didn’t work so well for us, but I have seen many who have really made this one great!  Keep a notebook or binder handy so anytime and any day, your family can write in it their thoughts and how they feel.  I would maybe stress the importance of not being negative.  We don’t want it to be a way of venting and saying hurtful things to each other.

Maybe you write music or love songs, keep a journal about your favorite songs and what they mean to you.  If you have any particular type of talent like, cooking, sewing, crocheting, cars, sports, or whatever it might be, I guarantee that if you keep a journal based around what you love, someday it will be a great treasure to your children and grandchildren.  Hop on pinterest and search journal ideas, or use google to do the search.  You will come up with “something” that inspires you to write more!

What great journal ideas do you have to share?  I would love to see your inspirational ideas.  We all need some inspiration once in awhile.