~Journaling in June/July~ - Page 2

[Oriole]

Originally Posted by BurtsGirl

I'm loving that most of you keep journals for your children. What would be your purpose in such a journal? Do you plan to give it to them? Is it more for you or for them? What kind of things do you right in it?

I keep one for dsd (15), and have been doing this for a year. We had a bit of rough time last year where she didn't want to come over. I missed her, and wanted to let her know that even though I coudn't call her, or talk to her (blended family politics) I still was thinking of her, and cared for her. It helped me to keep my head cool, and my spirits up, because I knew that even though I can't express what I feel right now, she'll have a chance to read it later. I found it extremely therapeutic .

Once I started writing, I knew I will want her to have it as she graduates high school. At first, I wrote about the past, about fun memories we shared, what she meant to me. Now I write about the present events... Her first date, her first kiss,her moving in with us, how I got upset with her for being rude to her dad, but didn't say anything (we have an agreement with her, that I will leave all parenting to her dad), how we went to an amusement park, or the presents we exchanged for Christmas. I add photos, tickets' stubs, doodle; I add scrapbooking stickers on the pages, I also include poems and quotes, and end each entry with "Love, Oriole". There are pages that are just filled with writing, and others are more of a mix of things. I made a commitment to write in it at least twice a month, and have been pretty good with it. I can't wait to give it her, but I am keeping it a secret for now...

It's my favorite project, I only wish I thought of it sooner... Better later than never, right?

[j.lucymuses]

Hi. Just found this thread...

I am a journaling addict and have been since my early 20's. I have taught a journal-writing workshop and will be again in the fall (fingers crossed). I write almost everyday, happy or sad... like I said, I'm an addict! I don't have close friends here (we've just moved) so my journal is my best friend (other than DH). I'm working on manifesting my writing and journal therapy career.

I will try to pop in once in a while to chat with y'all.

[GoldBerry]

Hi, all!

It's my dream to be able to make an illustrated journal. I am drawn to watercolors. The one problem is that I am not very good at drawing.

Here are some cool links about illustrated journals I wanted to share:

Masking

Watercolor Journals

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by BurtsGirl

I've noticed that whenever I'm in a good mood or in a health state emotionally, I neglect my journal. Is this true for anyone else? I worry a little about this because I don't want my journal to alway be about my rants and an emotional rollercoaster that always seems to be coming down. But part of me feels like that's kind of the point and what the journal is there for, you know?

I'm actually finding the opposite Since I've started journaling (granted not that long ago) when I'm having an awful day I don't seem to have the energy to journal... I'm afraid MY journal will paint a picture of mary poppins, which I am not lol.

[BurtsGirl]

Glad to know I'm not alone with not really feeling the urge when I'm in a good mood. I do write every weekday though, no mater what. So I am getting some positive things down as well. My entry today was very positive and upbeat. I think those are also very important because like the manifesting-type entries it puts those good feelings into words and makes them even stronger. So now I feel even more positive and upbeat!

Great ideas on the DC's journals. I just love that idea!

joanna, welcome aboard. Good to have a seasoned pro around here. Feel free to share some prompts or anything else that you feel would be of benefit to us. I normally add links and resources to the first post.

Salvia, Those are breath-takingly beautiful! I love that idea. I can't draw either though, but you have to start somewhere, right? I've been trying to identify local area tree species better so on a recent camping trip I took my guidebook and did tracings in my journal of some of the leaves and included some basic info on them. It was a neat little addition to my journal.

Cari, that's very interesting that your the opposite. Maybe you're just special!

[j.lucymuses]

Originally Posted by Salvia

Hi, all!

It's my dream to be able to make an illustrated journal. I am drawn to watercolors. The one problem is that I am not very good at drawing.

Who cares if you're not good at drawing (and I bet you are really)... it's YOUR journal! Journals should NEVER be censored by your inner critic - we get enough of that from the outside ones. Go to it, girlfriend

[BurtsGirl]

Prompt/Exercise

Time for a prompt

Perfect Day
From Journalution

What is you idea of perfection? Journal your perfect day. Pick one scenario, one blissful day, and capture it in your journal. Write it or draw it, using whatever feels right to you – crayons, markers, photos, whatever you life. Begin with waking up in the morning. In your perfect day, do you wake to watch the sunrise, or do you sleep until noon? Are you looking out a window, at the ocean or the mountains? Are you sleeping in a high, pillow-top bed with white linens blowing all around you, on a simple Zen-like futon, or in a tent in the forest? What do you eat for breakfast? Do you stroll to a sidewalk café and drink lattes, or is breakfast served in bed? Do you spend your day laughing with close friend and family by the fire, or are you with your favorite book on a secluded beach? Write about the entire day, morning through night, including as many details as possible. You don’t have to limit yourself to one perfect day; after you’ve completed the first one, write another if you’re inspired to. You can never have too many perfect days.

[GoldBerry]

Originally Posted by j.lucymuses

Who cares if you're not good at drawing (and I bet you are really)... it's YOUR journal! Journals should NEVER be censored by your inner critic - we get enough of that from the outside ones. Go to it, girlfriend

Thank you! You are right! I think part of it is that it is easier to say that I can not draw than it is to jump in a do it. I have started something...will share later...maybe.

Ahhhh, a perfect day. What a wonderful thing to think about! Thanks, Rachel.

[ellemnop]

Thought I would check in (late).

Since I checked in on the last thread, it's been encouraging me to journal a lot more frequently, Thanks Ladies!

My goal for this month is to find a really beautiful journal so that I can gift it to my grandmother. She just lost my grandfather last year, and I feel like she would find it healing to write. It has to be perfect... preferrably hardcover... preferrably no lines.... if it looks timeless or aged then that would be preferred (she loves doing ancestry stuff).

Thought I'd throw it out there in case someone has any suggestions.

Take care,
El

[BelovedK]

Thanks for the reminders ladies I have neglected all but my tarot journal, I will work on it tomorrow (can't wait)

[BurtsGirl]

El, I'd suggest going to a local bookstore or B&N and looking at the journals there. They have an amazing collection of journals in every shape, size, and color. I've gotten most of my journals from B&N.

[aweynsayl]

hi, all! <wave-y guy icon here>

i went thru a phase where i only journaled "to figure things out"... and when i did that, times that were good, i didnt journal at all. although, the worst worst worst time in my life, i just couldnt look at my journal or pick up a pen, i couldnt "admit" it was true by writing about it. now, though, i'm in a new phase. i'm journaling more intentionally... more like i used to <cue misty music voice over> when i was younger.

i've been doing some amazing journaling in my time away from the computer. actually popping on to share a mental game i played with myself, that i thought you might get a kick out of... not sure how much it might prompt one to write... i actually didnt write much after i wrote out the rules to the game, but it amused me in a weird way so......

i called it the "what IF... bringing it under the parachutte game"

the first thing you need to know, to "get" the concept, is the game we used to play with those great big parachuttes.... we'd stand in a circle and throw it up in the air, then bring it down behind us, sitting on the edge, so that it billowed up, and we could all see each other in the glorious rainbow light of the thing.... ok, so this was a game we did at my hippie school... anyone else do it? i should look for an image.....ahhh, yes! i'm not insane. tons o'images here.....

ok, so the idea for my little game is to think of those little things about yourself that YOU feel dont really fit with your... best concept of who you ideally are. little nagging things that just sometimes make you feel less the person you want to be. then you think.... what IF... what if i made those very things key parts of me. what if, rather than feeling guilty, or less me, i took those things and said-- what if those were as much a part of the wonderfulness of me as the things i think more highly of? what if, in other words, i brought THOSE things under the parachute too?

(i'll give a little example, so you get a sense of how my mind was working.... i'm not a big tv watcher. i love college football and a little baseball and some march madness, and the occasional dose of keith olberman (yum). but i'm not big on popular tv shows, and i tend to get a bit.... snobby about it. ok, snooty. esp. reality tv. especiallllllly reality tv. but i *love* top chef. love. it. but anytime i watch a bit of it, i feel... icky after. like, awww, did i really do that? .... so, i said to myself, what if liking top chef was a really cool part about being me?.... and there ya go. off to the races or whatever other go at it slogan you like. sigh. i'm being such a dork.)

so.... that's my game! forgive my ramblyness, but i've been journaling a lot, and when i do that, i tend to get really wordy.

hope everyone's having a great summer!
xoxox

ps--on where to look for journals-- i linked to a couple great journal sites in the other thread. i love things that are handcrafted, and i found some great ones at my local super cool woman's bookstore.

[GoldBerry]

Originally Posted by aweynsayl

although, the worst worst worst time in my life, i just couldnt look at my journal or pick up a pen, i couldnt "admit" it was true by writing about it.


i called it the "what IF... bringing it under the parachutte game"

Rachel~ I have really been there when I just couldn't write about something. Sucks.

LOVE the game you came up with!!! You rock!


So, I got my pen and the Commonplace Journal today. Love the pen and I am fascinated by the journal. Here is the description on the inside:

In Renaissance times, commonplace books became a popular solution to coping with the information overload of the age. They offered a way to first capture, and late catalog, passages from books, favorite quotations, jokes, proverbs, recipes- even magical spells.

[BelovedK]

I have not written in a few days I am getting ready to log off and write, write write!!!!

I know I will feel much better.

Lately my journaling has been sorta boring to reread, it has been a retelling of my days, not so much delving into deep thought.
For my writer's group, I have to write a piece on hunger. I have written pages and pages, but it is all so personal that I would never share it with this particular group. There are teens, and men. I would feel comfy in a woman's group though.

I miss my woman's writing group I think I will start a new one and focus on journaling.)

[BurtsGirl]

Awe, Love the "What if..." game!! So glad your getting a lot of journaling done. Doesn't it feel great?

Salvia, I think Cari was the one having a hard time writing about the tough stuff, or was that someone else? Wasn't me, I "spew" that bad stuff out easily. I have a hard time writing about the good stuff. Ok, the pen, is it, like, totally awesome? Do you like the way it writes? I loved that pen. *Still jealous!* Is there such a thing as pen porn?

BK, a women's writing group sounds so wonderful. I hope your able to form one. Good luck writing!

[GoldBerry]

Originally Posted by BurtsGirl

Salvia, I think Cari was the one having a hard time writing about the tough stuff, or was that someone else?

Sorry- shouldn't post when sleepy.

[GoldBerry]

oh, and my apologies to you, Aweynsayl, for calling you Rachel (when your name was right in the quote- doh!). I played your parachute game today while I was mowing. I like it!

[J's Mama]

Wow I've been really off lately. I've been wanting to journal for days now and something else always comes up in my free time. And I totally agree with those of you to whom it doesn't occur to journal when life is going well. Only rarely do I journal when I'm really happy about something. And I felt this way the last few days too. I felt I needed to journal about alot of the frustration and unhappiness I've been experiencing but part of me didn't want to write down more "bad stuff". I'm having a better day today though so maybe if I get down to journaling, it will all balance out.
About the journals for our children: I journal for my DS. I started it the week he was born. I try to write at least once a month. I jot down his favorite things at the time: books, food, places, words, etc. I write down funny things he says or does because all of those wonderful details are so easy to forget eventhough you think you won't. I love to go back and read the first entries from when he was a newborn. I hope he'll enjoy it/them one day as I do plan to give them to him (if he wants them!)

[CariOfOz]

Originally Posted by BurtsGirl

Salvia, I think Cari was the one having a hard time writing about the tough stuff, or was that someone else? Wasn't me, I "spew" that bad stuff out easily. I have a hard time writing about the good stuff. Ok, the pen, is it, like, totally awesome? Do you like the way it writes? I loved that pen. *Still jealous!* Is there such a thing as pen porn?

Hehehe @ pen porn! And yep, was definitely me.. It's not so much that I have trouble writing it...if I picked up a pen it would spew out like so much raw sewage on my worst days. The problem is picking up a pen

The perfect day was a LOT of fun to write :

[J's Mama]

Right after posting earlier today I sat down in "my corner" and did the Perfect Day. I enjoyed it so much! I don't usually journal with prompts so I liked that it made me *think* and I smiled so much during the writing just thinking about all those wonderful things!
Something I dog-eared in The Mother Trip by Ariel Gore a few years ago and am just now deciding I need to use as prompts:
"Here are some questions we can ask ourselves in times of transition in our lives:

• Where am I feeling burdened, restricted and limited in my life?
• What in my life makes me feel competent?
• Where am I wasting time, energy, money?
• What do I enjoy?
• What is my favorite time of day? Why?
• Where is my passion?
• In what areas of my life am I still living out someone else's 'shoulds'?
• Do I see motherhood as all-giving, or can I make room for learning to mother myself as well as others?
• In what ways do I feel like a kid bull-shitting in a grown up world?
• In what ways do I feel as if I'm juggling dissonant parts of my life?
• Which of these balls can I set down? What am I afraid of in doing so?
• What do I feel I have 'sacrificed' for my current work/family/lifestyle?

At this point in my life, the one about a kid bull-shitting in a grown up world particularly resonates with me! I'll probably start with that one!