Should I write that down? A Muse on Journaling
"You must remember that your story matters. What you write has the power to save a life, sometimes that life is your own." - Stalina Goodwin, Make It Write! Put Your Pain To Work Writing Journal.
Thomas Jefferson kept a diary of his garden, which is known as his Garden Book. He started it in 1766, and the last entry was in 1824, two years before he died. Here are a couple of entries:
April 7, 1767 - Planted strawberry roots.
February 28, 1782 - A flock of wild geese flying to N.W.
It made me wonder if this was the equivalent of taking a picture of the food you had for lunch and posting it. Do these small things really matter?
"Documenting little details of your everyday life becomes a celebration of who you are." - Carolyn V. Hamilton. Art Improv 101: How to Create a Personal Art Journal. I would say yes, our lives are made up of small, everyday events. The ones that are important enough for us to record show who we are. There are many famous journals, and the one thing they all have in common is that they were never meant for the rest of us to read.
My mother had personal journals that my sister now has in her possession. While my sister was reading them, she found several pages torn out, here and there, in all of them. I guess if you know that you are going to die, and you do not want to destroy all your journaling, it would make sense to tear out things you do not want read by others.
My mother also created many huge books containing photos, original poems, and things like that. These were made for her, but also for posterity to see. It made me wonder about how we should journal, what should be included?
After some research, it turns out that there are six different types of journals, and each one has its benefits. Most journal writers blend a few of these, which is why you may find pages torn out of some, just as I did to mine and my mother did to hers. Let's go over these and see which one or more is what you would like to use your journal for.
Reflective Journaling - "In the journal, I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any person; I create myself. The journal is a vehicle for my sense of selfhood. It represents me as emotionally and spiritually independent. Therefore (alas) it does not simply record my actual, daily life but rather - in many cases- offers an alternative to it." Susan Sontag, Reborn: Journals and Notebooks, 1947-1963. This is the philosophical part of journaling. The act of writing itself can be helpful to people who want to explore their thoughts, work through creative ideas, and reflect on their morals and goals. Going back and rereading what you found important enough to write about will give you a baseline to see the direction you are headed. "Keeping a journal of what's going on in your life is a good way to help you distill what's important and what's not." - Martina Navratilova.
Emotional Processing Journal - "What a comfort is this journal. I tell myself to myself and throw the burden on my book and feel relieved." - Anne Lister, I Know My Own Heart. I have written such things, things that if they were published on the internet, I would be deeply ashamed of, even though they are true. They have met an untimely demise in a bonfire of flames, wood, and gasoline. Any wisdom learned will have to be remembered instead of revisited. There are some things (especially about other people) that probably should not live forever in written form. I am guessing that my mother's missing pages contained content of this sort. Does that mean that we should not put the bad stuff in writing? "Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open." - Natalie Goldberg.
This leaves you in a quandary if emotional processing through journaling is your way of working through all the trauma that comes with relationships and life in general. At least half of our heartaches come from interacting with other humans, so you will have a name for the villains in your story. The benefits must be worth the risks. "If you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you." - Madeleine L'Engle. This is my greatest evidence for keeping separate journals, one you don't care about the grandkids picking up, and one that contains the worst you and other people have to offer (to be destroyed later, if need be).
Gratitude Journal - Many people have spoken of the benefits that you get from starting a gratitude journal and shifting your focus to positive events in your life, so I will not expound on them here. Sufficient to say that I agree and do keep one myself. "Writing in a journal each day allows you to direct your focus to what you accomplished, what you're grateful for, and what you're committed to doing better tomorrow. Thus, you more deeply enjoy your journey each day." - Hal Elrod.
Goals or Vision Journal - Anytime that you are engaging in goal setting, you are doing this type of journaling, especially when you are adding details about why and how you want to bring about changes. "A personal journal is an ideal environment in which to 'become'. It is a perfect place for you to think, feel, discover, expand, remember, and dream." - Brad Wilcox. Recording who you are now, how you feel about yourself, and a vision of who you hope to be in the future is the philosophical part of journaling. "The starting point of discovering who you are, your gifts, your talents, your dreams, is being comfortable with yourself. Spend time alone. Write in a journal." - Robin Sharma. To me, these are the most inspirational types of journals to read. The Roman emperor, Marcus Aurelius, wrote reminders to himself about Stoic virtues such as discipline, humility, and resilience. They were not written for publication, but were published later under the title Meditations. The guidance found here has proven timeless. It demonstrates journaling as a tool for character development.
Learning Journal - I love this style of journaling. I like to write notes down in a notebook from books that I am reading that really speak to me. I then write questions, business ideas, or comments in the margins that I can revisit later as ideas for research topics. I keep this journal separate from my daily journal, but it does have shades of reflective, goals, and creative journaling. "Your subconscious mind is trying to help you all the time. That's why I keep a journal - not for chatter but mostly the images that flow into the mind or little ideas. I keep a running journal, and I have all of my life, so it's like your gold mind when you start writing." - Jim Harrison.
Creative Journal - People who can draw can create beautiful journals. Leonardo da Vinci made one of the most complex and interesting journals (he called it a notebook) in history. He filled thousands of pages with sketches, inventions, designs for machines centuries ahead of their time, scientific observations, and philosophical musings. "Let's end the notion that ideas have no value unless they turn into a business or have some other practical use. Save them all in a beautiful book like Leonardo did. You might want to give them away someday, perhaps to someone who needs an idea. Or your great-great-grandchildren might love knowing what a fascinating mind you had." - Barbara Sher, Refuse to Choose!: Use All of Your Interests, Passions, and Hobbies to Create the Life and Career of Your Dreams. (Barbra Sher, who wrote this great book, gives good advice. I recommend it for anyone who has multiple interests 😄).
You do not have to be able to draw to create fascinating and creative work now that we have so many different modern methods of recording and sharing information. Taking your own photos and videos or using pictures from the internet will help make visual impressions to enhance any style of journal you would like to create. I hope you will take some time to record and celebrate your one life and all you have learned. It does not matter if, in the end, you burn it all. All that matters is that it meant something to you.
Love and Hope,
Big Sky Baby