Another Pitch About Journaling

One of my friends who is still working full time shared with me her desire to do something besides work – something creative. I suggested classes at our El Camino Community College and the South Bay Adult School, maybe in jewelry making or to learn a new language. But she said she’d like to get into writing. I asked her if she journaled. With that she pushed herself away from the table and leaned against the back of her chair, as if she were physically moving away from that subject. After a long pause, she told me she couldn’t write down anything private for fear of it getting into the wrong hands.

Of course, that’s a common fear among those of us who journal, but it hasn’t stopped me. When I first started journaling regularly back in 1993, I wrote in notebooks—the finer the better. I especially loved the ones I bought in France and later found at Banner Stationer’s in El Segundo, CA. The pages are very thick and slick and don’t show through to the backside when written on in ink. Also, the covers are in beautiful jewel-tones. I always felt as if I were writing in a very special place when I wrote in those notebooks.

However, a few years ago—after being so careful to clutch my notebooks close to my chest any time I was out and about—I left one in the seat pocket on the flight home. I went to the airline’s lost and found, but alas, I didn’t get the notebook back. Luckily, it was a fairly new notebook, so I didn’t lose too much. And as a result of that loss, I use my notebooks for workshop notes and write my journal entries on my computer.

Of course, that doesn’t guarantee privacy, either. I managed to have a laptop ripped off at another airport a while ago with all my stuff, including my journal entries, on it. However, when I first started journaling on my computer, I created a separate, password-protected folder for my journal documents. I picked a password that was meaningful only to me, and I know for sure that the only way I’ll ever forget it is if I lose all my marbles—probably not very likely.

I told my friend that story as I tried to convince her to start her journal writing. (By now she was leaning toward me.) “Start writing about fifteen minutes a day,” I said, and she seemed interested. I’ve been journaling the first thing every morning for over twenty-five years and have never felt violated. Also, I’ve found it to be a good way to kick-start any kind of writing piece. My memoir, Leaving the Hall Light On, began with journal entries.

---

Madeline Sharples
madelinesharples.com

The Power of Journaling

I started journaling during my thirties while my husband, our two sons, and I lived for nineteen months on a remote island in the South Pacific. I felt so isolated there that the best I could do was write long rants every morning before the boys woke up. Happily those rants turned into my first published article after we returned home.

I started to journal for keeps when our older son Paul was diagnosed as bipolar in 1993 and continued after his suicide in September 1999. Journaling became an obsession and a balm. It became my therapy, a daily habit. Writing through my grief totally turned my life around. It helped me heal because it allowed me to put my pain on the page. And it still is. I journal every day.

At first I journaled in long hand in a notebook. Now I use the computer — the notebook went by the wayside after I left one on an airplane. I just tap away with no stopping for editing. It’s total stream of consciousness. Also, the computer gives me the ability to have complete privacy — the key to honest and open journaling. I keep my journal entries in a password-protected locked document file.

Lately, I’ve learned about several other journaling techniques by participating in journal chats and Facebook journaling groups. It is so inspiring to find out how and why other people journal and how much they’ve benefitted from it.

One technique is making lists of what I’ve accomplished in the past week or so, and what I have to do in the next few days. Keeping this action journal holds me accountable — even if I’m only accountable to myself. It gives me a way to take charge and move from thinking into living and doing &madash; not just waiting for things to happen to me.

Another technique is the confidence building practice of making declarations. Some I’ve made are:

• I Am a poet
• I Am a published author
• I Am creative

I can leave these declarations as is or write a journal entry about each one at future times.

Another journal technique is to write in pen in a lined or unlined notebook and draw pictures and add quotes and clippings to accompany the words on the page. My niece’s collage journals look like works of art. Other journaling ideas include: writing down one good thing every day, keeping a dream journal, recording things that make us laugh, and creating a drawing or painting instead of words to express our thoughts. How we journal is our choice.

Most everyone I know has good and bad stuff in their lives. I learned journaling is a way to come to grips with that. Journaling through my grief gave me a wonderful gift. I discovered I could write, and I created a book from the memories I wrote down in my journal entries. I recommend everyone try it and learn the power that can be gained from journaling.