Journaling Stuff: A How-To (2014-08-05 13:34:32 Aug. 05, Tues.)

THE FIRST OF THE NEVERS OF JOURNALING

NEVER: Never delete, tear up, or throw away any journaling you do. Never, ever, ever. This is strictly forbidden. (I'm not kidding.)

If you want to feel the powerful rush or freeing nature of tearing it up and throwing it away, either print out a copy or use blank pages to represent you wrote and then rip those to shreds, but not your original content.

Why not? Why is this forbidden? 

There are a few of reasons:

1.The whole idea of journaling is to capture your ENTIRE life on the page--not just bits and pieces. It's to deal with your life as a whole and not in pieces and parts. 

2. You want to track where you are, were/have been, and where you are going. If you delete portions of your life because it feels good at the moment, you miss important segments of your life. The fact is, if you want to tear up, delete, or avoid something in your life, it's far more imperative that you deal with it and address it head-on, full-out, and not partially. Running from or tearing something up is not dealing with something in a healthy way. It's avoiding dealing with it and getting true healing and closure from it. 

3. You want to look at the entirety of your life so you can track your progress, anything that repeats itself, how you grow, how you falter, your cycles of life, etc. You want to be able to look back at it later and reflect on it and analyse how it's brought you to where you are today. 

4. If you want to delete something because it isn't very good, that in itself is good. Don't delete it. Keep it. Try again. Keep all of your not-so good journal entries. It, again, will help you see your progression later on in life as you look back.

5. Your journal doesn't have to be perfect. You don't even have to use capital letters or punctuation or complete sentences. It's okay for your journal to not be pretty, but be messy. Again, you want to see where you've been. Don't get rid of anything. 

So, keep it all. Never, ever get rid of any of your journaling. 

A NOTE ABOUT "JOURNALING STUFF": IT'S ALL-INCLUSIVE

The full title of this blog post series, book, and resource is:

JOURNALING STUFF:

AN ENORMOUS RESOURCE ON HOW TO JOURNAL 2015 EDITION

From 2010 to July 01, 2014, I wrote what I call a journaling encyclopedia. I will include that at the back of "JOURNALING STUFF" so that you have everything I've written on the subject of journaling, memoir, and life story. 

As to why I'm calling it "STUFF" is because 'stuff' has several meanings and definitions. I'm using most, if not all of the definitions, in regard to journaling and how to journal. Check out the definitions here: http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/stuff

I want to take the pressure off and make it an easy connotation in regards to journaling. Journaling stuff sounds a lot less formal or complicated than journaling encyclopedia or dictionary. (That's simply too stuffy.) Hence, it's stuff. I know. Everyone says not to use the word stuff. It ins't formal. It's not a good word to use. Right? I'm sure you have heard that said about the word, 'stuff.'

I would have to agree--unless you know the definition of stuff and apply it accordingly. When you know the true definition of a word, and use it with the meaning in mind, you use it correctly and use the best word intended for what you're trying to convey. JOURNALING STUFF is about the stuff of journaling, it's about the miscellany of journaling, it's about my expertise in journaling, it's giving you the materials and resoruces you need to journal, etc. 

ANOTHER NOTE: Also, when I assemble the "JOURNALING STUFF" material, and put in into book form, I will put it in date order. The journaling encyclopedia at the back of the book is in alphabetical order. 

THE BOOK VERSION OF "JOURNALING STUFF"

Everything in the first part of the book, "JOURNALING STUFF," you will be able to read on this blog for free. In fact, you'll get the progression of this resource as you read this blog. However, when I put it into book form and publish it as a paper book and as an e-book, I will edit it and add even more material. After all, why pay for something if you can get it all ehre on this blog? There are over 335 pages of additional material from the encyclopedia as well. So, I'm making sure it's worth every penny you have to pay in the published version of this book. 

That being said, if you don't want to pay the money, you can still get a great deal out of how to journal information from this blog. In fact, it'll be more than adequate. So, you'll receive no pressure from me to buy the resource of JOURNALING STUFF.