I apologize. I am not sure how to do this any other way. I need to include some extra material to help us get started with journaling. So, here it is:
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JOURNALING: AN INTRODUCTION
Written December 17, 2014, Wednesday, 236 p.m.
JOURNALING IS BEING
Journaling is more than something to do.
It's also more than writing.
Rather, journaling, when done correctly is a way of life.
Ask me who I am and I define myself as this: Blessings Counter and Journalkeeper.
I am those--those are not things I do in order to gain an identity. Rather, they define me, just like being a Christ Follower.
What do I do? I count my blessings, journal, write, and blog.
I share these things to stress that journaling is far more about being than doing. It's about quality of life and living life intentionally. Journaling is about Remembering Your Present. It's capturing your life and who you are on the page.
There is nothing more important any of us can do with our lives than journaling (other than being children of God).
Journaling makes us stop, reflect, think, plan, change perspective, analyze, and review our lives.
The more we journal, the better quality of life we live.
Journaling ensures we are not just getting by. It makes sure we are not mindless. Journaling makes us live purposefully and prevents us from taking things for granted.
Journaling is something anyone can do. If you are breathing, can read and write, you can journal. This book is meant to show you how easy journaling can be. It's also to help give you far more material than you will ever necessarily use. The key is you will have all of the material to help you journal if you ever get stuck or do not know what to journal. It's also to help inspire you to go deeper with your journaling through trying new ways to journal and new things to journal about when you do.
Now, let's see what all we can accomplish between now and December 31, 2014. That's fourteen days for me to write an introduction to you about journaling--and I hope these fourteen days will help you start to make journaling a way of life.
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Here is the book title of the blog posts to book I plan on creating between now and December 31, 2014:
BOOK TITLE:
"JOURNALING STUFF: A JOURNALING RESOURCE 2014 EDITION
RYP JOURNALING BLOG TO BOOK SERIES, VOLUME 1"
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JOURNALING: AN INTRODUCTION PART 2
Written December 17, 2014, Wednesday, 318 p.m.
HOW SHOULD YOU JOURNAL?: THE JOURNALING SECRET (A TIP)
Find a system that works for you today. Keep using it until you get stuck and are not journaling as much, or as deeply as you had in the past, then change your system.
I will not kid. There are times I change my journaling system several times in a day. Sometimes, i change it once a week and other times, I've changed it once a month, once every three months, or more or less. Nevertheless, I have never kept the same system for more. I am constantly trying to find a way to journal better, more creatively, and where I get the most out of it.
This is the beauty of journaling.
It's always changing. Always growing. Always getting better and more meaningful.
So, do not think you have to find a system and stick with it. If you want to, do it. If not, don't.
Journaling is simple. It never needs to be something complicated.
So, how should you journal? There are only four ways to journal:
1 Handwrite
2 Digital (on your computer, tablet, or phone)
3 Audio Record
4 Video
Find whatever works for you and do it. Again, what works for you right now may change. So, change if your journaling ceases, gets stuck, is stagnate, or is shallow.
GET YOUR JOURNAL PREPARED NOW
Do NOT read any further until you prepare your journal for journaling. Figure out how you want to do it, come up with a system, and have it ready.
KNOW THE RULES
There are two rules regarding journaling:
1 Journal as much as you can, every single day. After all, the more you journal, the more you will get out of it.
2 There are no rules other than #1.
So, be flexible and experiment.
That's it. Those are the rules.
HOW MUCH SHOULD YOU JOURNAL?
How much you should journal depends on if you have journaled in the past.
If you have never journaled before, I would start with ten minutes a day, seven days a week. I would do that for one to two weeks. Then, I would add five minutes per day for another week. Then, I would add five more minutes for another week. I would make it my goal to journal at least, bare minimum, of thirty minutes a day, seven days a week. Ideally, it would be an hour each day, with four hours one day per week--or more.
I journal about thirty hours a week and at the very least. Some weeks, it's far more. But, this is what I am and do. It's how I make a living. You do not have to be as journaling obsessed as I am.
When I worked full-time and went to school full-time, I averaged one hour of journaling per day, seven days per week.
May your goal to always be to journal more, never less.
WHAT SHOULD YOU JOURNAL?
What should you journal? Now, that is a very good question. I am very glad you asked.
1 RANDOM, SENSELESS THOUGHTS AND TO DO ITEMS: It never fails. You will sit down to journal and a million other thoughts will go through your mind. So, make sure as you journal if anything like that comes to mind, jot it down in your journal. Even if you are journaling about something else altogether, and the thought is random, write it down. Get it on the page. It's really important if it's something you need to do. Write it down so you can forget about it. The to do item jams up your thoughts. If you put it down on the page, so you can refer to it later, then it frees your mind right now. So, journal. Write down random thoughts, if they come to you, including to do items. Then, make sure to re-read your journaling at the end so you can remember what you thought about and didn't want to forget.
What else should you journal?
2 YOUR DAY'S LOG, SO TO SPEAK: I always put my schedule for the day down in my journaling. I share thoughts, emotions, to dos, what I dids. I write what I have done that day. I make sure to write anything I learned that day, and all memories/experiences I created/lived. This is the shallow journaling at first.
3 SOS JOURNALING (STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS JOURNALING): Take five or ten minutes and journal as fast as you can whatever comes to your mind, no matter how strange it is and even if it makes no sense whatsoever.
4 COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS: Count at least three blessings per day.
5 JOURNALING PROMPT OR EXERCISE: Do a journaling prompt or exercise. I will list several soon, so stay tuned.
6 WHAT DO YOU KEEP THINKING ABOUT? Make sure to write this down.
7 Is something bugging you?
8 Are you hurting about something?
9 ETC./MISC. Anything you want to.
10 This is what this blog and book will answer.
HOW DO YOU KNOW IF YOU ARE JOURNALING ENOUGH?
Let's face it. There will be a day here and there where life gets in the way and you simply cannot journal. Whatever your journaling goal is per week, make sure you still meet that goal at the very least. Some days you just won't find a way to squeeze it in. When this happens, how do you feel?
If you feel edgy, like something is missing, and even moody, you have made journaling a habit and are journaling enough. So, keep it up.
If you don't feel edgy or moody for not journaling one day, you aren't journaling enough and may not be going deep enough when you do journal.
This is how you can tell if you are journaling enough.
SET A TIMER
Set a timer when you are trying to either make journaling a habit or when you want to find a way to journal more. Set a timer for your minimum amount of time you want to journal. Make it a fun game to see how much additional journaling you can do after the timer goes off.
I'm not kidding. Set a timer. This will help ensure you journal enough and will help you increase how long you journal each day.
TRY IT
Tag. You're it. Give it a try.
ANOTHER RULE
Have fun with it.
IT'S YOUR TURN
Journal for ten minutes at least.
Go!
(Image credit: Stacy Duplease and Remembering Your Present 2014.)
(Image credit: Stacy Duplease and Remembering Your Present 2014.)
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