Written 06-04-2015, Thursday, 545 p.m.
Journaling is not static.
The best journaling can change throughout the day, never mind throughout the week, month, quarter, or even year. We need to go with the flow and see where, and how, our journaling leads. We need to be willing to try something new whenever our journaling leads us. The newness is found in how we journal. This is what should,and does, constantly change ad transform into something better, something deeper, something more meaningful, and these things lead to far more blessings.
This fosters the best environment for our journaling practice. Being rigid and refusing to bend or transform can hold back our journaling and even make us want to take a break from it, give it up, and stop. But, if we are willing to try something new, the rewards we reap make it worthwhile.
Never be afraid to journal in a different way or journal about different things. Experiment and have fun with it. It will bless you far more deeply than you ever might imagine.
So, go ahead. Keep things fresh. Try something new or different than what you are doing now as you journal. It will bless you. I guarantee it.
Try journaling in one word sentences only.
Or try two word sentences only.
At yet another time, try journaling in three word sentences only.
Or, what about doing different journaling prompts?
Have you tried to review your journaling and see if it inspires you in your current journaling?
Have you journaled about each of your photographs? And, what about someone else’s?
Have you journaled about your three memories you made today?
What about going through your journaling and adding to what you already have written?
There are so many things you can try.
Go through this blog or blog book (or any of the other books I write about journaling) and see what other ideas you might glean.You never know where it might lead.
~*~
A Personal Journaling Nightmare
(My Personal Journaling: The Confessions of a 32+ Year Journal Keeper)
Please do not skip this. Read this section in its entirety. There are several lessons to be learned from here.
Three days ago... Or was it four days ago? I’m not sure at this point. It’s been an emotional roller coaster, so the days have blurred together on me. Forgive me, please.
At any rate, three or four days ago, I was on a journaling high and was quite thrilled with everything I have accomplished the last month in my journaling. I have made my personal journaling my priority and have focused on it at the expense of my blogging and writing. My journaling life soared and I was great--until...
I was great until the bottom fell out.
(See. This is what I really enjoy about journaling. There are no grammar rules. I personally find cliches useful--when they are done right and aren’t overused. A cliche conveys more meaning than other words or phrases.)
So, I had a mild panic attack for a couple of days as I dealt with an issue in my favorite online journaling program (which also has an app). I pay for an upgraded version of this journaling program, let me add. I pay the upgrade because I can email journaling entries to myself. This for me is a non-negotiable.
Well... I sent myself several emails of things I journaled and figured out none of them made it through. Days--of--journaling--vanished in my online journal. I was able to gather all of it in my emaila nd copied and pasted that into a document. But, I shouldn’t have to do that. I paid for that service.
I contacted the company two days ago via email.
Nothing.
I contacted them again via email yesterday morning, bright and early.
Well, I still haven’t received a response.
Let me had how it’s rather ironic. My yearly fee is due in July. Consequently, I’ve realized I need to make a decision as to what I’m going to do. Time is of the essence.
Needless to say, yesterday I started to think things through and try to come up with a workaround. After all, I believe there is always a workaround. How could I do my journaling differently--and in a way that works for me?
My poor hamster of my mind worked so hard she did a marathon on her hamster wheel.
There are several journaling apps and online programs out there. Each of them have faults. Therefore, I did some research and figured I, frankly, didn’t know if I wanted to invest in any of them, only to have them fail me, like my online journaling program did.
So, now what?
Long pause.
Followed by much silence.
This has been painful for me.
Another pregnant pause.
It’s been far more painful than words could ever convey. After all, four years ago, our movers lost roughly ten years of my journaling (never to be returned, let me add--and I put my name, address, phone, and email in all of my journals). Therefore, this is all the more painful for me.
I determined one thing for sure yesterday. I had to save all of my journaling from my online journals into my laptop and my tablet, on the Cloud, and on my eternal hard drive. As of this morning, I determined to save them all in a txt file, a doc file, and in a pdf file--on my laptop, on my tablet, on the Cloud in two different places, and will save them on my external hard drive at a later date.
I took a few hours today and got that accomplished. (Check.)
How was I going to journal for now on? This was the question tat kept running through my mind off and on for three or four days, but particularly yesterday and today.
I know paper journaling was out. For, movers can lose them. Acts of God, and weather, can destroy them. So, paper journaling was a no.
Online journals and apps are another no for me.
So, what then?
Huh. More hamster on the wheel thinking.
Yesterday, I decided to try journaling in a new way and see what I thought of it. It was old school, but with a new twist. Today, I tried more of it--and determined it is the only way to journal. It guarantees privacy, that acts of God or man or computer can destroy. Yes. It’s the only way.
The last couple of hours, I have decided it’s how I should have been journaling all along. It’s already made a difference and has turned into something special and to cherish. It's taken me deeper already and has given me a dream for the future and I’ve set up goals in my head to fulfill the dream.
The truth is I never would have tried this if my once cherished online journaling program hadn’t started to give me problems. And, since it had, I have come up with a far better, far cheaper, easier, more private and secure, productive, and long-term of a system I will use in and for my journaling.
Something challenging and frustrating... Yes. But, it’s more so than that. It’s something bad... No. Worse than bad. It’s something terrible... something heartbreaking... This is something nightmares are made of. That’s what this online journal has brought me.
Am I overreacting? Hardly. It’s my journaling, my innermost thoughts, feelings, experiences, goals, dreams we’re talking about here.
Never mind how this also means change is required. I need to look into journaling in a different way. Will I find a way that stifles me or will I flourish? Fears bubble up, as does irrational thinking.
A journal is a sacred space.
Whenever a journal is violated, the individual is violated.
Okay. I'm going to stop there. I'm sure you're wondering if I am blowing this out of proportion?
No. Again. A journal is a sacred space. It's a set apart and sanctified place. A journal is far deeper and had far more meaningful than anything else in this world.
Period.
End of story.
It's our innermost depths.
Do you see how serious this is? I cannot possibly understate the seriousness of this. My journal and I have been disregarded, ignored, and stymied. It's forced me to utterly change the way I journal. The situation has brought a wedge, boundary, block to my journaling.
So, what now and how can this be avoided in the future?
I will address each in future blog posts this week and I will teach a great deal more about how to journal in the process.
Through this... yuck... Yes. That's the best description. Through the yuck, I faced change and transformation. I worked through my fears and I have figured out a new way to journal. This new way is now a major blessing.
Something bad and evil has turned out--not just for the good, but for the best.
I have figured out a way to journal that is far better than what I have been doing. It's going to be far more of a blessing.
I cannot wait to share with you the rest of my journey and a new way to journal.
Stay tuned this next week or so. I will share. I think this will bless your socks off, too.
~*~
Capture at least three moments of your day on the page each and every day.
~**~**~**~
