Most girls begin some form of journaling during the tumultuous teenage years. And for many, their best friend truly was their diary – it was there when they had boy problems, it didn’t gossip on them, it listened when Mom and Dad and the whole world didn’t understand. At that time, too, keeping it secret from prying eyes was no small feat when little brother was as persistent as glue!
Many of us may have set the diary aside as we found the world requiring more and more of our energy. The good news is that a journal can still be your best friend and confidant, there when you most need to explore the questions that inevitably come up.
At a recent “Creating a Magical Journal” class I asked the group, “Why journal?” Their answers covered a wide range of personal exploration, and included:
- to chronicle progress and goals;
- to find out “Who am I?” and “What do I want, like, feel…?”;
- to describe beauty/pain/what I see;
- sharing/communicating;
- to tap into my inner wisdom;
- to express emotions;
- clarification for the conscious/subconscious mind;
- dreamwork;
- questioning;
- creating structure;
- recording wisdom/ideas;
- to process difficulties.
While most of us think of the journal as a place to write things down, it can also become a magical place to explore many different options as we take the time to create a journal that reflects who we are. The first step, as always, is being willing to step outside the box that we believe defines us.
A very simple way to do this is to expand the tools you use in recording your thoughts and ideas. Incorporating colored pens and pencils into the journal process gives your mind the excuse to begin playing more – remember when we were only 5 and the whole world of possibility was there in our box of crayons? Try writing (or printing) in your journal with a crayon – you’ll get a whole different sense of what you’re doing.
Another simple step is to use those wonderful pictures that come in the magazines we get each month. When you’re finished with the magazine, go through it and cut out the pictures that inspire or delight you. You can create a collage for your journal cover, illustrate a specific issue, or (my favorite) you can simply glue them into your journal in random places. When you get to that page of writing, ask yourself how the picture that’s there relates to what you are expressing. You will be surprised by how that can create a new avenue of ideas.
A friend and teacher once told me, “A life worth living is a life worth recording.” Whether you are using your journal for your own dialogue, as a record for your children and grandchildren, or as a place to develop the ideas and answers that support you in the world, your journal is truly as sacred as the spirit of your life. Be flexible, be creative, be adventurous, and be sure to enjoy the process!