Whenever I find that I haven't journaled in some time, I'm all out of sorts and agitated. We're going through a bit of a rough time (family related, not marriage related) and I need to get back to my journal.

Roxy wrote: "I'd like to say I'm a regular journal-er. Really I would. I love the idea and lord knows I am a sucker for a beautifully decorated book of blank paper. But I can't get in the habbit. My little ..."

I've thought about that too!! Not my journal, but I picture Eliot and Olivia going through my purse and finding my address book and my calender and saying, Who is this Joseph she sees every Tuesday at 4? Wow, this lady is busy! And opening my address book and the first page is important numbers, so they would hit paydirt right away. I didn't know anyone else thought about that! Cool!

when I was younger I did a journal I still have a book going were I can write if I want. I keep a journal of my books it also helps me to remember them better.

Jo wrote: "I journal when the mood strikes. Sometimes I blog instead, which ever I feel like doing. I don't force it either way.

Lori, I'm very passionate about parents NOT reading their children's journa..."

I agree 100%--I would not read my daughter's journal unless I really thought she was in danger--physically, emotionally, or mentally. And I don't think she's ever read mine--I might be wrong, I hope I'm not. I would feel like I was betraying her if I read it just for curiosity.

Li wrote: "I've kept a journal since I was about 12, I think. It started out more about what happened to me that day but over the years (especially when I started my undergraduate) it's also become more about..."

It's impressive, Li, that you've kept it going this long.I'm always amazed at the historical figures who kept copious journals throughout their lives. If they hadn't done that our knowledge of history would be so much less detailed.

I've journaled off & on since I was a little girl but only have 2 journals prior to 2004 (thankfully, one being the a journal I write to my daughter in). I don't mind that the other journals are gone (except for the one I wrote in all day on September 11th, 2001) - what I was angry about was the fact that my exboyfriend didn't have the right to take them and/or throw them away (when we split up & I kicked him out), but I know I was going to get rid of them on my own one day, so I just look at it that God helped me do so so I wouldn't get sentimental & keep any. I know what's in those journals & diaries, a lot of pain & heart ache/break, things I've been able to finally move on from. I don't need them to remember because I'll never forget but I don't need them around to keep me from moving forward.

I'm glad you still keep up with your journal Li... I sure didn't and now I wish I had for some points of my life.....

I've kept a journal since I was about 12, I think. It started out more about what happened to me that day but over the years (especially when I started my undergraduate) it's also become more about thoughts and ideas that I don't have an outlet for (I still do comment about amusing things that happened to me that particular day and whatnot). It's also a good place for me to vent, lol. I used to do it every day but these few months I've been rather sporadic, especially during the last six weeks of classes when I was essaying like no tomorrow. But I'm slowly getting back into the hang of things. I find it interesting reading back on old entries, reading things that I thought of back then and of events that I don't really remember about anymore. The perspective and how that perspective's change is really interesting. =)

I also keep an online blog, but that's less on personal thoughts and more on certain daily happenings and comments about books and fandoms and my artwork, hehehe =D

Lori, I couldn't agree more!

Jo, I have not real hard evidence of it. I'm really just suspicious because when I was younger, I felt like she snooped because she read a couple of my notes and looked at things when I threw them away. And if she reads something she doesn't like, then it's her own fault for reading.

Anastasia said: Then I realized I'm a writer at heart and that I have to write things down as a way of emotional purging so I started another one.

I totally agree with you on that. Writing is one way to escape the real word for sometime and it helps you realize things.

I journal when the mood strikes. Sometimes I blog instead, which ever I feel like doing. I don't force it either way.

Lori, I'm very passionate about parents NOT reading their children's journals unless given GOOD reason (showing signs of being in an abusive relationship, going from honor roll to flunking out, missing curfew all the time, signs of alcohol or drug abuse, etc) - journaling is a very private matter. My mother violated my privacy continuously until I no longer lived with her - she felt it was her right. (I wasn't the best kid but I wasn't a bad one & did very well in school). Don't let your boundaries be crossed if you don't want them to be. You should be able to write freely in your journal & not feel guilty or worried someone may read it & react to it.

Last night I ranted and used a few choice phrases in my journal in relation to my family. I feel a little guilty because I'm not entirely sure my mom doesn't read/hasn't been reading/will never read my journal. And I was probably over-reacting, but still!

I don't journal everyday - that is too confining for me, then I feel that it HAS to be done. It becomes too much of a "diary". Does that make sense? Now if I DO write in it everyday, that's ok, I just don't MAKE myself do it everyday.

I'm thinking that I'm going to start making the same effort to journal as I do to blog. Even if it's just a couple of paragraphs saying what I did that day, that's good. Sometimes it will be a long entry, other times it will be all I can do to get a page written.

I thought of an idea the other day to maybe make my own journals. I started working on the idea yesterday.

I'm good at letting things go but very choosy about who I let them go to!! :)

Sherry wrote: "I have no time to journal! But I wish I did. There's so much we forget in life...so many small, yet wonderful, moments. I get mad at myself for not taking the time. Maybe I'll get a journal for t..."

Do a one-minute journal - like those one-minute writer things. Just promise yourself one minute a day, maybe at the end of the day before you go to sleep.

Holli wrote: "Strange that you mention that Teri because I just sent my diary from when I was 12 yrs old and starting 7th grade to my cousin's daughter who is the same age and starting 7th. Her mom was thrilled..."

That is so sweet of you to do. How did you manage to let it go?

I have no time to journal! But I wish I did. There's so much we forget in life...so many small, yet wonderful, moments. I get mad at myself for not taking the time. Maybe I'll get a journal for the side of my bed and force myself...

Strange that you mention that Teri because I just sent my diary from when I was 12 yrs old and starting 7th grade to my cousin's daughter who is the same age and starting 7th. Her mom was thrilled that I was doing that and I feel it will help Kylie out a lot with all those crazy hormonal "things" that we go thru as girls in Jr high. I wrote in my journals every day until I was 18 and then saved them with the hopes I would give them to my daughter one day. Now instead I'm happy I can pass them on to another special kid in my life so they can help her out some!

You know, Hol, the other thing I was thinking is that I wish my relatives -- Aunts, Uncles, etc. -- had kept journals years ago. I would love to know what their lives had been like. No one thought of it, I guess, and now there is no way to tell, but it would have been so fascinating to connect with one of them in that way. So now when I do my art journaling (or in your case, journaling) I think that I am leaving something behind for the generations of nieces and nephews or possibly grandchildren one day who might follow and want to know about the people who lived before them. That gives me an extra incentive if I occasionally wonder why I am bothering to do this.

Debbie, Teri is right, get it all out and down on paper then do what you feel is best to protect it if you don't want others reading it.

Teri, Thanks for the suggestion re: covering what we have written down if we don't want someone to read what we wrote. I've been concerned about that, and thought about just putting PRIVATE, STAY OUT, but what would that do - just make someone even more interested in what I had in there! You're right, we DO need to get those thoughts and feelings down on paper.

Teri, that is the bargain of the day, lol! I've re-read Diaries of Women many times since that college course. (One of the few things left from my life before 2004).

We are very lucky Teri! (I've been on the other side of this coin and am thankful to finally see another side of it). Vic is interested in my writing because it's part of me, whether or not he's actually interested by what I write, I doubt, but he does seem to like my journaling, which I have no qualms about him reading whatsoever, definitely a first for me. I trust him and he always asks if he can read it, never takes it upon himself to read whether I'm there or not.

Thanks Lizzi. I liked what you wrote about me and not journaling during that time. I really do. Not journaling about all of that may have stunted my healing process some but it also allowed me to process it all very internally and spiritually and I think that helped me move on from all of it easier and in my own way.

By the way, I ordered one of those 1-cent copies!

Jo wrote: (She also introduced me to Anne Lamott's..."Bird by Bird"

I LOVE Bird by Bird. One of my all-time favorite books on writing - and also personal memoirs. The other book you mentioned: Revelations: Diaries of Women
seems to be available at Amazon, used, for $.01! if anyone is interested in buying a copy. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0394711513/sr=8-3/qid=1245065888/ref=olp_product_details?ie=UTF8&me=&qid=1245065888&sr=8-3&seller=

Yes, my husband is wonderful too and has no interest in reading what I write anyway (darn it). We're lucky in that, I think. I wish everyone was that lucky, but I have heard women say they don't feel comfortable journaling everything because they are afraid someone will read what they wrote -- OR that they themselves don't want to go back and read it. So sometimes obliterating it is a good thing.

Teri, I was introduced to The Artist's Way by a college professor, Erma Lester, during her Writing From the Female Perspective course back in 1995 or 1996. (She also introduced me to Anne Lamott's Bird by Bird). Our course book was "Revelations Diaries of Women" Edited by MaryJane Moffat and Charlotte Painter. (Sorry, I can't add the book link from my cell). It contains excerpts from the journals & diaries of women like Louisa May Alcott, George Sand, Anaïs Nin, Anne Frank, George Elliot, Virginia Wolf and Mary Boykin Chestnut. Such an amazing read! Up to that point in my life, I'd never read anything like it aside from The Diary Of Anne Frank.

I agree that worrying about someone violating your privacy & reading your journal really makes you hesitant to be fully honest in your writings. And once someone has violated that privacy (as I have experienced thanks to my Mom and 2 ex-boyfriends) it takes a very long time to be able to trust in the page and trust in yourself to start journaling again, even if you no longer have to worry about someone doing that to you again. (And thankfully I don't since I have a wonderful Husband!)

Holli wrote: "You ladies are inspiring me to pick up my journal again and start writing! I have all of my diaries from the age of 13 every day until I graduated high school. After that I stopped. I came home ..."

You mentioned you didn't want to revisit the years you didn't journal. I don't think you have to. The absence of journaling like that is just as important as journaling before and after. It's a part of your life story. Does that make any sense?

Thanks, Holli! Her journals are a treasure. :) And wonderful that your gram is a great letter-writer. Those missives are precious. I still have many of my gram's letters.

Thomma, I have a grandma like that too! She is a wonderful letter writer and I sincerely wished she would have journaled as well. That is a great piece of family history you'll have now due to her.

Jo wrote: "teri, The Artist's Way is a great book, as is Julia Cameron's Walking in this World (my favorite of hers).

The Artist's Way A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

[book:Walking i..."
Jo, yes I started the Artists Way on my own and I'm hoping a couple of people in that art journaling group will start going through it with me. I have another group I started last year where we did an art book together and it makes it more fun.

One thing about journaling that I've learned: if you have things to write and don't want anyone to see them, you can (and should) cover the words after you write them, but DO get them down on paper. You can use that sticky brown packing tape or acrylic paint or anything else -- but sometimes worrying about who will see it keeps us from writing what we're really thinking.

I journaled as a child and as a teenager, but I dropped it in adulthood.

But my grandma, who passed away four years ago at the age of 100, journaled most of her life. I have her journals in a huge box, and I plan on digitizing them. She was also quite a woman of letters -- corresponded with family and friends all over the country.

teri, The Artist's Way is a great book, as is Julia Cameron's Walking in this World (my favorite of hers).

The Artist's Way A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity

Walking in this World

Hi, gals, I rec'd a journal as a gift from a fellow Chick when we had our gift exchange. A few weeks ago, I finally started writing in it. At first, it was just more or less benign, but I have begun to write what it is I am actually feeling. Jo, you're right, it is therapeutic and cathartic! I wish I would have started this years ago!

My goal, since I decided not to complain on my blog or on Twitter, was to write more in my journal. I haven't done that, but I'd like to. The hardest thing for me is making time to sit down and write. (Then again, that was the hardest thing for me about blogging, but I seem to have solved that)

Journaling is theraputic and cathardic (?spelling). Adding visual aspects to journaling could only enhance the experience I imagine.

teri wrote: "Mandy Sue wrote: "Teri ~ I really want to try art journaling. It sounds so therapeutic. "

It really has been for me -- really about just reaching out and getting in touch with what I'm feeling i..."

Teri ~ Where is your group?

That sounds really intriguing Teri, and really fun! I think I will have to try it!

The Autobiography Box sounds fun!! I gotta look into that.....

I agree - I've never done any "artsy" stuff in my journaling, and I really could see the power that could happen there.

Mandy Sue wrote: "Teri ~ I really want to try art journaling. It sounds so therapeutic. "

It really has been for me -- really about just reaching out and getting in touch with what I'm feeling inside more than about being an artist or anything like that. I guess kind of like art therapy? It gives you permission to be childlike. You can doodle, play around with paint or markers and glue stuff down in a notebook the way you did when you were a teenager, and then kind of share it with others (or not if you don't want to). I started one group related to Kelly Rae Roberts' book, and I thought 10 or 20 people would join, and it's up to 250 members, and now I started this separate art journaling group on yahoo because the first group got big and impersonal. I like the smaller size of the new group because I want people be able to talk about how they feel and in a group of 200 people that's less likely to happen. So come join if you want!

Another thing I just remembered is a book I have called The Autobiography Box. It gives you prompts for writing your own story. For example: Is there a food or dish that you detested as a child that you like as an adult? Things like that.

Teri ~ I really want to try art journaling. It sounds so therapeutic.

I've been journaling forever in one way or another. I started out only writing when I was feeling a powerful kind of emotion -- and usually a negative one -- because it helped me to get it out of my head once I put it on paper. I seldom reread what I wrote because I start to edit my past self and that turns into editing my writing as I write and that's just not productive.

These days I've been combining art and journaling into one thing, art journaling. I found I didn't have to be an "artist" to do that -- it started out with my making something that looked a little like a teenage scrapbook, with pieces ripped out of magazines, tickets from a show, a bit of a paper placemat that had made me laugh or the clothing tag from a funny pair of pants. I started gluing those things down on paper and writing in the empty spaces, and after a while, painting or drawing made its way around in there too and my first art journal was born. It's been every empowering for me and I now host a yahoo groups and a ning group with people who do this too. (You can join us at this group below if you are interested: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/On_The_Win...

The other thing I've been doing lately is a book called The Artist's Way, which is meant to help you open up to your creativity -- whatever form that takes. One of the major requirements in TAW is to write at least 3 pages longhand (not typed) EVERY morning. I've found this is really helping me focus on the upcoming day and also to let go of anything from previous days -- or to work through it. I'm just about the start doing The Artists' Way together with some others on On_The_Wing because they also give you some journal prompts that are a lot of fun to do.

I consider myself a journaler, but I have to say it's been a while since I've opened my most recent moleskine journal. I feel it's something that should never be forced, but should be available when/if the moment comes. It goes everywhere with me though, and I fill it with random and obscure things as well as actual thoughts and feelings. If someone were to look through these books they might think I'm schizophrenic - I'm a little House of Leaves with my writing... sideways, diagonal, etc. But my mind can get jumbled, so I like to put it down on paper the same way it feels - it's easier to process if I can visualize it that way, thus easier to solve problems or move beyond a problem. It's been a joy to always have a journal nearby, since I was very little. They've taken on different forms over the years but I'm finally to the point that I feel my journals are exactly what I want of them. I particularly enjoy them on trips as travel writing has become a more recent pleasure of mine.

HI back at cha Jo! I read your page & tried to join the Tea Time party but the site said it's closed. Oh well. I'm still sitting here with my pot of brewed tea and my flowery china tea cup!
Hope all have a happy day
Sharon

Welcome Sharon!

Jamie, much of the time if I'm not journaling, it's because I'm blogging instead.

I love this thread! I had a lot of messy stuff going on when I was about 18, no use bringing up all the drama, but suffice it to say journaling helped me immensely. I don't think otherwise I ever would have been able to sort through my feelings, or get any sense of perspective. I have lost the habit, but this thread has definitely inspired me to bring it back. Thanks everyone =)

Thank you Sharon. =)