The Art of Writing in a Journal

Being a writer, I have always found myself writing in a journal of one kind or another. I find it to be incredibly therapeutic. Last year for Christmas I gave a journal to nearly everyone I know. Some of those people were incredibly grateful, some even saying they literally just used up the journal they had been writing in. And some I find, one year later, still haven’t written a thing in theirs. I realize where writing just comes naturally to me, for some people they just don’t know how to start. So, since I find writing in a journal to be really important, here are my thoughts on the subject in hopes of maybe encouraging you to write in a journal of your own.

There are many different things you can write in a journal, some basic things are what you did today, what you hope to do tomorrow. But I like to go deeper than that, how what you did today made you think of something else. Not necessarily only what you hope to do tomorrow, but what you hope to do with your future. Your thoughts, your feelings, your hopes, your dreams, your deepest fears, your highest accomplishments. Just go for it. You can write about anything that comes to mind.

Once you decide what you are going to write about, or at least have a general idea, you must realize who you are talking to. It is an imaginary person. You are talking to your journal. Your journal is a wonderful cover filled with pages that will someday hold some of the most important thoughts of your life. But it is a journal. It will not talk back or tell you you're crazy, even if you are. It will only listen intently as you write. It will not spill your secrets. Unless, of course, someone reads it. In which case one thing it does not have is a security system. Unless you install one or buy a special journal with a lock.

A journal is a very helpful tool. It helps you unravel the mess in your head and forces you to organize it into words, sentences, paragraphs, endless pages. It doesn't mind if you ramble, sometimes that's all we need, someone to ramble to to figure out our own problems. And a journal is certainly a good listener. And if a journal doesn't solve the problem, it can certainly help put your thoughts in an order so that you can tell someone else who can help solve the problem.

So, the art of writing in a journal. It takes no talent, just a journal and a pen. It doesn't take an exciting day to find something to write about, just an idea, and that can come from anywhere on any day, even the boring ones. It is a way to think about what you're thinking about. Someone you can tell your deepest secrets to. A record to look back on your life. A place to keep your hopes and dreams. Writing in a journal can be a wonderful thing. It is an art, but one that does not require you to be a writer, only a person. So find yourself a journal and just write.

Do you write in a journal? How has it helped you?