Journal Keeping

From Dear Diary to Journal 2012

     I've been keeping a journal for many, many years. I suppose it began as "Dear Diary" when I was in grade school. It's fun to read what I wrote and how 'boy crazy' I was at that age. I was a member of Camp Fire Girls from fourth grade through 9th grade and we had to record our projects in what was called a memory book. My adult journals reflect  this early memory book experience. Those books were turned into the main office and judged once a year for 'advancement' in rank. Sometimes I wish I had those books, but they've been lost over years. Camp Fire placed an emphasis on the binding of the memory book and many of my friends had wooden covers that they had burned creative designs onto with wood-burning tools. Over the past 15 years, my journal covers have included pictures, drawings, collage cut outs and all sorts of other weird stuff. Most recently I've become a purist. Or should you read that as lazy? 

The Morning Pages Phase

     Have I written daily in my journals? No. Weekly? No. Regularly? No. However when I lived on Kwajalein, an island in the Marshall Islands, a friend introduced me to a book called "The Artist's Way: A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity" by Julia Cameron. The writing of three handwritten pages every morning when I first woke up, although difficult at first, became a source of inspired writing towards the end of the course. I carried this love of writing over into my journal. The habit of writing daily, also carried over and I write in my journal much more regularly now. Over the years I had every size of journal, but during this time of morning pages, I settled in on a three ring binder with ruled notebook pages to write on. I'd use the pockets front and back for news articles and photos that I wanted to keep (this is where the Memory Book concept kicked in) and included plastic page covers for many other odd things. Somehow, I kept the things I saved in these plastic page covers mostly to photos, artwork, written or printed work, so you won't find pressed flowers in my journals!

The Beginning of the Year is the Start of a New Journal

     Every December, I reread my Patriarchal Blessing, prayerfully. I've found that certain phrases will stand out to me and I seem to sense that these will be important in the upcoming year. You would think after thirty years of doing this, that I'd know every word, phrase and sentence by heart. Well, it is just like the scriptures, I discover new insights each year. This year was no exception. Below is a photo of my 2011 journal showing a quotation that I used as an inspiration for the year 2011 as well as a plastic page with  the phrase from my blessing that I used as a theme. As you can see there is nothing very creative here, but it worked for me. I keep my patriarchal blessing in the front of each year's journal, moving it over at the beginning of the year. Next I have a section where I keep my goals for the year.This placement is convenient for keeping up with those goals since I write often in my journal.  There is also a calendar there with important dates on it, including when I want to reach certain steps in reaching a goal. I use my blessing to set goals every year and it really works well. In my blog I will show how I've made a study of my blessing in the process of truly trying to understand what the Lord expects me to be doing. My examples may give you some ideas on how to make the most out of your own personal scriptures, your patriarchal blessing..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Three Ring Binder Journal and Theme Page