I joked (sort of) about hiding a journal on the gurney when I had surgery.  Of course, I didn’t get to do that, but I did ask for it the first time I woke up.  My husband patiently handed me a spiral notebook and a pen.  I was reading those half-dozen pages last night.

They aren’t much.

In fact, I think I mostly journaled about what was going on in the moment, what the nurses said, how I felt about the unplanned overnight stay.  I didn’t try much; I just put pen to paper and wrote whatever was on my mind.

What surprised me was the level of detail a barely coherent mind included.  Was that really me, finally showing evidence of discipline or was it the drugs?  My spouse tells me the details are mostly accurate.  It is those details that give me the best information regarding my state of mind.

What would happen if we handed a journal to every troubled teen, every newly diagnosed cancer victim, every recently widowed adult?  What if they wrote in a journal until they no longer felt a benefit (assuming they don’t enjoy the habit)?  What would those journals reveal a month, six months, or year down the road?

I’m a tad more experienced than the average person who hasn’t written more than letters or a report since the last school term paper, so perhaps I see the potential through a rosy lens.  But imagine what your thoughts and observations…and the things you noticed…might tell you about yourself?

No matter how many years I’m given to stand up for the practice, I’ll never have enough time to fully extol the benefits of regular journal writing, and not just for times of change or stress.  Let me just say one more time that I can’t think of any better means of developing as a person than prayer and keeping a journal.

Today marks the 100th post of Enriched by Words as well as the official launch of the new version of the writeyourmindjournals.com web site.

The old website was clunky, the articles didn’t get crawled, and it just looked dated.  I like the new one so much better.  The articles are available to all web crawlers, the format is better, and it is easier to read.  What do you think?

My dream for writeyourmindjournals.com exists in the On Writing page.  I envision a resource for all curious and beginning writers and journal keepers.  I’ll be posting articles frequently until my file is empty, and then write more.

I’m going to ask you to help me make that dream come true.

If you have an article or blog post  on writing (the process, tips, or any aspect) or keeping a journal that has made the rounds and done its work for you, would you consider allowing it to rest in this database?  Copyright remains yours and links to your site are encouraged.

I’m not being lazy here.  I believe that diverse voices and views are important to learning. I want to build a data base for those seeking information that is not my voice alone.  The additional benefit is to give new writers and journal keepers links to the authors of those articles to help them expand their sources of information and gain a well-rounded view of the benefits, ups, downs, joys and sorrows.

The benefit to you is the author box with links and information and perhaps to pay forward a bit of the writing advice you’ve received over time.

Would you consider helping me build the On Writing page to be a valued jumping-off point for the new and curious?  If so, please drop me an email at bjkeltz@gmail.com.

Oh, and please don’t laugh (too much) at my first ever video.  My friend, after 17 takes, finally handed me a Corona.  I got it done after that but sure sound silly.  Now I know…Corona first as a cure for shyness.  I don’t drink but rarely, so perhaps three Coronas will make the next one sound better?  Just saying…

The post I had written for today proved to be too raw and personal for a blog attached to my business.  If you really want to see me vulnerable and open, you can read it here.

I’ve thought a lot lately about the benefits journaling has had for me personally.  I would happily speak to any group about those benefits.  They are professional, creative, artistic, healing, spiritual, and, above all, personal.  I think that’s why I don’t post on the topic of journaling more frequently.  It leaves me far too uncovered for comfort’s sake.

In fact, it is nearly impossible for me to keep a post on journaling to under 1000 words.  I did it on my personal blog by chopping so severely I left the piece bleeding.  It’s still over 700 words.  It is, in a word, my testimony to the benefits of keeping a journal.

Let me give you the brief list of benefits, and please understand there is so much more:

• Journaling helps to settle your thoughts and can help you make decisions.
• Writers find benefit by developing the daily writing habit and to keep their skills sharp.
• Words can heal, help you cope, and teach you about yourself.
• Professional journals can help you track your goals, progress, and productivity.
• Creative journals are the best kind of swipe file.
• Journaling has been proven to lower blood pressure and help patients cope with physical pain (mileage may vary).
• Journaling can bleed excess thoughts out of your brain…important for conceptual thinkers and creatives.
• Journaling can release emotional pressure, dilute anger, sorrow and worry.
• Keeping a paper journal is often a time of relaxation and transition between parts of your day.
• Reading over a journal allows insights into yourself and your character.
• Prayer journals (prayers on paper) can be rewarding and encourage spiritual growth.
• Keeping a journal for each child becomes a priceless gift later on.
• A journal is one of the most entertaining and economical past times there is.
• There are no rules.  Write what you want, when you want and for whom you want.

I can’t begin to count the number of notebooks and journals I’ve kept over 24 years.  If you have the interest and the time, I’ll buy you a cup of coffee and bend your ear for a few hours on what it has meant to me personally and as a writer.

Until then, I’ll say this:  If you don’t have a journal, consider one.  Seriously.

Steal away to a quiet corner.  It’s okay, I won’t tell.

Don’t worry that Aunt Agnes thinks you are a terrible housekeeper or that your wife’s father doesn’t think you support her well enough.  Don’t think about money, or trees, or crowded (or empty) houses.  Don’t think about the stress.

Take a deep breath in.  Release.  In again.  Release.

Poise your pen over your journal and think for a moment about what the holiday season means to you.  Think about the loved ones, the carols, sharing time with friends, of faith.

Write a few lines about what Christmas means to you.  The good, hopeful, and positive stuff.  Read it.  Add to it or embellish it with fond memories.  Write down what really matters.

Feel better?  More centered?  Good.  That’s the goal.   Hug Aunt Agnes and smile at your father in law.  It will be just fine.

…for keeping a journal?

]]> http://writeyourmindjournals.com/blog/2008/12/22/can-you-think-of-a-better-argument/feed/ 3 http://writeyourmindjournals.com/blog/2008/12/08/writing-the-seasons-and-other-writerly-uses-for-a-journal/ http://writeyourmindjournals.com/blog/2008/12/08/writing-the-seasons-and-other-writerly-uses-for-a-journal/#comments Mon, 08 Dec 2008 14:00:01 +0000 -- B J Keltz http://writeyourmindjournals.com/blog/?p=432

The crispness and anticipation of Autumn; the outside chill and indoor warmth of winter; the green awakening of spring, and hot summer days—every season has it’s joys and fans.

In the midst of winter, you might yearn for a warm summer day.  In the fall you might fondly remember the spring showers that turned your lawn a luscious green.  Do you look back through the season’s journals for the sights and scents of days past?

The more experienced we become at writing descriptive prose in our journals, the more valuable the prose becomes to us later on.  While writing a short story set in a different season, use your journal entries from last summer for the flavor of the weather and summer attitudes.  It works the same for novels and essays.  Re-reading your journals can take you back in time well enough to write it now.  Use your journal.

Need to describe how someone felt in a difficult day or the elation of a success?  Get in the moment by finding similar entries in your journal.  When the emotion re-kindles for you, use it to write well.

Often it takes just a short descriptive phrase to return our minds and senses to a moment in the past.  By using our journal to do so, we can relive moments and events more fully.  For writers, this is human emotion at your fingertips.  Conflicts, serene moments, excitement, fear, weariness, even the sensations of a head cold are there for you to draw upon.

You can use the information in your journal in so many different ways beyond getting to know yourself and effecting change.  Admittedly, sometimes the best thing you can do with a particular journal is to burn it, but most can be kept, learned from, gleaned, and harvested many times over.

Journal for yourself.  Always for yourself first; then consider the many ways a journal can give back or be passed on.  Keep your eyes open to new and hidden benefits.  Enjoy the process and your words will take on the flavor of your life, seasons, and growth.  Use them, learn form them.  Utilize them.  Journal on!

Image by *L*u*z*a*

I blog a lot about writing and the writing process.  One would get the idea that it is my only passion.  It’s not.  The process, yes, but my biggest advocacy is for keeping a journal.

Whether it’s a personal journal or a business journal, one designed for self-discovery, overcoming the past, personal growth, or just a place to rant, keeping a journal fosters the opportunity for reflection and introspection.  I use those words a lot when I talk about journaling.

Reflection on your life (something we often decide we are too busy to take time for) gives you a sense of where you’ve been and where you are going.  If you are uneasy or just not satisfied, using a journal can help you dig up the reasons.

Introspection is a great way to get to know yourself.  Small (and large) epiphanies can be had when you re-read your journal days or even months later.  Living an introspective life leads to integrity and the satisfaction of knowing who you are (and changing yourself if you desire).

This Christmas, as you search for the perfect gift for friends, family, and coworkers, please consider giving a journal (and maybe a nice pen).  Journals can be started any day of the year, and the only “rules” are those you create for yourself.  However, for anyone who journals with regularity (not about what they ate or wore, but what they saw, felt, and thought), it is a powerful tool for life.

Someone at work today asked me why I didn’t seem to be so worried over the economic crisis or the election.  It was so nice to have the opportunity to share my “secret!”

I keep a journal.  I’ve kept one since I was in grade school, but got consistent with it 23 years ago.  I could write thousands of words on how beneficial the act of journaling has been, but I’ll restrain myself today. J

My journal is my biggest emotional release.  It is the repository of all my fears and worries.  There’s a magic in writing them down; it allows me (for the most part) to leave them behind or walk away less burdened.

My journal contains prayers, pleas, humorous incidents, story, article and blog ideas, notes about friends and family.  It has become the keeper of creativity, connection, and communication.

Tears, joy, excitement, the blues, all of these find a way onto the pages of my journal.  On those pages reside reflections on life, introspection on who I am now and who I am becoming, and large doses of gratitude for my many blessings.

This is not to say I never land in a blue funk or don’t lose my temper.  I sure do!  I know my journal mitigates the worst of it, though.  After 23 years, as I waxed and waned with my journal,  the differences in my attitude and emotions are quite noticeable to me.

I am afraid if I were told I could never journal again that I’d end up in one of those fancy white jackets (you know…the kind with the sleeves that buckle in the back, lol) staring at padded walls.  Fortunately, I’m free to journal my heart out.  Whew!

Now, if I could only journal away sleepiness and stretch my day, I’d have it made!