What is Your Journalng Style?

I am a great journaler – is there such a word? I am always writing, doodling, pasting, drawing, etc. in a journal. Not just one journal mind you, but several all at the same time.

I have a journal for my study of Tarot, I have a journal for my study of the Celtic World, I have a journal for my study of Leonardo da Vinci, I have journals for my writings about fairies, and one called “My Journal of Gratitude”. I could go on and on but I think you get the picture. Currently my daily journal/diary is a Moleskine Agenda Book.

Lately I have seen many, many books being published about “journaling”. The majority of them are on the subject of doing art along with journaling. This is a great thing and I own a large number of books on this subject, books I love to sit and read in the evenings. Some of these books are instructions on how to do a visual journal, some are just examples of personal journals, and others are reproductions of actual journals, such as Frida Kahlo’s and Kurt Cobain’s. I love them all.

However, the one problem I am having with this new direction in journaling is that there are many times when all I want to do is write something, not create something. (Yes I know that writing is an act of creating – but I think you know what I mean) And I believe that this new direction in journaling is putting some people off writing in journals because they don’t have the desire to “create” a journal. They just want to write, straight across the page, page after page, their feelings, thoughts, and desires.

When I want to read just a good journal or diary, I turn to the Diaries of Virginia Woolf. These books, and there are several volumes, are really a look into her world. She writes about dinners, food, feelings, her problems, and even something as mundane as purchasing a pair of shoes that are too big, but that was all that was available because of rationing due to World War I. She would stuff paper in the shoes which helped to keep them on. Through Woolf’s diaries you can see her breakdowns, her depressions, and her fear. You can visualize, through your own imagination, what it was like to live through the war, to have little to eat, to walk everywhere, to lose friends and family, and yet to be able to enjoy life and live through it all.

There is a big distinction between a written journal and an illustrated journal. Some of my favorite written journals, in addition to Virginia Woolf’s, are by Thomas Merton – (Merton always carried a small book with him in which he wrote every day. He then would transfer this information to a larger book, elaborating on what he originally wrote), Henri Nouwen, (especially “Sabbatical Journey – the Journal of His Final Year”), Anais Nin, John Keats, P. D. James (author of one of my favorite English Sleuths, Adam Dalgliesh), and many more. I own a wonderful facsimile ledger of F. Scott Fitzgerald in which he kept track of when he sent out his manuscripts, when they were published, and how much he was paid.

For illustrated journals I look at Frida Kahlo, Kurt Cobain, Danny Gregory, and many others.

If one has the time there is a lot to see and read on the internet. One of my favorite journal writers uses the name GeorgeR and his Filofax entries appear on Flicker. I don’t know exactly who he is, but I love his little book and the fact that he has listed over 900 books he still wants to read. “Notes from the Voodoo Café” is a great Blog and Rise writes almost every day.

What does one write in? There are so many possibilities. I use two sizes of Moleskines for my Solleone Books (my numbered volumes of thoughts); Filofax personal size ring binders for travel notes, prayer, and bible study; Franklin Covey and Daytimer classic size ring binders for meeting notes and ideas; along with Rhodia, Clairefontaine, Piccadilly, Levenger Circa Notebooks (a large one holds my Tarot notes), and many more different ones for notes on my readings and studies.

I just received a copy of Strathmore’s “Visual Journal” a delightful wirebound journal with 90lb. watercolor paper. Great for doing special watercolor drawings along with using colored pens for writing.

A wonderful artist I met many years ago, Richard Kirsten-Daiensai (A Seattle artist, and Zen Buddhist Priest who has spent several months each year for the past 49 years wandering through Japan and Korea http://www.kirstengallery.com/Daiensai/daiensai.htm ), had volumes of journals which he allowed me to read, and even gave me photocopies of pages out of them. In his journals he kept drawings, sayings, poems, notes, pictures cut out from magazines, and so on. From these journals he would get ideas for his paintings and poetry. I am blessed to own 10 or 12 of his paintings which I am able to enjoy each day of my life. And those photocopied pages are as precious to me as his paintings, for they give me an insight into his beliefs.

Journaling is a wonderful way to gather thoughts, to remember events, to realize the blessings and joys of living, and to experience the depths of sorrow. By reading the journals and diaries of others we learn a great deal about history, human nature, and the art of creativity. By leaving journals for our families to read we give them an insight into our own lives, feelings, thoughts and desires – things we often are unable to express or share with others. Had my own mother left a journal I might better understand her choices in life.

So, why not start journaling or keeping a diary. I believe that once you start you will also find the joy in expressing yourself, not just in writing but also, should you choose to do so, in creating a visual expression of yourself.