A Joyride in a Journal by Brenda Leyland

"I've always been a journal keeper. I've always

tried to write about how I'm experiencing life,

and my feelings and thoughts."

Sue Monk Kidd

My journals are 'sacred' pieces of myself penned on paper. I think best with a pen in my hand, and journaling has always felt like that 'meant to be' place for writing out what's on my mind and heart.

In the photo above, what you see is the wildflower-sprigged cover of my current journal—Volume 199. I know, it's hard to believe I've 'felled' that many trees and filled that many notebooks. But it's been nearly forty years. And yes, if you're wondering, I still have every volume—all neatly stored in my study closet in seven banker's file boxes. If I had shelf space, I'd set out the most recent volumes and dip into them more often. Which now makes me think of Oscar Wilde's comment that he never traveled without his diary, that "one should always have something sensational to read in the train" (or when drifting off to sleep). My later volumes are a lot more fun to reread than those early ones. Simply because I am better skilled in the art of writing, and I have grown a lot more creative in decorating the pages (with things like stickers, leaves, flower petals, calligraphy, and sketches). At this stage I fill about four or five notebooks a year. I'm much more verbose at this stage of life than when I was young and still figuring out life. (Perhaps I have just become more opinionated, haha, and so my diaries hear about it.)

How It All Began

It all began many years ago when I discovered Lucy Maud Montgomery's published journals in the 1980s. I felt I'd unearthed a treasure. By then, I was a devoted fan of her novels and poetry, and I gobbled up anything I could find about her life and work. She was my inspiration for finding the beauty in life and writing about it. I took notes. And paid attention to what made her journals interesting for me to read. She shared so many aspects of her life - growing up in her grandmother's home, her involvement in her community on Prince Edward Island, her friendships and amusements, what she read, what she wrote, the joy she took in the seasons, sunsets and flowers, not to mention kitty cats. She shared her woes and mental sufferings... along with her many joys and pleasures.

In my own youth and early adulthood, I had an odd assortment of notebooks for things I wanted to keep or remember. It was all a bit haphazard. Boxes of bits and pieces easily go astray—and sometimes they did disappear. But, since that day I opened a floral clothbound notebook and wrote the date across the first page—January 1, 1987—I have pretty much been dedicated to the art and discipline of writing in my journals. And except for the occasional season throughout the years, for the most part, it's been a daily part of my life.

Discovering What Worked Best

I eventually learned that it was best for my brain and personality to keep everything in a single journal rather than keeping various topical notebooks. Keeping more than one meant I was forever looking for the one I wanted. It didn't help me be organized; it just made me irritated. My journals are a motley collection in size, pattern, and style. I eventually decided against coil-bound notebooks—how would I label the spine with volume numbers and range of dates? My most recent favourite style of notebook is one put out by Nota (I find it at Indigo). It has an open spine exposing the decorative 'Coptic-stitch binding', the spine usually being hidden by the cover. The pages easily lay open while I'm writing, and when it's full, its spine makes for easy labeling.

What's In Them

My journals hold all manner of information. Some bits of diary—which can include tracking the weather or moon patterns, how well I slept, some to-do lists, what we're up to for the day. I often chat to myself about the books I'm reading, jotting down lines I want to remember. As well as trying to peg down why I like a certain book and not another. (Which helps when I need to write book reviews). I write about what's going on in my inner life, emotionally or spiritually. I'm often writing out Bible verses that comfort, encourage, and nourish, along with prayers and gratitude reports. My journal is quite often my first-place dump for ideas—or for writing down a perfect opening line that appears out of the blue—which can often end up in a blog post and other writing.

And then like LMM, there are all those beautiful moments in life that I don't want to forget. Those tiny moments that make a day suddenly feel alive with hope, even when the world is wildly insane. You know those glorious moments, when your heart zings with joy as you stand and watch a rainbow form after a summer shower. Or, as you sit in the garden where the air is sweet with perfume and the birds chatter companionably and our neighbourly Orange Kitty wanders in for a quick visit and a quiet snooze in the shrubbery. Where you are just glad, glad, glad to be alive on God's green earth. Descriptions of this sort written in my journal will often nose their way into my blog posts.

Though my journals are not works of art, per se,  but they do resemble my personality and nature. My soul sits there on the pages—I recognize her amongst the words. Sometimes my handwriting is neat, other times not so much. Sometimes my soul is bright with hope and sunshine, other times she can grouse with the best worst of 'em. These journals are scribbled layers of thoughts, feelings, and impressions—the extraordinary moments mixed in with ordinary ones. Looking back, in many ways I wish I could have written a neater story within these pages. But a journal, I believe, is meant to house what bubbles up, unedited, our thoughts and ideas untangling as we "scratch them out on paper" (Sarah Clarkson, p. 86, Reclaiming Quiet).

Three Journal Side Trips

As I already mentioned earlier, a single journal with many volumes has companioned me over the years. But there have been short seasons, over the years, when I did keep a separate notebook for a specific purpose. The Gratitude Journals in half size notebooks, for one. Sarah Ban Breathnach's book Simple Abundance: A Daybook of Comfort and Joy (her January 14th entry) was my inspirational first intro to such a lovely exercise. It helped me to establish the lifelong habit of living a life in gratitude. I think there are three such notebooks on my bookshelf; every once in a while I revisit those old lists from another life time ago.

And then there was the season when I discovered Julia Cameron's ritual of Morning Pages. It took some years to recognize that this could be something to use when I needed to blow off steam, vent hidden frustrations, anger, and pent-up pain (all part of pouring it out to the Lord). I have never wanted my ‘insane’ ravings and laments to be a permanent part of my journals. For I never wanted to revisit those traumatized moments, not did I ever want someone to stumble upon them. So, I used up old scribblers and notebooks as temporary depositories where I wrote it all out…down to the last tiny ‘huff and puff’ of the abating storm. One key point, once it's spilled out on paper, I don't reread it—the scribblings are destroyed, either at that point or when a notebook is full. And should there come out of those ramblings a few lines worth keeping, those are transferred into my regular journal. Morning Pages has been such a helpful tool for releasing brewing emotion and pain. In writing it all out in this safe place, I'd feel a lightness in the emptying process. I felt heard. I felt release. I slept better. Most importantly, I felt peace in my heart.

And most recently, since January 1, 2022, I have been keeping a small Five-Year Commonplace Diary. Which was inspired by author Austin Kleon when he talked about using this diary to jot a favourite line he came across in a day. This year I started Year Five, and by the time I write my last quote on December 31st, I will have curated a collection of 1825 quotations—how is that for one tiny diary. What I have found as I watch the pages fill with quotes over the weeks, months, and years, I often can identify my frame of mind and what might have been going on in my life or in the world at large. So reality, it's a journal that has tracked my life in quotations.

I have loved writing in my journals. It has been a wondrous experience for me. A true delight. It's one of those 'hobbies' I have never grown tired of—it's right up there with reading. I have never felt pressured to write in them. I do it because I want to and look forward to opening each day's fresh blank page. It's been a joyride in a journal. 

Brenda writes from her perch by the study window that overlooks her garden and the birds. You can find her writing on her blog It's A Beautiful Life. She's also on Facebook and Instagram (under Bren Leyland).

 

  

 

Journaling by Sandra Rafuse

 

When I first read January's prompt for 2026, my heart skipped a beat. "Do you journal?" it asked. I had tried journaling a few times in a notebook with a pen but I couldn't make it flow. I couldn't find a rhythm to it and I wasn't satisfied with the words I was writing. I had to admit I didn't journal.

When the January blogs started coming in, I was learning so much more about journaling than I'd ever known before: what it was, the purposes it served, the many different methods of doing it. Everyone was sharing so much information and it was all so interesting to read. . .there were so many different ideas! When Susan Barclay's blog, "Confessions of a Former Journalist" came out, I have to admit I gave a huge sigh of relief after reading she was no longer journaling. I could relate to the reasons she spoke of for deciding to stop keeping a journal. Her words made me feel that it was alright to not to be journaling at this time. Maybe another time would work and that would be good.

Then Mary Folkerts's blog "Journaling for My Heart" was published and her words opened up my eyes to possibilities I hadn't thought of. Mary said, "The recording of my life has taken the form of calendars, to-do lists, photo galleries on my phone or laptop, and writing articles. These, too, are journals." Photo galleries? They are journals? I thought of the collages I had started putting together a few years ago. And at that moment, I realized for the first time, that the collages told a story. They were memories of a special time or a special place, or a special occasion. The photo of the collage at the top of this page is the story of my brother Greg's love of old cars. He goes to antique car shows as often as he can and sometimes has someone take a picture of himself standing beside some of his favourite cars. I am sure I could have him send me several more pictures, enough to make a second collage of cars for him.

I sent a collage to my niece's daughter when she was six years old. Pictures of the day she went into the hospital to get her tonsils taken out. Pictures of the preparation for the surgery and then pictures of her recovery afterwards. A single page full of memories to look at in the years to come. And one of my favourite collages of all is the one I put together of three of my nieces, a nephew, and our two sons posing with some of fish they had caught in their younger years. Well, ok, maybe their dad had caught them and helped pull them in, but there they stood with their fish, so happy and excited and proud. Today they all have the same collage to bring out and look at and they can remember the happiness they felt! There's lots for them to talk about while looking at those pictures.

Hey! I realize, according to some of the blogs I've read so far this month, that I'm journaling! I thought I wasn't. But I am! I turn my head and I see a pile of notebooks lying in a basket beside my bookcase. I look at the titles and I remember what was written in them; famous quotes, favourite newspaper clippings; paragraphs from books that spoke to me of love and courage and danger and happiness and God and how he is always in our lives taking care of us; scriptures to stand on; lessons from some pastors' sermons, more famous quotes; etc., etc. Journals. They are journals. I thought I'd stopped working on them, but I've been writing them all along.

While I am delighted to know that there are so many different ways that we can journal, I do want to start again with notebook and pen. I'm looking forward to it.

 

Sandra Rafuse lives in the small town of Rockglen, Saskatchewan, with her husband, Bob, a Gordon Setter named Sadie, and a Peregrine falcon named Peet. She is a retired teacher and an amateur writer and is thoroughly enjoying having the opportunity to share what God is teaching her through her life experiences.

 

 

A Journal Begins with One Word by Gloria Guest

One word is all it takes to light the flicker that can grown into a thousand words.

In our small writers group, Friends with Pens, we use this technique to write a fifteen minute narrative that must include the word(s) of choice by that month's leader. This small writer's prompt has garnered some very good beginning 'first drafts' of a story, a devotional, a poem or even the potential germination of a book. The character, scene and dialogue development that has come out of just fifteen minutes of writing has also proven to be intriguing in some very delightful ways. We have all found as we plumbed these depths, that there was more within us than we'd at first imagined. It leads one to wonder; how much more do we each hold within that without a nudge or a prompt, will never find its way onto the page and ultimately into print?

A journal is very similar to those writing prompts. Whatever we're choosing to write about; a letter to God, ourself, someone else or just putting our thoughts down on the page, once we start we don't usually know where it's going to branch off to. It's a word adventure where we step out onto the trail and see where it takes us; dense dark foliage which we struggle through before we come out on the other side; a meandering pathway that is obstacle free until we trip unexpectedly on a tree root; maybe a steep uphill climb when we'd rather have gone down into that happy looking little valley with the babbling brook.

Most of my past journaling has taken me into places I wasn't expecting. I knew I had some anger issues but until I indiscriminately wrote them on paper, I wasn't aware of just how much it was consuming parts of my life. Or I'd find myself start and before I knew it some deep hurt would bubble to the surface. Journaling has also served to 're-introduce' me to myself in some interesting ways. Memories can glide from far back and suddenly find themselves front and centre on the page. Where did that come from? They no longer want to be ignored. Other times, they've stood back afar and hazy but clearing a little as I've stopped and acknowledged them. Slowly a shadow figure of my younger self seemed to step carefully between my words and whisper, "Nice to see you again. I have something to show you."

Perhaps that sounds too mystical to some, but it's what can happen when we are ready to engage our words with our memories. Maybe we don't always feel safe to go on such a journey. Then we can start down a different path; no less important but one that leads somewhere we feel less frightened of. A Gratitude Journal can help help us skip across a few flat rocks in the pond without getting our feet too wet, while still learning about ourselves. A gratitude journal can help us become more comfortable with acknowledging what we have received, in spite of our hardships, and bring a sense of peace amongst the storm.

One word...is all it takes.... A journal, whatever form it takes, is not something that we 'plot' out. We 'step' out. And with each step we take we can be confident we are on a journey to where God has been wanting to take us all along.

Gloria journals and writes from a small prairie village in southern Saskatchewan. She writes memoir, creative nonfiction, fiction, poetry. She has taken editing classes from Simon Fraser University and Creative Writing classes from U of T. Mostly she has written as a past reporter/columnist. Her small writers group, Friends with Pens (three members strong) has been an important source of inspiration and support for her as she's navigated the past couple of years.

On Journaling by Brenda J Wood

Somewhere in the early seventies, I heard that journaling helped a person overcome abuse and I thought, that is for me! I gathered up notebooks and several pens. Then I warned my family never to touch those scribblers. I left them in plain view on the coffee table and trusted they'd never open them. That’s many years and sixty plus notebooks ago.

This is what I have learned.

Just get all your thoughts out of you and onto the page; everything from joys to jealous and juicy gossip. Getting words down on the page somehow makes the life they represent more manageable. Some people like to organize their overwhelming thoughts. I just pour mine out and deal with them face-to-face.

Who else is better qualified?

Those sentences help you understand the real you. There is no pretense when you face your regrets and reality.

Be a Velveteen Rabbit. Find that true happiness means accepting yourself as who you really are. Of course, by necessity, we write the good, the bad, and the ugly. How do we experience joy if we haven’t experienced its opposite?

Write on and expose your hidden attitudes and prejudice and deal them a heavy blow of correction.

The lessons you learn? Invaluable. Let your words lead you—through loneliness, leisure and life in general.

J - just

O - organize

U - understand

R - be real, record

N - necessary

A - attitudes and

L - life lessons

You might never write a best seller or publish your memoir, but your journals are a fine second.

Brenda J Wood has authored more than fifty books. She is a seasoned motivational speaker, who declares the Word of God with wisdom, humour, and common sense.