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.

Beyond "Dear Diary" by Steph Beth Nickel

Photo Credit: Desk Smartphone Iphone - Free photo on Pixabay

"Rambling until I stumble across truth."

This is how I’ve often referred to my “Dear Diary” type journaling, and it has countless benefits, among them . . .

1. Priming the pump so we can get into the flow of writing words meant to be shared with others.
2. Discovering what’s truly on our minds and in our hearts.
3. Writing without judgment. The page is a great place to be honest with ourselves.

Currently, I’m not journaling in this way, but I may do so again in the days ahead.

The closest I’ve come recently is based on the one-line-a-day journal concept. I use a blank journal to summarize the highlights of each day, mostly in incomplete sentences. I intend to use the same journal for 3-5 years.

While we can begin again any day, for many people, January 1 feels like a brand-new start. This is the case with me. I love purchasing a new planner and at least one new journal.

This month, instead of purchasing a multi-subject notebook to keep track of what stands out to me in the various devotional materials I’m using, I purchased the same notebook in a variety of colours. I use pens of corresponding colours to make notes in each of them.

I do love beautiful journals and planners, especially those that are leatherbound and contain handmade paper, and would buy a plethora of them, except . . . I have several that still have available space. But because I want to be able to look at a journal and know exactly what’s inside, I purchased the aforementioned 50-cent notebooks.

While it may sound strange to many of you, I must give myself permission to do a number of things in order to optimize my planners and journals.

Among them, I must remember . . .

1. My handwriting doesn’t have to be perfect—not even in a leather-bound journal.
2. Even if a notebook or journal contains a number of different types of entries (sermon notes, random thoughts, lists, etc.), I can assign a specific topic to the remaining blank pages and go from there.
3. I can toss those that are full, or almost full, without rereading the entries. If the information was truly important, it would be recorded elsewhere or would be in my working memory.
4. Even if I’m going to get rid of my planner at the end of the year, it isn’t a waste to decorate it with stickers and washi tape as an expression of my creativity and to bring a smile to my face.
5. Like author Myquillyn Smith says in her book House Rules: How to Decorate for Every Home, Style, and Budget, it’s beneficial to “admire not acquire.” While she is applying this principle to decorating one’s home, I find it applies to every area of life. This is also the case when it comes to the beautiful journals some people create. I can admire these journals without taking the time to learn how to emulate these incredible results.

So, do you journal? If so, which type of journaling do you find most beneficial?

Steph Beth Nickel is the former Editor of FellowScript and the current InScribe Contest Coordinator. Steph is an editor and author and plans to relocate to Saskatchewan from Ontario to be close to family in 2027. (Headshot Photo Credit: Jaime Mellor Photography)

My Little Book of Words by Peggianne Wright

 

It all started in a dark season of unrelenting grief. I had experienced so many losses in such a short period of time; two beloved fur-kids gone to the Rainbow Bridge, both my darling parents gone home to Jesus, an only sibling who "divorced" me from his life, and a dear sister-friend of over 30 years who decided our lives were "moving in different directions".

It wasn't really an intentional act, that first day I put pencil to paper in a little spiral bound notebook. I can't even recall my motivation for doing so. I suppose subconsciously I had an urge to purge myself of some hard and destructive emotions. Or, maybe I felt it would be a way of motivating me in my writing. It did both.

Each morning, at the conclusion of my breakfast, I would pull out my notebook and randomly think of any word. I'd add it to the index page, scribble a little jot—either a paw print, heart, starburst, etc.—on the title page, and write the word and the date on the fresh page. Then, I would just write. Whatever came into my mind, I recorded it without filters. Once complete, I would write a short corresponding prayer and then add a verse of scripture to reinforce the thoughts I had just logged. Looking back, from that first word, I can now see a pattern that began to emerge: Loss, Sunshine, Music, Silence, Worship, Challenge, Trust, Waiting ...

There is no end to the options available when it comes to journaling. In the past, like so many others, I was attracted to the "new and shiny" objects that would especially be pushed relentlessly at the close of a year. I'd look at these items, my mind's eye picturing the amazing, colourful pages I'd create in a wide margin journal Bible, or the fun digital images I could assemble in a mindfulness and gratitude journal. I'd fork out my Christmas money enthusiastically with high expectations. But I'd realize very soon that the process was either too cumbersome or complicated or time consuming. After just a short time it would be forgotten, left lying in a drawer never to be touched again. And, above all, it hardly felt like honouring God.

Like any kind of journaling, commitment is certainly a part of what makes it meaningful. Trial and error is also a way of learning more about oneself; understanding our strengths and weaknesses, likes and dislikes when it comes to choosing the right application, testing and strengthening our connection to God. As the seasons of our lives change, so too may our choices for and even against journaling. When we experience these things, we know that the Holy Spirit is working in us.

"And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose." (Romans 8:28 NIV)

In no time, my little process became an automatic response. Days turned to weeks, weeks to months and then years and soon my little book was full. I had named my morning scribbles "First Words…and other random thoughts" and began using them as weekly content on my Facebook page as a way to draw my followers closer to God and to their own healing.

But then I got busy. Over time, I became engrossed with other God-honouring projects He had laid on me. As it always happens, life interferes, routines change, the Lord's plan is rolled out.

My little book got left behind.

So, when on December 30th, I happened across my little book in a pile, I pulled it out and opened it to the last entry. Exactly one year ago on December 30th, I made my last entry. Certainly, I have been blessed and have accomplished much in the meantime. Projects have come to fruition, new relationships established, a closer connection to God cultivated. But also, a fresh new keenness to resume filling my little book with daily entries has filled my heart and awakened my soul.

"Commit everything you do to the LORD. Trust him, and he will help you." (Psalm 37:5 NLT)

Peggianne Wright is a published author and is the founder of the pet parent ministry Paws To Pray, blending her passion for the Lord and all-things-K9 to form this unique, faith-based community. Peggianne is an ardent Bible study student, devoted dog mom, wife of 44 years, and lover of music. Her blogs Spiritual Scribbles and Fur-Kid Fanatics can be found on her website www.PawsToPray.ca and you can follow her on Facebook at www.Facebook.com/PawsToPray/ and on Instagram @Sister_In_Prayer.

J is for Junk Journals by Carol Harrison

 

 

 

Store aisles filled with journals and pens grab my attention. It is hard to resist the call of a pretty journal even when I have a shelf full at home, waiting to be used. I ask myself, at times, if I really love to record parts of my life journey in these books or do I just like the idea of it and the prettiness of the covers? Actually the answer is a bit of both.                  

 

I don't journal every day even though I feel like writing thoughts, stories, and life events should happen more frequently. When I wrote Amee's Story, I had lots of notes of bits of paper, old calendars, and journal entries that helped relive the events of her life that needed to be captured in the book. It brought memories to the surface, gave me specific incidents to write about in detail recorded at the time, and what I felt as well.                 

 

But what about these things called junk journals? They have become a new hobby which helps with my mental health and creativity too. I can take bits and pieces that would normally end up in the recycle bin, add in some odds and ends of scrapbook papers, and find decorations in stickers, stamps, old buttons, beads, or dollar store finds. But making these handmade journal books is only part of the process.                                                 

 

There are lots of blank pages waiting to be filled with writing, drawing, or photos. There are pockets and tuck spots waiting to hold memorabilia and other paper ephemera. I often make the closures to enable me to add many pieces of paper, pictures, and other bits and pieces that add to the story, growing the journal fatter and fatter, yet still able to be held together in a pretty way.                                                                                                       

But the best thing about these handmade junk journals is that they are one more method of recording story. We all know the value of a story and we all have a story or many stories to tell. These stories can be preserved for future generations. But writing in a journal of any kind also gives you that option of going back and seeing where you have been and comparing it to where you are now and God's leading over the course of time. It offers research opportunities for creative non-fiction or even a fiction book or short story which can then be shared with a wider audience.                                                                       

 

As I pull out all the supplies to make a new junk journal, creativity takes hold. Choosing the colours, types of covers, and finally what to add into each book offers the opportunity to get lost in the process. I've given some as gifts to bless others and allow them to begin to jot down their own life journey, thoughts, and story. Others I have sold with the same intention of giving others an opportunity to use them for whatever purposes they choose including recording stories, collecting quotes or recipes, hiding away an encouraging note from a friend, or coming up with ways to use it I've never ever though of.  I've kept several for myself to use. One contains Bible verses that mean a lot to me, encouraging notes, and ephemera I want to keep. My one daughter uses hers as a gratitude journal.                        

 

The possibilities extend as far as the imagination takes us for using these journals. But whether we wander the aisles looking for a new journal or take the time to make one, one thing I know is that they need to be used to record moments to remember, questions you're searching an answer for, or simply being grateful for something today. Do you enjoy journaling? Have you ever made, been given, bought or used a junk journal? What might you put in one? Enjoy the process of keeping a journal whether daily or sporadically. It might surprise us all with the benefits it brings.                                                              

 

 

Carol Harrison loves to tell stories, read them, and share them with others so they can be encouraged and inspired to tell their own. She enjoys the creative endeavor of making the junk journals as well.                                                                     

 

 

 

 

It's What's Inside That Counts: Journaling by Bob Jones

Here I am getting ready for the 29^th of the month. Again.

And again, women and men of Inscribe Writers Online have shared incredible insights on the subject of journaling. I enjoyed reading them all. I learned (and laughed) so much.

(But I do wonder what happened to the writers for June 2^nd, 5^th, 7^th, 11^th, 13^th 23^rd, and 24^th. Maybe they were too busy journaling to post.)

So – and here’s a writer’s favorite question – “What can I write about that hasn’t already been shared?”  I feel such a temptation to plagiarize. (Note to self – write July’s post before July 1^st)

I look at my current journal and it reminds me of why I journal. This journal was a 2016 Christmas present.

On the cover is the quote - “It’s what inside that counts.” On the inside cover page is an inscription from one of my sons, daughter-in-law and three granddaughters.

“Dad, Another year, another journal, another glimpse into your journey. We pray you are blessed beyond measure in the coming year.”

I can’t read these words, let alone type them without losing my ability to see clearly.

The penmanship tells me that it was my daughter-in-law that wrote the words. That means all the more to me. To be loved by the woman your son chose to be his wife and the mother of my grand girls is beyond words.

Why do I journal?

Because I keep receiving journals as Christmas presents.

Because I’m reminded that my writing is valued by people other than me.

Because journaling keeps me alert to what really matters.

Because I would easily forget the good that comes to me “on my journey” if I didn’t journal.

Now, I’m ready for July.

Bob is a recovering perfectionist, who collects Coca-Cola memorabilia and drinks Iced Tea. His office walls are adorned with his sons’ framed football jerseys, and his library shelves, with soul food. He writes to inspire people to be real, grow an authentic faith in Jesus, enjoy healthy relationships and discover their life purpose.  

Follow his writing at Pointe's of View.

A New Road - Marnie Pohlmann

I walk down this road of life.

I trip and fall into a dark hole.

I get up and continue walking.

Again, I trip and fall into a dark hole.

I climb out and continue walking.

Once again, I trip and fall into another dark hole.

Deeper this time, it is difficult to climb out.

But I pull myself up and walk on.

And again, I fall into a deep hole.

But I decide to stay awhile.

Eventually, I climb up the wall and back onto the path.

I fall into a hole.

I realize how dark, dreary, and lonely it is.

I decide to decorate, to make it cozier.

I hang a picture of me as a child, and I write in my journal.

I scream pain onto the page in silent words.

No one hears, so I stay in the hole.

Time goes by.

Though I believe I am secure and comfortable in my hole,

I begin to notice light up above.

I continue to write in my journal.

Then I hear a voice, calling to me.

He says he will help me get out of my hole,

He says, if I choose, he will walk with me on my path.

I think about it, but am frightened.

I know my hole.

I don't know outside, or down the road.

I am not sure I can trust the voice.

Yet he continues to call.

His words appear in my journal.

Finally, I agree to meet him.

He reaches down and helps me out of my hole.

I bring my journals.

He walks with me.

Just when I am about to trip into a deep hole,

He catches me.

We continue walking.

I sometimes almost fall into other dark holes,

But as I trip, he holds me.

I still skin my knees sometimes and he lets me cry,

but he comforts me.

We walk on.

And now He guides me down a different road.

I based this story on a poem I read many years ago. That poem did not have the journals or God calling to me, but it did end with learning to walk a new road. I have not been able to find the original author's name or even the original words. Over the years I have seen this idea of repeatedly falling into the hole, decorating the hole, and eventually choosing a new road, become a picture of my life.

I have a love-hate relationship with the journals I have kept on my journey. On one hand, they contain pain, struggles, and rebellion; times I do not wish to relive. On the other hand, they contain answers from God to my pleas, and they show how He has been at work in my life all these years.

My goal a while ago was to read through those journals to see what I could use in my writing. I was nervous about this project so decided this would be an exercise in research, not a reliving of the past. An emotional detachment was the key, or so I thought. I knew God was with me, holding my hand and ready to point out the gems of what He wanted me to share through writing.

And then I found myself again in a dark hole. Not because of my journals, but because of life circumstances which I found overwhelming. I returned to childhood coping methods I know do not work and once again believed the old messages of shame and worthlessness. Then I began to decorate my hole with pictures of everything wrong with me and my present life. Post Traumatic Stress Disorder once again settled into the corners of the darkness, bringing alive all the negative emotions of childhood, the work I do, and cancer.

I was depressed, yes, but I was not afraid - I am not afraid. In the dark times, God is present. When I am struggling, God is at work. He will not ever leave me, Scripture says, and He never has, so I know He won't this time. He calls to me and reaches down to help me out of the hole again.

Emotion is part of the past as much as it is part of today. If I am to read and write from my life journals, I must do it acknowledging and including all the feelings and emotions, not as a dry research paper. Memories in my journals may be dark, but I believe I will also see where the Sonshine drew me out of the holes. Rather than being nervous about this project, I am now excited to discover and re-discover God's presence in my life and how He so gently leads me to walk with Him on a new road.

I have been sporadic in my journaling lately. Writing ideas are strewn about in various pretty journals, church bulletins, Bible Study notebooks, and even in my phone. Personal woes and joys are dated with months between the entries. I have found I miss having (making) the time to journal.

This month's posts have been inspirational, showing me how journals are a gift. I now realize that organizing the thoughts, lessons, and ideas in those journals is also a gift. 

I think I'll start (another) new journal.

Photos courtesy of CCO License: hole - pexels.com;  girl, journal - pixabay.com

Marnie struggles and journals in northern BC. Visit her blog, Phosphorescent, to read her adventures in absorbing and reflecting God's light in dark times.

Journaling Rambles by Joylene M. Bailey

Photo courtesy of Pixabay

Wow, the 20^th of the month is here again! How did that happen?  Again, I’m stumped for what to write for InScribe Writers Online. Why do I always feel like I have nothing to contribute?

This month's topic is journaling and writer's notebooks. Oh boy. I wish I were a more consistent journaler. I might actually have something to share then. But I’m more of a spurtster, like Glynis.

Hmmm, it looks like a lot of the writers this month have several journals for different things. Me too! Only, so many of my journals had great beginnings and then petered out.  I have a whole drawerful of enticing journals, just waiting to be filled.

I love journals - give me a journal and you’re my friend for life. And I love the idea of journaling everyday, sitting in a fragrant and shady corner of my yard on a sun-dappled day putting down words of beauty, encouragement, wisdom and wit. In reality that’s not what happens at all.

Oh man, do I have anything at all to share on this topic? Let’s see, what do I seem to be writing down these days?

Oh! I have that quote notebook I have been keeping for years. I wonder if that counts. I also started that JOY journal – in fact I think I started two … No, those aren’t even worth mentioning.

I guess I do have my prayer/devotional journal that includes sermon and teaching notes. But then when Sweetie called in the middle of the night to say the twins were born, that was the nearest paper to hand, and I opened to the back page to write down the little boys’ names, weights, times of birth, what the names meant, and even how long she pushed for each one! Then I took that journal to Manitoba when I went to help with the twins, and continued from the back to the front, writing little rhyming verses and songs for 3-year-old Little Man. Now I even have jot notes for blog posts in there and a whole list of Edmonton Sites to See This Summer. Again, back to front. What kind of journal is that?

There must be another legitimate journal that’s worth sharing about …

I have that junk-drawer-journal. Everything but the kitchen sink in that one. Anybody else reading it would be so confused. Email addresses, books I want to read, somebody’s very detailed dream, accounting figures, lists, quotes, passwords, definitions, schedules, flight times … You name it, it’s in there. Nah, this journal would never count.

I did start “Morning Pages”, as suggested by Julia Cameron in The Artist’s Way. I appreciated that exercise, I think I’d like to get back to that. I also love the sound of an Artist’s Daybook that Sandi Somers mentioned in her post. It has a nice ring to it. Yes, “Morning Pages” and my Artist’s Daybook, those will be goals for my summer writing.

But to get back to my journal post … The only valid journal I might be able to share about is my In the Coffee Shop, In the Library one I started in September as an exercise to get me out of the house when I was on doctor’s orders to rest. It was fun to just sit and write down observations in coffee shops and libraries, and a good exercise in coming up with the right words on the spot. But then came surgery, 6 weeks of recovery, and then right away off to look after grandchildren, including the newborns. I haven’t written in that thing for at least 3 months.

It seems I’m not currently journaling at all.

So, it’s finally happened … I have absolutely nothing to contribute this month. Zilch. Zero.

I might as well go find the topic for next month and get a head start on that.

****************

Joylene journals about not journaling from her home in Edmonton where she is resting up after 6 weeks of looking after grandchildren. 
Find more of her writing at Scraps of Joy.

Deliberate Ramblings of Gratitude by Sharon Espeseth

Uprooted to Right-sized

If you've read my ramblings before, you may recall that in July 2014 my husband and I sold the lovely home we designed ourselves and had contractors build for us. We loved this house that was perfect for us and for our kids when
they visited, but we could see the house and yard work were getting too much for us to look after.

Sparing you the details, the Norwegian and I ended up moving three times in three years. Even with much help from our adult kids, moving and resettling three times was exhausting. That plus serious health problems for Hank and minor ones for me have kept us busy attending doctor's appointments and medical tests.

A Tale of Three Houses

The first house was too much work.

The Naked Bulb in the Rafters

The second was too small.
The third was just right,
And we are thankful for it all.

InSights from InScribe

InSight #1: Appreciating My New Space

We have room for the kids to stay over and I have a huge office in the semi-finished basement. Recently I Marnie Polman's blog, called "Secret Mission."

"Peering over the writer's shoulder," she begins, "like an annoying supervisor, the naked light bulb dangling from the ceiling gives the impression of light while effectively casting shadows that hide the dust of neglect littered throughout the room."

How does she know what my oversized office looks like and what state it is in? I wondered.

My stash of journals, daybooks, and binders

Since we are renting, we won't be closing in the ceiling or putting in fancy fixtures. I do, however, love my quiet space down here.

The kids have moved back my bookshelves and cupboards I didn't have place for in House #1 or House #2. Just see what I can do in the space I have.



InSight #2: Comparing Journals and Writer's Notebooks

Sandi Somers, I felt reassured to read your title, "On Journals and Writers' Notebooks", because I'm not ready to give up my journals to start something new. I have been journal writing for decades. In the earlier days my journals were coil-ringed notebooks, which included everything from soup recipes to nutty quips.

Then came the acid-free age where pages would be safe into the next millennium. I bought the gel pens and away I wrote, not knowing if anyone besides me would ever care to read them. I wrote for permanence and I wrote more neatly. On the other side of my brain, I tried to figure out who I would trust to "burn them when I was gone."

 InSight #3: The Day Book, a Must for Me

The last decade or so, I have also kept a day book, where I record basically what I/we did that day. This has come in handy for writing plans and respecting deadlines, for medical notes, ideas, shopping, and whatever.

Since these day books can be hard to find, I hunt for my book early in the fall for the next year. This past year new people took over the drug store/Christian book store in our town and I had to special order this one.

Details for the day planners I've been using for several years:

* Executive Planner by christian art gifts®
* about 16 cm by 22.5 cm
* contains charts you may find helpful
* year planner for current year and next year
* monthly budget pages
* monthly spiritual theme with biblical and other quotes
* daily quotes to go with monthly theme
* place for hourly entries, which I ignore
* zipper cased and bookmarked with a ribbon




InSight #4: Purse-Sized Notebook

I am keeping a watch out for a Fat Little Wireless Notebook like the one Shirley Tye mentions in her blog, "Don't Leave Home Without It." The Day Book above doesn't, alas, fit in my purse.

InSight #5: Journal Writing

I have read with interest what other InScribers say about journal writing. For some, it has become ho-hum. For others, it causes angst when they are not able to keep up with it.  I agree with Dayna Mazzuca when she says, "(Daily) journalling  is essential to my soul, my craft and my coherence." She explains that if she goes too long without writing in her journal, she becomes "a mess" and "bereft" and (gasp)" hard to live with.

I don't write in my journal daily, but when I do, I expand on observations, concerns, anecdotes, memories, books I'm reading, prayers . . .

InSight #6: Morning Pages

Hmm! Have I covered my bases with my journals and my day book? Or is there something else. I read  with interest Sandra Somer's resource-rich blog and I am trying a new tactic. Taking to heart what Sandi wrote about The Writer's Way by Julie Cameron, I reached for the book covered in dust mites and standing on one of my bookshelves.

My morning pages await me.

I am studying the introductory part of the book before getting into the weekly exercises. Thanks, Sandi, for reminding me of this resource, which seems to be the gas I need  for my engine right now. I am on Day 4 of my morning pages. Although I had done something similar when I read and wrote with Henrietta Klauser's book, Writing on Both Sides of the Brain, all things old became new for me.


I have bookmarked your blog, Sandi, for further reference


InSight #7: The Writer's Notebook

I can't do all of these activities every day, but I plan to experiment with a writer's notebook. I chair our Women Word Weavers meeting tomorrow. For this, I found an inexpensive sketch book for each of our members, which we'll crack open tomorrow.

I am not the expert on this, but we have one member who has used a writer's notebook for years. We have another writer who has filled several art/writer's notebooks, which are beautiful books to "read."
My survey shows that our writing buddies are willing to give this a go.

We can begin by listing writing ideas and activities for the summer. We can review, or write, personal mission statements--thanks Ruth Snyder for reminding me of this necessity in one of your recent FB posts. In the fall, when I'm chairperson again and have had time to try this more, we can take our writer's notebooks to the next level.

I'd like my notebook to be visual "art", of which my specialty would be collage. This will be my attempt at "playing with the art of writing." Please wish me luck or pray that this leads us further in using our gifts to glorify God.

InSight #8: Gratitude

I

I am thankful for for the members of InScribe and our satellite group for being with me on this writing journey. In a recent e-mail to me, Connie Inglis, InScribe Spiritual Advisor, mentioned Paul's first letter to the Corinthians: 1:21-31.

To see this scripture with new eyes,

I read this passage in several translations, including The Message. Eugene Peterson closes the chapter with,

"If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God." 

I write with gratitude to God for InScribe, for writing companions on the journey and for the gift of writing which is mine to develop and use for his glory.

Thanks be to God for creating us as creative beings!

Journaling not for faint of heart by Dayna E. Mazzuca

Hard-core daily journalling is not for the faint of heart. Debriefing life play by play can be exhausting. On the other hand, the un-examined life is hardly worth living. I believe the Lord wants each of us in close contact with Him; to tune in to our life below the surface. To voice our tender, strong desires. To name our fears. To live in response to his invitation to go deeper; to know God.

As a writer, I find journaling the ideal venue for this kind of spiritual work.

For me, daily journaling is essential to my soul, my craft and my coherence. When I go too long without a journal (e.g. on vacation/on the move) things pile up inside of me and by the end of a week bereft of journaling, I'm a mess. I talk faster, knee-jerk react to situations, interrupt people and growl at those who love me.

As a result, my colourful, oversized journal collection is really a hopeful investment in the quality of my inner life. Journaling clears my mental skies and refines and strengthens my emotional core. It orders my responses and informs my voice. In many ways, it informs who I am and what I'm about.

I journal daily. It's not a habit; it's a way to the good life. 

I can't imagine who or what I'd be without my journals. I fill one a month, sometimes two.

What will become of these thoughts, prayers, rants and quotes? I have no idea. Sometimes I worry; so I journal about that too.

To be honest, publishing to connect with readers is easier than journaling. I know what happens to those words. I can track the response. My articles, poems and books represent thoughts coming full circle, taking on some form in the world, offering value. My journals sit in tall stacks and fill baskets in my study.

Private journaling and public writing (e.g. publishing) straddle two different hemispheres of my writing world.

On the one side, I need to journal. I need to process and attend to the significant signs of God at work in my life. I need to record the pain and celebrate the joys of life. I need to be honest and vulnerable and fierce and strong. I need to journal.

On the other side, I need to publish. I need to be heard; to not operate within a vacuum. To get outside of my head. To attune to the needs and voices of others. To pursue my vocation. To get paid and contribute to society. I need to publish.

In the end, journaling is an interior act. Publishing is exterior. Two halves of the whole that this writer, for one, appreciates, pursues and enjoys—albeit in rather un-equal measure.



www.daynawrites.com

A Room to Remember -- Jocelyn Faire

The work to forget, can be as difficult as the trying to remember.

“The time is ripe for looking back over the day, the week, the year, and trying to figure out where we have come from and where we are going to, for sifting through the things we have done and the things we have left undone for a clue to who we are and who, for better or worse, we are becoming. But again and again we avoid the long thoughts….We cling to the present out of wariness of the past. And why not, after all? We get confused. We need such escape as we can find. But there is a deeper need yet, I think, and that is the need—not all the time, surely, but from time to time—to enter that still room within us all where the past lives on as a part of the present, where the dead are alive again, where we are most alive ourselves to turnings and to where our journeys have brought us. The name of the room is Remember—the room where with patience, with charity, with quietness of heart, we remember consciously to remember the lives we have lived.”

― Frederick Buechner, A Room Called Remember: Uncollected Pieces

My mother of ninety-one lives in the room to remember. She may not remember what she had for lunch, but, start her on a memory lane conversation and she can tell you how the fly ball felt as it smacked into her bare hands to clinch the game. She was the heroine of her country school ball tournament that day! Of the days of her drinking husband, she says: Those were hard times, but we got through them.

She has a selective memory. Memory can be revisited with rose coloured glasses.

We write things down so we will remember them. As I re-read my journals I am taken back to some powerful aha moments, when God answered my doubting heart with scripture, song a quotable word or visit from a friend. When I read these raw accounts of grief's darkness I feel both the pain and the hope. I relive the assurance that He has been there in those difficult days, surely He will be here today. When I read the joy filled words, my heart marvels in the memory.

The past and future collide into this moment of today, this present, which is exactly that - a present moment, a gift to be opened and deeply appreciated. I want to live my life in such a way, that when I am my mother's age, my room to remember will be positively full. These journals bear witness to His encouragement.

It seems easier to remember the negative, mulling it over and over, than to remember the positive. There is a daily battle for joy going on here, and one of my renewable resources is to have positive words of encouragement posted in all rooms to remind me that life is beautiful, and I am part of that beauty. 
I used to joke that I needed to wear a name tag, so I would not forget who I was. That is closer to the truth than I admit—too often I forget who I am, and who my true Father is. Today I want each of us to remember that we are loved, our lives and our writing has been purposed, and there is much beauty in this world.
Remember who you are serving!!

Daily we choose the room we spend our time in, and we choose to let the Son-shine in.

Ps 103:14 He remembers that we are made of dust. This reminds me, as does Buechner in his quote, that we should enter these rooms of remembrance with kindness (for ourselves) and with quietness of heart and mind.

Image from Global leadership quotes- quotesgram.com

Jocelyn is the Author of Who is Talking out Of My Head, Grief as an out of Body Experience.  She blogs at:http://whoistalking.wordpress.com