HAVE YOU JOURNALED BEFORE?
JOURNALING QUESTIONS AND PROMPTS
Have you journaled before? How long have you been a journal keeper? What does your journaling look like? Explain how you journal and share why in your journal.
How long have you wanted to journal? Why?
THE REASONS WHY PEOPLE JOURNAL
There are numerous reasons why people journal. Through this blog, I will share many of those reasons. The reasons I want to share with you now are:
- Journaling for self-discovery
- Journaling for personal growth
- Journaling to live a better life
- Journaling to count our blessings
- Journaling to live a spiritual life (a life of meaning)
- Journaling for spiritual growth
- Journaling to gain fresh and new perspective
- Journaling through the challenges (storms) of life
- Journaling to remember and capture one's life and memories on the page (journaling your life story)
- Journaling to leave a legacy
- Journaling to heal
- Journaling to focus and for mental clarity
- Journaling to emote or vent
- Journaling to learn, plan, track and live one's goals and purpose (make one's dreams come true)
- Journaling to live mindfully in every moment
- Journaling to learn from mistakes made (whether personally or vicariously)
- Journaling to have peace and contentment through every challenge (storm) and through all of life
- Journaling to write a poem or book
- Travel Journaling
- Journaling as photographs of moments through one's day and life
- Journaling to capture another person's life on the page
- Journaling for your children and/or grandchildren
- Journaling to inspire one's art
- Journaling to process something
- Journaling to capture one's ideas on the page
- Journaling to remember
- Journaling to help solve problems
- Journaling as a therapist
- Journaling as a friend or confidant
- Journaling to track patterns in your life and/or in your journaling
- Journaling as a way to write one's self into history
- Journaling to grow in confidence
- Journaling as a tool to help grow humility
- Journaling to reduce stress and anxiety
- Journaling through loss
- Journaling to strengthen one's memory
I journal for all of the above and more. Some seasons in life, whether it is one day or several months, I might focus on one or two, and at other times I might focus on a combination of many.
The key is to not remain focused on one reason (or even a few) to the detriment and it stifles your journaling. Rather, be flexible and constantly change. After all, there are no rules to journaling except for one: The more you put into journaling, the more you get out of it. Therefore, just make sure you're journaling and capturing paragraphs/pages of journaling each day.
Who cares if you are all over the place in your journaling, as long as you are growing, learning, living a deeper and a less shallow life, and are living a life of more meaning and purpose?
JOURNALING QUESTIONS AND PROMPTS
Why do you want to journal (or why do you journal)?
What is your purpose in your journaling?
What do you hope to gain from your journaling?
How do you hope to change/transform through your journaling?
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A JOURNALING THOUGHT: JOURNALING BRINGS YOU BACK TO YOURSELF AND HELPS YOU FOCUS
Let's face it. When we have to go about our daily lives, doing what we do, we tend to get focused on what we are doing and forget to be conscious of ourselves. Moreover, we tend to lose ourselves in the everyday activities because the world is so loud and demands much from us.
We tend to get busy. And when we get busy, we tend to lose ourselves in the daily activities and we lose focus.
Whenever we can sneak away and journal for even just a couple of minutes, it helps us to get refocused on what really matters to us. Sneaking in time to journal helps us refocus on the things that matter to us and helps us to live fully and appreciate the now. While the now might not be ideal, we can still focus our minds on the things that bring us meaning, and on ourselves.
Journaling helps us appreciate every minute, no matter how trivial or insignificant it might seem.
Journaling provides us a safe haven (a place of refuge and serenity) to escape to for a bit and then return back to our everyday life.
Journaling brings us back to ourselves. It reminds us who we are. Even in the midst of everyday life.
Journaling helps us focus on what really matters in each moment we are currently living.
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THE SUGGESTIONS ON THIS BLOG MAY GO AGAINST CONVENTIONAL WISDOM (A LITTLE BACKGROUND OF JKSD, THE SME OF JOURNALING)
Yes. Some of the suggestions, ideas, and remarks on this blog may be unconventional and go against what some might say about journaling. I will not deny this. However, I do not say these things lightly.
Everything I say on this blog is because it works. And if you give it a try as much as possible for the period of at least four months, I guarantee you would agree (if not sooner).
I can make all the claims I do on this blog because they work, sure. But, there is another main reason. I am more experienced in journaling than you might realize. Yes. I have over 38 years of experience. Nonetheless, the 38 years are more than what you might think at face value.
I journaled at least once a week for the first ten years, with two to three times being more common.
I journaled at least five days a week for the next seven years (with most weeks being seven days a week).
Then, over the next ten years, I have journaled at least 360 days per year, with a minimum of 1,000 words per day (about 2.85 typed pages per day).
And over the last 11 years, I have journaled at least 360 days per year, with a minimum of 1,500 words per day (4.29 typed pages). There are days I have journaled 12 to 15 typed pages per day and I do that couple of times a week. But, I average around 2,800 words per day (8 typed pages). Now, trust me when I say: That's a lot of journaling.
I am not kidding. I have tried just about every type of journaling out there and have done thousands of journaling prompts.
I have experimented and still experiment every single day as to how to get more words captured on the page because I know the rule of thumb that never fails me: The more I journal, the more I get out of it, and the better of a person I become. (And trust me. I could still become a much, much, much better person. Including a better journal keeper.)
SME: CREDIBILITY
Therefore, I am a SME (Subject Matter Expert) on journaling (journal keeping). This gives me some credibility.
Hence, I hope that you'll listen to everything I say and suggest. And I hope you do more than that. I hope in time you try most everything I suggest (and for an extended amount of time). Give everything a try. What do you have to lose, other than a little time and possibly some paper and ink?
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A JOURNALING QUESTION OR PROMPT
Who are you? Explain.
What do you value? Explain.
What don't you value? Explain.
What do you want out of your life?
What goals do you have today? This week? This month? This quarter? This year? 2 years? 5 years? 10 years? 115 years? 20 years? 25 years? 30 years?
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