How To Journal

The keeping of a journal has traditionally been a very personal pursuit.

However, there have always been many ways to preserve the memories and record the stories, thoughts, emotions, triumphs and struggles of our days.

Letters were lovingly wrapped in ribbons and kept in a safe place, cards and notes slipped into the pages of treasured books. Locks of hair kept wrapped in paper to hold the memories of a loved one and flowers pressed between the pages all form a picture of the impulse to record and remember our lives.

Knowing how to journal was encouraged in previous generations and was almost second nature to many people, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude for their insights and observations of times gone by.

Many memoirs owe their depth to the simple act of keeping a journal. Biographies and histories are also more vivid, accurate and interesting due to the information, memories, stories and heartfelt thougths kept by those who have gone before us.

We now have access to an unprecedented array of methods and processes to make journalling both easy and very quick. Books and pages abound, ways to embelish and decorate are within easy access for almost everyone, electronic journals (blogs and the like) are becoming increasingly popular and at the same time, potentially make the journal experience far less personal.

For many, how to journal, how to begin the process is an issue. For others, it is a matter of maintaining the flow and continuing or returning to the journalling process.

Inspiration and motivation are sometimes sorely lacking. This Hub, How to Journal seeks to address some of these issues and to help create an atmosphere where creativity and connectivity flourish.

There have been many times in my life when I have begun a journal only to find my attention moving away from it after, sometimes, only one entry.

Months and sometimes years later I will come across that journal entry and my memories of that time will come flooding back into my present reality as if the words were written only yesterday.

With hindsight, much of the writing contains many hidden secrets or emotions and hopeful dreams that only I can extract from the page but also those wordswill bring back the people, the experiences and the lessons of the events recorded.

This simple act of returning to previous journal entries - whether by accident or design - can be the motivating factor responsible for a return to this most amazing activity.

If you find yourself without the motivation to continue your regular journal sessions, take the time to find a journal from your past. If you are fortunate enough to have a journal belonging to another (my Mother has kept a journal for the past twenty years or more) then make some time and space in your day to sit with it, leaf through the pages, immerse yourself in the memories the words evoke and wonder at the brilliance of this simple act of recording the events, thoughts, emotions and insights of a life extraordinary.

Always remember that knowing exactly how to journal is less important than the action of actually recording, exploring, embelishing and sharing yourself, with yourself, through your journal.