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Welcome to Journal Tips
Hi, I'm Heather Long, one of the hundreds of writers here at LifeTips.com. Enjoy these 75 Journal Tips! If you’re a business, why not hire the expert writers at LifeTips? And if you’re a writer, apply for freelance writing gigs.
A comfortable place to journal?
Only you will know where you are comfortable journal writing. Will it be sitting at a desk or on the boardwalk by the ocean? Curled up in a big easy chair or sprawled out across a floor? Propped up by comfy pillow in your bed? On a train? In a park?
Listen to your inner voice; it will guide you to that safe, comfortable space. Once you find it, you will be able to produce. Don´t be afraid to experiment. Try everything to see what works best for you.
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Self-expression in my personal journal?
First, get out crayons, markers, colored pencils, paints, regular pens (blue, black and red), and pencils. Then start to write or draw anywhere on the page of your personal journal. As you write with each different material, you will begin to get a feel for what feels most comfortable in your hand and what allows you to truly express yourself.
The journal space is yours, there is nothing limiting you. So make it your own! To begin, don´t even think about what to start. Write in large capital letters or write small. Write sideways on the page, upside down or the normal way from left to right. Write in script or in print. Do whatever makes you feel good and what allows you to see yourself represented on the journal page.
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And you would be? Non-fiction exercise
When asked who we are, we often answer with little more than our name and occupation as though these are the only two factors that define us. Yet, we are so much more; we are all such incredible beings!
Open your personal writing journal and begin to write about yourself but try describing your characteristics in relation to the Earth. For example, you are strong and tall like a Redwood Tree in the middle of a forest. When you dance, your body fills with a heat as intense as that of the desert at midday. When someone shares something truly funny with you, laughter rolls through your body and out into the world like ocean waves. When your child thanks you for your help with a project, you shine like a star in the night sky.
Use any aspect of nature, including color and sound, to describe, not what you do but, who you are inside.
Journaling should feel like coming home and curling up in your favorite space. So what can help you to achieve that feeling? First and foremost, find a journal that represents you.
Will you be carrying it around? If so, you will want a compact one. Do you like to fold the book back on itself? Try a wire bound journal. Do you want lined pages or blank?
Now for the fun part! Do you like colorful, floral or textile designs, silly characters, black and white photos, or maybe even reprints of famous paintings on the covers?
Think about all of these things and then experiment to see which type suits you best.
The best journaling method is called a free-write. For 10 minutes, write. Don´t lift the pen off the paper. Don´t correct mistakes. Don´t worry about punctuation or spelling. If you feel you have nothing to say, write ´I have nothing to say´. You will be amazed at how much you actually can find to write about! If you don´t want to look at a clock, determine a minimum number of pages to fill instead. If you use prompts to get you started writing, just write whatever comes to you once you read the prompt. First thoughts are important.
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Joyful Things Non-fiction Exercise
Think about all the things that bring you true joy – people, places, things, times of day, etc. Then make a list of them in your personal journal.
Make a copy of the list and hang it up somewhere you can see it during the day. Any time life is not going your way, read through the list and remind yourself of the important things.
For this fiction exercise, take two or four characters and place them in a situation in which they must live a complete story in ten minutes. Since the entire duration of time within the story is ten minutes, first think about how much time that is realistically. What types of situations might allow for an entire story in that timeframe – an elevator ride, a radio phone scam?
Take your time. There is no limit to the number of pages you can write. Do not try to control your characters. Listen to them to see where they want to go. First time round do not edit yourself; later as you revise, try to make your writing clear and concise.
Many people in this world equate success with money. The more you have the more successful you are.
Spend some time reflecting upon this idea in your journal. Do you agree with this statement? If so, write down the reasons why. If not, how would you define success?
Teenagers have so much to deal with – changing hormones, issues at school, social issues – that a journal or diary may be a good place to sort through it all. Give the teenager in your life a journal or diary and encourage them to write or sketch.
If you use a journal, let them see you take the time to write. Explain why you do and how it makes you feel. Suggest some ways to get started. Begin by asking them to write or sketch one of their favorite memories or share something they remember about a family member. Try to encourage them to remember the details as well as feelings of happiness.
Or share something you wrote about a difficult time in your life, so that they can see how to work through a problem. When you share the ways in which you deal with things in your life, you help them to learn how to sort through the exciting, sad, confusing, wonderful things that are happening to them. By sharing how to take time to write or sketch, you are teaching them how to take time to take care of themselves.
Describe one place that you remember from childhood. It might be a room, a house, a field, a tree fort, any place. What does it make you think of? Use your five senses to make the place come to life.
What do you see? What does it smell like - freshly washed clothes, rotten eggs? When you are in this place, do you hear any sounds - birds chirping, cars honking? Let yourself go as you write in your journal and see what this becomes – is it just a snippet of memory, a scene from a story, the birth of a story itself? Have fun!
Welcome! Let's talk about journal writing. Whether you're new to journaling or a veteran, everyday that you write is another day you discover something interesting about life.
Journaling allows us to take a time out from the often hectic pace of daily life and spend time thinking about relationships with family and friends, our jobs, and where we are at this particular point in our lives. Through writing, whether its journaling, writing fiction or non-fiction, poetry or songs, we learn new things about ourselves and the world around us. Journaling is a gift that you gift to yourself.
A Family Memories Journal is a wonderful journal to keep. All too often, people lose touch or stories fade with the passage of a family member. A Family Memories Journal allows you to create your family tree and then write in all the information about members. You can also keep family traditions – is there a great recipe that grandma used to make but never shared the secret too? Try to get it from her and include it in here. Is there a tale about old Uncle Joe that has grown taller with the passage of time? Write it down for future generations so that it is not lost.
Old photos, although often worn with time and age, can be placed inside your journal for safekeeping. Along side the old photos, place new ones of you and of your own family. This can become a journal that can be added to as you grow older and then passed along to your children and grandchildren.
Explore your journal writing at various times of the day to see what works best for you. Some people write when they first wake up in the morning. This way their thoughts have not been disrupted by anything yet. Some people will journal in the afternoon after lunch. Others are night writers who like to do reflective journaling to touch on things that happened throughout the day.
Personal journaling is a gift you give to yourself. Whatever time you choose, make sure that you carve out enough time for yourself to focus on your writing. I like to write at night; the night time is my time to unwind. However, if the mood strikes I will journal at any time, anywhere.
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Journaling about procrastination
The project that you found out about weeks ago is due tomorrow and you have done little to no work on it.
Does this sound like a familiar situation? Do you continually leave things till the last possible moment? Does this frustrate you? Is this a behavior that you would like to change? Or do you find that this is the best way for you to work?
Try writing in your personal journal about procrastination. If this is pattern you would like to break, write about the steps you might take to change it. If, on the other hand, this is a good way for you to work, spend time writing about why it works for you.
Life can often move at a hectic pace. As we rush to keep up with work, our relationships, our family, and household chores, we can begin to feel as though we are burning out. This is when we should turn to our journal and spend some time rediscovering nature.
Pick a quiet place within nature to sit – a park, on our backyard, by a river, by the ocean, in the woods – wherever you feel the most peace. Open your personal nature journal to a blank page. Focus on some aspect of nature – a bird, a deer, ripples on the water, the limbs of a tree or a blade of grass. After some time, put your pencil or pen to the page, close your eyes and draw. Try to communicate the imprint of the image on your brain through your hand to the page. Take your time. Breathe. Spend some time each week doing this and you will find you will be able to incorporate the peace of that moment into your life.
"He who loves the more is the inferior and so must suffer..."
-Thomas Mann from his book, Death in Venice.
Spend time thinking about this statement. Do you believe this is true? How do you feel about it? Does it apply to any portion of your life?
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Journaling about fear
Every person suffers from one type of fear or another in their lifetime. In order to feel truly alive, we need to face down our fears. Once we do this, we step out of our inner prisons, sprout wings and fly. Do you think this statement is true?
Spend some time journaling on the idea of fear. What is your biggest fear? Do you think its holding you back from accomplishing all you could in your life? Do you feel you are ready to begin to overcome it? How will you begin?
You have just stepped into a lounge in a bar where you and the bartender are the only people. The bartender has not had a chance to clean up yet so everything is as it was when people left.
You were supposed to meet someone here but clearly they have gone. Who were you supposed to meet? What have they left behind that lets you know that they were there? What is something that person always does, a telltale sign that they have been there – lipstick on a glass, a napkin folded a certain way, remnants from a pipe – that aggravates and endears you to them as the same time? As you write in your writing journal, describe the details of the room as well as the details of the person. Make everything on the page come to life.
