We consciously selected Shakespeare’s quote about choices because it has carried us through the exciting times as well as some challenging situations. One of the major choices that we made in life was to journal. Journaling has been a practice that we have used off-and-on since we was very young.  We are sharing our experiences, ideas and motivations for making a choice that has become a lifelong habit.

Journaling has provided a safe and creative space for us to get to know the most important persons in our world – US –  our personal and professional lives, our environment, and even the energy of this planet. When we become our best  version of ourselves, we found that we can support bringing out the best in others. Our intention for sharing an approach to journaling is because over the course of time we have had and continue to receive many questions about it.

What is journaling?  

Journaling is anything you want it to be. The Free Dictionary by Farlex defines journaling as “A personal record of occurrences, experiences, and reflections kept on a regular basis; a diary.” A journal captures your own personal moods, emotions, ideas, challenges, gripe sessions, congratulations, gratitudes and oh so much more.

You’ll learn journaling tips and how to use journaling to inspire creativity.  You’ll learn how to create a to-do list, drawing a picture, taking a photo or creating an intention or affirmation. It doesn’t have to involves hours of labor – it may be stroke of inspiration that you want to hold on too – we love post-it notes and napkins.

Why journal?

To journal gives you the opportunity to spend time with the most important person in your life – YOU! Journaling gives you an opportunity to get to know ALL of you – the you. The good, the bad and yes, even the ugly. No one else needs to see your journal, you can even make a ritual of burning one if you choose.

Pictures speak a thousand words.  Is your mind cluttered, unload it, is your space cluttered, unload that too.  We are finding that the more we examine our lives – our innermost thoughts as well as personal and work spaces we continue to find more opportunities to eliminate mental, emotional, physical and environmental clutter.

When to journal?

The word “regular” can have many meanings – daily, weekly, monthly, as the mood strikes.   When you are feeling cluttered or closed in?

How to journal?

There needs to be little to no pressure with journaling. Journaling is fun, cathartic, self-evaluative and reflective.

What to journal?

 We have decided to focus this approach to journaling on 12 choices – happiness, excitement, adventure, listen, trust, habits, wonder, exhale, and attitude.  These concepts are broad, and yet for us, have huge implications. Again, there is no right or wrong, silly or stupid.  We have landed on these 12 choices so that whether you want to change your life, your mental or physical space, your job, your finances or your health, you can follow a series of questions over the course of the timeframe that you choose. We suggest one question at a time so that enough reflection and thought are given to the choice and you can actually see, feel, taste, touch, smell and hear positive powerful changes in life and your energy.

What are some tools for journaling?

Journaling can be a series of doodles, writing music without words (I have one close friend who doesn’t like to write words, but loves music, it helps him express his feelings and his moods), mind-mapping (one of my personal favorites, or any other method of communication with yourself that strikes your fancy.  Storyboards and vision boards are also great tools to use in journaling.

Pens, pencils, colored markers, post-it notes, napkins, binders, loose leaf paper, composition books, lovely leather bound journals (I personally have a large collection of lovely journals that I find to beautiful to write in and  so I use them as a guide for ideas and inspiration)

Using tools such as the bagua (The bagua are eight trigrams used in Taoist cosmology to represent the fundamental principles of reality, seen as a range of eight interrelated concepts. Each consists of three lines, each line either “broken” or “unbroken,” representing yin or yang, respectively. Due to their tripartite structure, they are often referred to as “trigrams” in English.) for reviewing and journaling your environment can help support growth in finance, family, relationships, career, health and so much more.

We know because it has changed our lives.

What are the challenges to journaling?

The biggest challenge for us is US.  We sometimes think that what we are journaling is insignificant, another space to blame and shame, or are we inflating our egos by congratulating ourselves for a promotion, a success, an inspiration.

Finding the time, the right resources, the right tools takes a lot of trial and error.  Sometimes we find we are too busy and then days pass and valuable ideas or thoughts are lost.  Minds and space is too cluttered and journaling can feel overwhelming and useless.

No matter what we journal, there is tremendous value in allowing ourselves a safe place to share our innermost feelings and thoughts.

What are the benefits of journaling?

The biggest benefit is I get to know me. In addition, I solve problems, make better decisions, review my own feedback to me, goal setting, clearing emotional junk from my busy mind and busy space. Productivity increases.  Ability to focus and create increases.

According to lifehacks.org in a blog entitled How Writing Things Down Can Change Your Life by Hannah Braime here are 6 ways it can change your life:

1. It clears your mind for higher level thinking
2. It helps you process your emotions
3. It gives you a record of the past
4. You gain a sense of achievement
5. It helps you to think big
6. It makes it more committed

We have more ideas for benefits which we believe you will discover over the course of this journaling process.  Enjoy the opportunity  and, most of all, have fun.

Listen to Laura Novakowski & Sybilla Lenz’s Inspriational and Motivational Tips on AYRIAL Alexa Skill.