When it comes to sitting down to write in your journal it’s easy to list the activities & events that fill your busy life. Yet, often the best reason to sit and write is to focus on how you are feeling. Your journal is not a passing acquaintance. When it comes to how you’re feeling your journal does not expect a short “okay” kind of reply. Your journal has pages and pages waiting to be filled with the long, detailed, perhaps boring answer. It’s ok to be all these things in your journal. That’s the point of writing in there …read more

Cup of Comfort books are calling for stories on comfort for the grieving hearts. If you’ve ever used your personal journal to explore your own grief over losing someone close to you, this might be something of interest. Take some time to reread some of your entries from times when you were grieving. Reading these entries now might be a great way to revisit the event and see how much comfort you do have to offer someone new to the grieving process.
Although the deadline given on the site is early February, I feel if you have a good enough …read more

I’ve been keeping a reading journal for several years now. Not only is it handy for finding the title of a book you’ve read, or the author’s name, but reading through can give you insight into yourself. Last year I decided to reread through the lists of books I’ve read in my reading journal. I hadn’t read with the intention of seeing a pattern, but after only a short time, I did. Most of the books I’ve really enjoyed have been coming of age type stories. This helped me understand why the stories I’ve written often include this element.
Of …read more

After another reader question that turned into its own solution I felt it might be good to address the issue of returning to the same topic in your journal, again & again. That issue is the one thing you always go on and on about. This might not be all that obvious until you begin rereading your journal. Most of the time you already know that you spend a lot of time spilling loads of ink over that particular issue.
So, what is the solution? Hanna shared her answer in the comments here. And I would agree. No amount of writing …read more

While researching online today I came across this blog entry by Steve Pavlina. In general the entry is about the three benefits Steve sees in journal writing, but do keep reading beyond that first section.
Steve goes on to share a portion of an old diary entry. He then spends time going through how much rereading this portion helped him where he is right now. He gets a chance to show which of his goals reached fruition, which didn’t and how he felt about that, and to see where his dreams and ideas for that time of his life have played …read more

One benefit of rereading your journals is how you pick up your own annoying writing habits. Overuse of certain words is one of my annoying habits. While it’s easy to roll your eyes at your repetition and read on you might want to investigate why you’re using those particular words so often.
Is it sheer laziness? Could you find a better word to describe precisely what you’re writing about? Or does the word have some significance for you?
During a rereading session note the words you repeat often. In your next journal writing session make a concentrated effort not to use any …read more

As it’s the end of the year and the weekend what better opportunity to spend time rereading your journal. If you’ve never reread any of your entries before take some time to read Rereading Your Journals Part 1 & Part 2.
Something about the year ending and the new one beginning makes reflecting on the past and making plans for the future more exciting. After rereading your journals you may find you have more information about yourself to make the exercise of setting new achievable goals much easier.
Remember; treat yourself gently as you reread.
Heather
Journaling Tools – Go deeper and …read more