You Want To Journal, But What Do You Write?
Take Pen to Paper: Edition 18 - Inspiration for journaling may be right in front of your eyes.
Journaling is an example of a difficult habit to create.
It doesn’t seem like it should be. You have the basic tools - a notebook and pen. You can even carve out time. Still, consistency eludes you.
Reasons for the difficulty in creating a journaling habit vary from not enjoying the act of writing to being bored by what you are writing or not knowing what to write.
I started free journaling five months ago. I understand the difficulty. Journaling gratitude was systematic for me. Free journaling, or writing what you are thinking at the moment, is a challenge. Somedays, my journaling was nothing but mindless dribble. I desired deeper thoughts and reflection.
Maybe I didn’t have deep thoughts.
I even tried journals with prompts. That didn’t work for me, either. The questions were too broad, repetitive, or not applicable.
In December, I decided to reread The Daily Stoic and write a reflection on the day’s insight. How does the reading relate to my life? I began on January 1st. Thoughts to journal came easier.
Then I picked up Leo Tolstoy’s A Calendar of Wisdom. Like The Daily Stoic, one page a day presents wisdom to ponder. It was also a good way to prompt reflection.
I had deep thoughts in me. I just need some inspiration.
I’ve discovered I’m inspired by the writing of others. I shouldn’t be surprised. I’ve always been a reader. I put myself in the books I read.
Suddenly, journaling deeper thoughts isn’t so difficult.
Any book written in a daily reading format can be used to help you write meaningful journal entries.
Religious devotionals or texts
Thought of the day
Daily readings
Daily affirmations
After your reading, write some reflections on how it relates to you. Are there actions you can take? Are there areas needing improvement? It’s an added bonus that your daily reading is already a habit.
Pen, paper, daily reading for inspiration, you have the tools to make journaling a habit.
If you choose not to journal, that’s OK (although I highly recommend it), but don’t you need inspiration in life anyway?
7 Days, 7 Thoughts on Gratitude and Good
Owls became symbols of wisdom because of their success as hunters and their nocturnal schedules. They do not have any superiority in intelligence, although they do have superior vision and hearing.
Libraries are a good place to find wisdom and inspiration. You might not be able to check out a book for a year to use as inspiration for journaling, but there are many shorter reads that can be used, such as Don Miguel Ruiz’s The Four Agreements.
My friend Danny wrote this essay about taking his children to the library. It reminded me of my childhood visits to the library. Libraries feed your mind and inspire you.
A quote: “There’s no better teacher for writing than reading… Get a library card. That’s the best investment.” -Alisa Valdes
My sixth-grade science teacher required us to copy our study guides Thursday nights in preparation for Friday’s test. At the time, I thought she was being unreasonable. Now I realize writing is a good way to absorb lessons we want to learn.
I’m grateful for the teachers I had throughout my education. (I’m not just saying that because I was a teacher.) Miss Bain, Mrs. Wooten, Mr. Thomas, and Mr. Markowitz are just a few who inspired me.
I am grateful for the help of others. Often their ideas would never occur to me, but those ideas are just what I need.
Thank you for reading!
Who inspires you? Where do you look for inspiration?
My word of the year is ‘connect’. Leave a comment with your thoughts, and I will respond.
-Susan
I write something that I am grateful for in a daily devotional book (at the bottom of the page).
My lesson plan each day for my first graders to copy from the board was to have each child create the writing lesson. They said My name is ——. The next sentence or two they told something about themselves. What they might have, might like, family. It was theirs to create and for others in the class to know something about that person. I would write the lesson on the board, and that was the writing lesson each day for the class to copy.
Hopefully they took the lesson home and were able to read it to their parents.