Writing In A Journal

Journal work can be done in many creative ways and I want to highlight some of those in this blog. Maybe you will want to start a journal today.

Classic Journal Work: Get a nice journal book, and some delicious pens, and write one entry a day. The classic journal has a date and a description of the day in writing. This can be used to remember important things from your life including meetings, conversations, and significant events.

Creative Journal Work: I am a writer. I don’t feel like I am a great one, yet, but I know the only way to get better is to make writing a discipline. I have notebooks that I often scribble poems, write short stories, or retell actual events. Some of these I keep, and some of these I burn or throw away. I have tried to write using prompts from various sources. I currently have a couple of projects in mind that I want to work on. I have created my own outline and put topics on my calendar as if it’s homework. It supports the discipline of writing for me while forcing me to allow some time for creative work I love and need.

Art Journal Work: In my life, I have had moments so difficult that reading and writing was blocked. During one difficult time, I made a mandala every day. At another time like this, I used my art supplies and a mixed media journal to create one art piece a day. Making a dream board can be a form of art journal work. Every day you can think about what you want and add words and pictures to an ever growing collage. As an artist, I want to create murals and get better at portraits. Some artists try to do 100 portraits in a year, or plan out their bigger projects starting with a miniature. Leonardo Da Vinci kept volumes of plans in his codex, including observations of nature, invention ideas, and plans for buildings, sculptures, and anatomy notes that informed how he created images of people. There are so many directions to go with this option.

Strategy Focused Journal Work: Life happens, and we have to make adjustments. I like to do some journal work when I am in regroup mode. When I am making a new plan for my career, business, or health and well-being, I like to front load with tons of reading. I write down notes from the books and articles I read. I believe in “promising connections” thus the name of my company. I talk, ask questions, and actively listen to others to learn from them. I am currently looking for a new job. I have asked people in all kinds of jobs what they do, how they became qualified, how that job makes them feel, do they feel that they are compensated fairly, what would would make me good candidate, and what are things that I could learn in preparation of that kind of work. It is very interesting, and I have learned about so many different jobs, not just for my sake, but also in order to help clients going through career transition. Through this process, I have a number one career target and a few other opportunities that meet my objectives in employment. My Strategy focused journal is like a play book for life. What do I need to learn? How do I need to fix my resume? Who do I need to meet? What experiences should I seek? Where am I going to apply? How will I follow up? I have a play book for business planning and a play book for working on my health and well-being goals. It helps me move from overwhelmed to I have a plan and know I am working the plan. It makes it easier to take action knowing that I have some good reasons behind the action.

Journal work has helped me process emotions, develop creativity, remember and learn from my experiences, and create a strategies for taking confident next steps. If you are not currently familiar with journal work, I hope I have inspired you to give it a try.

Writing in a journal can be beneficial for many reasons. https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-of-journaling/#comments

If you want to set up an initial Creative Discovery Session, please contact me at 651-331-1421 or send me an e-mail at promisingconnections@gmail.com.