Hello my craft friends!

I was messaging a dear friend of mine and she sent me a couple Pinterest pins about journaling.  When I was little I <tried> to keep a diary.  I ran across it not too long ago and I just laughed at myself.  The pages were dated and evidently I either forgot or did not “journal” that day.  So I wrote “see next page,” which just kept going.  The thing is I love to write…but not about myself.  It goes back to the creative insecurity.  I started looking for articles about journaling and I found out a few interesting things!

One interesting comment was for you scrapbookers.  I have seen many people put pictures in a book but don’t write anything down (journaling).  I have heard every excuse but one specifically, “I don’t like my handwriting.”  That is up there with “I don’t like my picture taken.”  I had to come to grips with that one.  After all, my friends, we look the same in a picture as we do in real life.  It would be a shame to not have pictures of ourselves for our children and grandchildren to treasure.  The same with journaling–your handwriting is you!  Your thoughts and memories of the occasion are important for your family to remember.  If you are really worried about it, type out what you want to say and add it to the scrapbook.  I have to admit, I am glad I wrote down the people and places in my pictures.  I look back now when my girls were little and I don’t recognize or remember half of the people!  Remember to write it down!

As a society, we are addicted to social media.  We focus on our friends and what they are doing and not on what we are doing.  Use your journal to list daily items to do, goals, and dreams.  When you accomplish one of these, pat yourself on your back and write it down.  Don’t make journaling hard…don’t worry if your entry is only a few sentences.  Unload your terrible day at work into your journal. After a few weeks, you may begin to see a pattern that was not apparent before…even a pattern of involving you!!!  Remember your goals!

Journaling is an exercise to relieve stress.  There is data shows there is a health benefit when you journal. Whether you think you are “moody” or not, journaling helps you to “get it out of your system.” Write down how you feel emotionally and how you feel about coworkers or your boss, all the while you are working on brain development and memory.  Not only that, you are recording your life…something that Ancestory.com will never have in their database. Remember your health!

Keeping a journal is a great way to build better habits because it forces you to be aware of your actions and behaviors. If you’re looking to watch what you eat, keeping a food diary is a great way to stay paying closer attention—one that’s been proven to help people eat more healthfully. Similarly, just writing down positive things that happened to you or tracking your mood can help you identify good patterns in your life that are repeatable that you should make time for—not to mention things that make you feel bad or throw you off your game that should be eliminated. Remember your actions!

There are online resources that will help you get started. Make it fun and creative! You can hand-write your journal entries or keep them online.  Some people send emails to a unique address and keep memories and stories of their family to pass on to their kids.  Look for resources that provide journaling prompts.  The prompts will get you started and then let your thoughts take you.  Remember the memories!

I hope you enjoyed today’s post.  I feel that having this blog is a forum for journaling and I look forward to logging on.  Why don’t you start a blog?  I have given you several good reasons to starting writing it all down–give it a try!  See you later.