The Art of Journaling
By Katrina Hidalgo
Imagine this… there is a lightness in your body, perhaps a tingling feeling, or a surge of energy. It could be a heavy brick on your heart or as if your legs are dragging weights behind them. It could also be a twisting motion inside your stomach, and you keep looking around uneasily. It could also be a volcano-like feeling when the hot lava is just about to burst out! Many times, it could just be that FOMO feeling that you cannot seem to shake off. These are but a few examples of feelings that brew like coffee within us and maybe, just maybe, if we let it steep in a cafetiere (a.k.a, The French Press) in a good amount of time, these feelings will produce aromatic coffee ala Starbucks or whatever coffee place you fancy the most.
I feel there is a certain power in keeping a journal and dedicating a significant time within your day to write, draw or doodle in it. In many ways, I feel it is even an art. How so?
1. Quoting from the Daily Stoic, “Journaling is not just a little thing you do to pass the time, to write down your memories—though it can be—it’s a strategy that has helped brilliant, powerful and wise people become better at what they do.” The article also mentions names of journalers I recognize. To name a few, Anne Frank, Oscar Wilde, Virginia Woolf, and Ralph Waldo Emerson. These days, I am thinking of successful memoir writers or researchers like Elizabeth Gilbert and Brene Brown, who also probably enjoyed the benefits of journaling.
2. I find that if I cannot find enough words to write in my journal, I tend to focus on one word and turn it into word art. I would spend a good half hour or so tracing and coloring that word while my thoughts run free while I do it.
3. Who ever said that a journal is just for writing? I feel it can be drawings, symbols, images, and the list goes on! I would think that this is a kind of creative journaling at work.
This is such a short list to advocate why journaling is such an art. For now, I feel that it is enough to let you in on how it promotes inner creativity. I feel journaling is a time when our inner censors or filters dissolve and we can just write freely without expectations!
Katrina Hidalgo is an aspiring positive Psychologist who loves journaling, coloring and taking loooong walks. She has been based in Singapore for 14 years as a Pre-school teacher.
References:
https://medium.com/indian-thoughts/7-famous-journal-keepers-and-why-you-should-keep-one-3d61c3f686a1
Photos are owned by writer
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