Guest Author - Melissa Waters

How to journal - The Basics

I don’t know about you, but when I first discovered journaling, I wanted to know if I was doing it right. Oh, I had kept a diary as far back as I remembered, but when I first heard the phrase, journaling I was so excited. My curiosity was up and I wanted to do this as it sounded so impressive. But how does a person begin to journal? How do we make it a part of our daily routine? What is journaling and how do you know if you are doing it right?

Stop right now and take out a piece of paper or a clean word processor screen and write the first thing that comes to your mind. Now, don’t be shy, I am not going to ask you to share it with us, come on this will be fun.

Now go back and read what you wrote, don’t analyze it or critique it just read it. Was it one word, a few words, a sentence or a paragraph? Guess what? You just began a journal… Yep!

I had to get to the place when I journaled that I didn’t allow what other’s were doing or what was the norm influence me. You’ll have to do the same thing. That is what journaling is all about, writing something in your own words in the manner that expresses your emotions. I had to sit down and write about what was important to me and what was inside me just dying to get out. When I discovered that journaling can be as simple as writing what is on your mind and putting it on paper, my creative juices started flowing.

So if you want to begin journaling here is what you will need:

1. A piece of paper or more if you long winded like me.

2. A word processing program if you don’t like to write or can’t read your own writing.

3. A writing instrument. I have experiment through the years with different ones. My favorite are the fine writing implements, although some days I use crayons.

4. A quiet place and a full mind.


Now on to the hard part. How does journaling become a part of your daily routine. I have found that the things in life that I feel are important, I will do whatever is necessary to rearrange my schedule just to fit theme in. So, for me what I had to do was make my journaling fun. I use different journaling prompts that I find around the internet or in books. I use different paper and journals to make it creative. I even create some of my own journals. If you make journaling into something fun that relates to your idea of fun as I have, than you will enjoy and look forward to your journaling time.

So what are you waiting for? Grab another piece of paper and start writing! What? Anything your heart desires and after awhile you will be writing about the things that are important to you.