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Finding Clarity with a Journal
The Artists Way was written in 1995, but I just found my way there last month. It’s a handbook for creativity, which suggests writing 3 pages of longhand, stream of consciousness every morning. I don’t follow this exact habit but I do take to writing longhand as a way to solve creative problems. In a recent post for my career change blog, I suggest morning writing as a useful tool to jumpstart the day, particularly when you’re feeling rudderless. Do you use a journal?
Askew Journal by Baron Fig in collaboration with Debbie Millman
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My mom kept journals for as long as I can remember. Every morning she would get her coffee and cigarettes and write.
It was mostly the weather, what she fixed for dinner what her plans were for the day, but she never left home without it.
I have started to write now but I do it in Word my handwriting is awful but improving!
Have you read your Mom’s journals? It’s great that you’re following in her footsteps. I was in a writing workshop, when the teacher suggested we write longhand. I hadn’t done it for so long, I barely knew how to hold a pen. I’ve maintained the practice through the years, because it seems to access a different part of my brain.
I am 47 years old and have written a daily diary since I was eleven years old. I have boxes of them in a cupboard in my spare bedroom. I rarely revisit them but they have probably kept me grounded and sane through the ups and downs of life.
I feel, I write about it, I move on knowing I’ve dealt with it.
For me, writing my diary every night before I go to sleep has probably saved me a fortune in therapy!!
That’s great to hear, Lesley. For about how long do you write each day?