Year End Review

Now that we've reached the end of the year you may want to take some time to do a year end review entry in your journal. In this entry you can recap significant events from the year and even talk about things you're looking forward to in the next year. It's also a great time to provide a "snapshot" of yourself. What things are important to your life right now. It's amazing how much some things can change from year to year.

Here is a site that has a top 10 list of year end review questions. This should help you get started on your own entry.

Journaling Your Beliefs

Have you ever taken the time to write down your beliefs in your journal? Your beliefs are probably something that you don’t give a lot of thought to, but it is an important part of who you are. I hadn’t really thought about writing down my beliefs until I came across the NPR This I Believe invitation. You can find the invitation here. Reading this invitation will give you an idea of what a good statement of beliefs should contain. Here is a quick summary of some of their points:
1. Use language natural to you
2. Tell what you believe, how you reached your beliefs, how they have grown and what made them grow
3. Write what you live by in the terms of “I”
4. Stick to affirmatives

To view essays that have been submitted to the This I Believe project by others, go to their website.

Ten Year Journal

I’ve been thinking about starting a ten year journal at the first of the year. The idea of having a ten years worth of short entries all on one page for any given day just really appeals to me. I’m addicted to my long entries in my daily journal to ever give that up, but I feel that the ten year journal could serve as a sort of index to my regular daily journal. I can also see where a journal like this would appeal to someone who does not like to write a lot and would prefer a short entry for every.

If you’re considering a ten year journal, you could either go buy one, or there is a pdf file available online that you can print out yourself. Click here to get to the online pdf file. It’s free, the link is at the bottom of the page. I’ve been thinking about having the pdf file printed and bound at the local copy shop. It seems like a better alternative then trying to print it at work since that is the only duplexing printer I have access to.

Journaling Music

I absolutely love music so it tends to make appearances in my journal from time to time. The most common way for music to appear in my journals is in the form of lyrics. When a song gets stuck in my head or just really seems to resonate with me, I will write those lyrics in my journal. This tends to turn into me writing my thoughts and ideas on what the lyrics are saying and why they mean something to me.

There are other times when I will simply write down what I am currently listening to and that is it. Certain members of my family have a tendency to twist the lyrics to existing songs to make up their own songs. There have been times when I have written about this and some sample lyrics in my journal.

There is even a small notebook that I carry in my purse where I write down songs or artists that I want to listen to. This helps me to remember new artists and songs. It has worked out well because I am always looking for new music and I was getting frustrated at forgetting most of the leads I was finding on new good music. Now I always have the notebook with me so I can write it down and check it out when I get a chance.

What music has spoken to you? Try writing about it in your journal. You never know where it will lead you.

Online Paper Journaling Community

There is an online community on LiveJournal for paper based journaling, Emodiment. Their goal is to write an entry in your paper journal every day for the year. The community started last year. At the time I didn't join, but I have watched the community throughout the year. It is an interesting community and is worth checking out if you are interested in paper journaling. I did join for 2007 since membership recently opened up again. If you plan on joining, do so soon as membership closes at midnight on December 31, 2006. Click the image below to see the community profile.

Journaling Your Dreams and Desires

I love to take the time to write in my journal about my dreams and desires. It helps me to clarify exactly what it is that I want and why. There have even been a few times where after I wrote about it and worked through the details I realized that I didn’t really want what I thought I did. Some of these things just didn’t fit in with my values and personality. In these cases I’m glad that I realized this before I spent a lot of time and money working towards something that I didn’t really want. On the positive side, there have also been situations where working through my desires has helped to clarify exactly what I want and get me working on actually achieving it. So now, whenever there is something that I think I want, I like to take the time to work through it in my journal.

If time and money were no object, what would you do with your life? Take some time to write about the things you would love to have in your life or do with your life. Why do you want those things? What has stopped you from getting them? What can you do to make this dream a desire in the future? Make a plan and start working towards it. Something that seems impossible at first may not be so bad once you break it down into doable steps.

Unsent Letters

There have been times in my life when I had unresolved issues with someone who was no longer a part of my life. For various reasons, I was unwilling to contact them to resolve the issue. Instead, I took the time to write them a letter detailing all of those unresolved issues and my feelings. It felt good to get all of that junk out there and helped me to move on with my life. Then, instead of sending the letter, I burned it. The things I wrote in that letter were not something that I could have ever said to that person and there were quite a few things in there that I don’t want them or anyone else to know. So the only option for me was to destroy the letter. Even the actual act of burning the letter helped me. If you do burn the letter, just be sure to do it in a safe manner. I have burned mine in a woodstove, but a fireplace would also work. Putting the letter through a shredder would also work.

If you have unresolved issues with someone or there are things you want to say, but are unable to, try writing an unsent letter. You don’t have to burn it; some people may choose to save theirs. If you save it, just remember that eventually someone is probably going to read it.