In the world of journaling, there’s no one-size-fits-all approach. It’s a deeply personal journey, a canvas for our thoughts and experiences. While I may not have decades of journaling expertise, I’ve spent the last three years crafting a method that resonates with me—a method I’m excited to share with you today.
As you will see, this approach combines randomness, creativity, and meaningful insights, which makes it fun and engaging to write and easy to read when you revisit it later on.
This way of journaling is not special and it’s not about reinventing the wheel but rather combining different techniques that work together harmoniously.
Who knows, perhaps it’ll inspire you to embark on your journaling adventure.
(Special credit to the YouTuber Clark Kegley, I tried some ideas from him, that at least for me, have been working)
Life lessons and guidance
In the first two pages of my journal, I only put the current year on top, I leave them mostly blank, the idea here is to have a place to write the lessons that I learn during the year. I throw there some short random insightful thoughts, lessons learned, and snippets of inspiration. It’s like collecting small, scattered fragments of wisdom throughout the year. Those wisdom lessons should be short and quite special, as probably won’t fit more than 30 of them in those two pages. You can add some doodles to make your point.
When you revisit your diary this will be the perfect way to remember what important things you learned that year and get inspiration in less than five minutes. Of course, you can repeat some points from year to year.
Daily Journaling with Purpose
Daily journaling is an ideal goal, but life often gets in the way. And that’s perfectly fine. What matters is the intention behind each entry. I don’t just jot down facts; I always try to aim for insights along with the facts. For instance, instead of writing every two days of a mundane “I went to the gym,” every two months I might write about my consistent gym routine, its impact on my strength, and how it’s transformed me over time. The same if I meet a new person, or if I go on a weekend out, I try to look always for insights about what I am doing. But that’s the thing, at least try, because of course sometimes I may write simple facts too.
When you come back to your diary those insights will be the most interesting things to read, and they will give you a real sense of how you thought during those times and how much you have changed since then. They may even inspire you to start thinking and living again like you did there, don’t forget about yourself!
Play with Formatting
Variety is the spice of journaling. My entries come in all shapes and sizes. Some days, it’s a lengthy reflection; other days, just a few words or phrases that capture the essence of the moment. To make certain points stand out, I employ different letter sizes. It’s like creating a visual roadmap through time.
Think that writing some words with big letters will help you to see in one second what the entry or the paragraph is about, it’s like having a visual index spread all around your journal.
Doodles and Drawings
Journaling isn’t just about words; it’s about visuals too. Even if you’re not an artist, adding doodles and drawings can breathe life into your journal. For example, if I had a bike accident, I’d sketch out the bike, the rocky terrain, and my unfortunate fall. It adds a unique touch and makes the journal visually appealing.
If you can paste some stickers, concert ticket, etc.. much better!
All this for me makes the experience of journaling fun and leads to a more appealing journal.
Full-page “Masterpieces”
For truly significant events or moments of inspiration, I dedicate entire pages to drawings or letters. These act as milestones in my journal, serving as both a reminder and a source of motivation for the future.
And let’s be honest, when I go back through a journal I don’t read it all along, so contemplating these “masterpieces” is really fun.
Custom Sections
At the end of my journal, I create sections for various purposes. There’s a space for notes from the books I’ve read, helping me retain valuable insights, I also set a section for goals, another for finances… In essence, you can customize your journal to suit your needs, creating sections for anything that matters to you.
Anything is ok
You don’t have to write aiming a novel price, write anything you want, in the format you prefer, any experience, random thought, insight, or complaint, It’s your journal.
For me journaling is more of a mindfulness practice that helps me surface parts of myself that are a little bit deeper, for me that’s enough, I don’t mind if it results in a nonsense-horrendous journal.
So don’t think too much just put a date and start writing, that’s the only thing that works, try to be more or less consistent, sometimes you will have to force yourself to pick the pen but once you start writing it’s done.
I hope this post gave some ideas to experiment with in your journaling.
If you like paper journaling here you have some recommendations about which journal to pick, in case you are more into online journaling check minspirits our journaling community.