 Contests & Activities: May 28, 2008 Issue [#2415] |
  Contests & Activities
This week: Edited by: larryp
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Writing, expressing can heal us. It can focus, support, and enhance our lives and well-being. Whether we laugh or we cry, whether through sorrow or joy, we can understand more about ourselves, and each other, through keeping a journal, diary, or diaries.
~~ Doreene Clement, cancer survivor and author of The 5 Year Journal
~~for more about Doreene Clement, see
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art44758.asp
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Dictionary.com defines activity as:
1. the state or quality of being active.
2. a specific deed, action, function, or sphere of action
3. work, esp. in elementary grades at school, that involves direct experience by the student rather than textbook study.
At Writing.com, Activities are designed to keep members active in writing, reading, and reviewing. For this newsletter edition, the primary focus will be on a writing activity. There are many avenues of pursuit that will help inspire, motivate, and encourage writers to be involved directly in the writing process. I like the second definition above; though it applies especially to elementary grades, it is applicable for Writing.com members, for Activities directly involve us in the writing experience.
Journaling, at Dictionary.com, is defined as:
a daily record, as of occurrences, experiences, or observations.
Journal writing has many purposes. You may want to keep one as a historical document for future generations, as a prewriting activity for longer works you plan to publish later or as a private means of expressing emotions and ideas.
http://www.ehow.com/how_2719_keep-journal.html
I really like the following explanation of the experience of journaling:
Everyone has a story. Your experiences, your feelings, ideas, thoughts, and dreams all combine to form your life and your journey, which is your story. And a great way to keep a relative reflection of all those things that have happened in your life is to keep a journal or diary. A daily journal, a weekly journal, a month end summary journal, any or all these are ways you can keep track and record your experiences, your story.
Usually people resist keeping a journal because they think they aren't good enough writers, that someone will read their innermost thoughts or that they have much more important things to do.
But instead of thinking of a journal as a diary - a book in which you merely relate the day's events - think of it as a container for self reflection, self-expression and self exploration. Retelling the day's events is less relevant than the act of expressing your thoughts. And writing down reflections about events experienced each day is an invaluable way to evaluate your performance, set higher standards of excellence and find new ways to solve difficult problems.
There's nothing like putting pen to paper to instill you with a sense of optimism, anticipation and excitement about your goals or aspirations. The act of writing something down always makes it more real, more concrete than merely thinking it. When you commit to writing down your thoughts and experiences, you have put them into a solid form.
http://ririanproject.com/2006/09/22/10-reasons-to-keep-a-journal/
I underlined a section of the third paragraph above in the above excerpt, for I feel this is fundamental to journaling, which separates it from making entries in a diary. Journaling is more than a list of things accomplished; a journal expresses one's innermost feelings and thoughts about the topic being discussed. A journal is a reflection of the who the writer is.
Though many would make no distinction between a blog and a journal, I believe a journal is composed more to be the explanation of a personal journey. While journals may be made public at Writing.com, they are personal reflections, expressions, and explorations that do not necessarily invite public interaction into the topic, other than through normal reviewing tools. A blog, I believe, is made public for the express intent of inviting public interaction into the topic being discussed.
The journal is communicating from the heart. It is a place we can go to protect our reminiscences and work through our difficult emotions. Our journal archives our growth and gives us perspective. Within the journal's safe pages, we can try out ideas and explore feelings. And since there's no right or wrong way to keep a journal, anyone can do it.
~~Doreene Clement
http://www.trans4mind.com/counterpoint/clement.shtml
The journal is an excellent avenue for those who love to write, but feel they lack inspiration. Keeping a journal allows us to begin opening our eyes to the life that takes place around us on a daily basis. I have heard people say they 'need to find themselves, to find out who they really are.' Journaling could possibly be the first step of the self-discovery journey. My writing began when I visited a counselor for treatment of depression and she recommended I keep a journal. Through this process, I learned more about myself, and eventually, my poetic eyes opened. Never underestimate the power of small beginnings.
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