How to Create And Maintain your own Casual Journal

How to create maintain your own Journal.by Homin
Personally, to this date, i have written and filled up 4 Journals, and am working on the fifth. I find them a very good way to keep your memories, and a good read (Looking back at your younger self). You really never know, with today's hectic pace, we may remember an incident today, and forget all about it tomorrow when we get up.

The What
OK, now unless you are a young kid, or a foreigner still learning English, I would call you a complete idiot for not knowing what is a Journal. Anyway, a Journal is by definition,
A: a record of current transactions; especially : a book of original entry in double-entry bookkeeping
B: an account of day-to-day events
C: a record of experiences, ideas, or reflections kept regularly for private use
D: a record of transactions kept by a deliberative or legislative body
The Journal I am referring to is the definitions B and C, on how to regularly maintain your book which contains your private input.

The Why
Now, personally, I like writing my own journal,as in, keeping records of what interesting things I've done, heard, seen and smelt. I find that in doing so, I can recall interesting points in my life just by looking at what I've Written. Also, by keeping watch of interesting things that for you to record in your Journal, you tend to become more attentive, as you may notice things while attentive that you would normally miss in a dreary state of mind. As above mentioned, it would also make a good read in the future.

The When and Where
Now, you may wonder, I am way too busy, with minimal spare time on my hands already, so how could I put in effort in maintaining a Journal? But then, you would be overestimating the time it requires to create a journal. To write in a personal Journal requires a only a small amount of your time, perhaps at maximum , maximum, 30 min to record a day's worth of activities. I only spend that long when i record my holiday experiences, so for interesting activities that happen once in a while at places like work or school, it shouldn't take so long. Trust me, this small effort in the present will help you recall and maybe even relive good memories, and perhaps laugh at the bad ones.

The Who
This may sound silly, but you should only let yourself and close family members , and i mean close, read your journal. Some people may feel inhibitions about writing a journal if they feel that anyone may read it, and they will be subject to other's judgement, and thus will not add in their SINCERE thoughts and feelings. Keep it private when your starting out, unless your completely happy with others glimpsing your mind.

The How
Right, now down to business.
The first thing that you have to do, is to get a book. It can be an ordinary A5 exercise book, or it can be a colorful personalised book ordered online from some exotic bookstore. It does not matter, as long as it suits you. I myself do not use ordinary exercise books, but neither do i have customised ones either, just those i get from Popular. If you are really budget conscious, then you can use an online/Digital journal, but i find they have a tendency to get corrupted by an accidental computer breakdown or something of the sort.

Next, the one step I've seen many forget, is the date and day (e.g. Friday 30/5/03). Honestly, if you look back at your experiences, especially when you have as many Journals as me, you would most likely want to read them in chronological order, and you may also wish to know how long ago you experienced the incident.

Write down the experience, describe in detail if you want to, or just jot down quick notes of what happened. This is completely up to you. However, you should remember that this is for your own reference, and the extra tiny details you add in will be important.

Express yourself! Add exclamation marks, dots,....,whatever makes you feel like your putting yourself into the book.

Now, be completely honest with yourself. What did you feel when you went through this incident in question? Did you feel embarassed? Elation? Sadness? Even Fatigue? Anger? You should pen down your feelings, so that looking back, you will be able to easily relate with yourself and your personality.

Finally, write down your thoughts. This can be mixed with your feelings, and about how you felt about this incident. I also finish of a journal entry by adding in a farewell like : "Goodnite!" Cya next time" or even just "GN!". Your must realise that when you look back at yourself, that final signing off is quite important in adding in color and expression to your words.

Thank you once again for kind attention
Homin
"Don't Steal my Work!"