Journals as Our Personal Coach

Most of us want to keep fit and active. Along with eating right, keeping fit is an important part of staying healthy. But to most of us this is hard work and to compound the problem, we simply do not have the time. Honestly, we can find time for the things that we really want to do. We could use our journals to motivate us to get with the program and stay fit the way that a personal coach would do.

How would we do this? Firstly, we need to think about the things that we want to achieve. We will write down the fitness goals that we have; the time frame in which we want to achieve them and the program we plan to use to get there. Writing these things down give them power and makes them real to us. This means that we take ourselves seriously. A goal that is written down is more likely to be achieved.

Once we start to follow the fitness program, there might be setbacks. This is when we can go to our journals and talk about the setbacks. We can examine the cause of obstacle and take stock of how we can get around it the next time. Then let it go! The journal is useful now to reaffirm our intent to get back on track. This is what personal coaches do. They help us focus and keep us motivated. They tell us that we can do this and so should our journals.

Our journals will also help us to keep track of our progress within the time frames that we have set for ourselves. We can rethink the time frame and the methods that we are using to suit our efforts and to help us reach our readjusted goals. With our journals nothing is static. Everything is dynamic and serves to service us just like a personal trainer will change the prescribed plan to get us to our fitness goals.

Today let’s use our journals to get us moving, to inspire us and attain our health and fitness goals.

Remember there is nothing like words in black and white to help you see where you are and where you are going.

Sheryl A. Keen
Author “Journal According to John.”
http://www.sherylkeen.com
https://personaljournaling.wordpress.com
http://authors.aalbc.com/sheryl.htm

Journals as Writing Tools

Writers write and the more we do it the better we become at it. It’s like they say practice makes perfect. When we write in our journals we may not be doing our official writing but the act of writing constantly can sharpen our minds and our thought processes. So when we come to the writing that we do for publishing, we will have unconsciously honed our skills a little.

We can also consciously use our journals to develop our skills as writers. We can try out different writing methods and see which one is best for us. This is where we can try a writing technique that is not usually our style. Who knows, we may find something that could possibly enhance our writing and make our stories that more exciting and meaningful. The great thing about our journals is that we can try these things with ourselves before we allow anyone to see our finished products.

Our journals may also have great story ideas in them and so we can use our own past experiences as research. Think of all the places we have been, our thoughts and impressions on events close to us and far from us, stories told to us by strangers and family members and just the events of our everyday lives. We have some of this written down in our journals and this record can be used as fodder for interesting stories. Rereading our journals can take us back to a particular memory and all the feelings that surround that memory and make for powerful fiction or nonfiction.

Let us look at our journals as more than just static records and see them as tools to sharpen our skills and as a library where research can be done.

Remember there is nothing like words in black and white to help you see where you are and where you are going.

Sheryl A. Keen
Author “Journal According to John.”
http://www.sherylkeen.com
https://personaljournaling.wordpress.com
http://authors.aalbc.com/sheryl.htm

Journaling About Dreams and Goals

We all have dreams and goals. As human beings we aspire to achieve the dreams that we have for ourselves, we aspire to self actualization. Until we do something about our dreams they remain just that – dreams – fleeting and distant. Dreams are meant to be chased. We need to take them from the conceptions in our heads to action and physical reality.

So we need to not only talk about the dream but we need to write them down. This is action on paper that can lead to a self fulfilling prophecy because the written word is a powerful spiritual tool. Our journals then become the facilitator of not only our thoughts but the ways in which we intend to achieve our dreams. When we write our dreams down they gain weight and become more real. The act of writing is a call to commitment. We have said to ourselves that we can do this, and we will do this.

On paper, in black and white, we have put our dreams out into the universe. The universe has a funny way of giving us what we ask for. Simply writing down our dreams does not mean that’s all we have to do. We have to work hard. However, writing them down means that we have taken ourselves seriously enough to give our dreams energy that will lead to more cooperation from the universe.

A dream written down is a dream that is more likely to be manifested so write them down.

Remember there is nothing like words in black and white to help you see where you are and where you are going.

Sheryl A. Keen
Author “Journal According to John.”
http://www.sherylkeen.com
https://personaljournaling.wordpress.com
http://authors.aalbc.com/sheryl.htm

Journaling About Patience

They say patience is a virtue. It is. Patience is necessary to get us through those trying times that we will all face throughout our lives. When we find ourselves in these situations oftentimes we lose it. Sometimes we lose it big time. So how can we build patience? There is probably no easy way. It’s best to choose an activity that requires patience and slowly develop this virtue.

While we are developing this desirable quality and in essence developing ourselves, we can record our progress in our journals. We may choose to use fishing as the occupation of interest. It’s a good pastime for learning because most times, it is a waiting game and waiting is a big part of patience. How do we feel while this waiting is going on? How do we keep ourselves still from one moment to the next? How is our breathing? These are some of the questions that we will answer in our journals.

Someone once said we are how we breathe. It’s possible that we are also how patient we are. When we lose patience, our ability to breathe sometimes suffers. If we are waiting on a fish to bite our baits, we have to be still, we have to be aware and we have to be patient while waiting for that tug. We also have to be willing to still remain patient even when there is no tug, knowing that we can try again later. Patience helps us to remain cool.

Of course, fishing is just one activity that is used here as an example. There are many others that can assist us with our goal. We can all choose one that we like and hopefully what we learn from one of these activities can be transferred to our everyday lives. If we write down the insights that we have gained, we can review them from time to time.

Remember there is nothing like words in black and white to help you see where you are and where you are going.

Sheryl A. Keen
Author “Journal According to John.”
http://www.sherylkeen.com
https://personaljournaling.wordpress.com
http://authors.aalbc.com/sheryl.htm

Journaling About Poems, Quotes and Songs

“I bid him look into the lives of men as though into a mirror, and from others to take an example for himself.”
Publius Terentius Afer

Our journals are usually about us and the world around us. We write down our own words to describe and sometimes analyze what’s going on in our lives. But our journals do not always have to contain only our words. There are poems, quotes and songs that are special to us in some ways.

We can write down these poems, quotes and songs in our journals and analyze their value to us and why they make us feel the way they do. Perhaps they are inspirational or motivational; perhaps they speak to us about facing our fears; perhaps they spur us on to find inner strength and perhaps they speak to us about going after our dreams. Whatever the reason, they speak to our inner selves.

It’s possible that something that we are trying to say is worded and captured better by someone else. It’s also possible that there are times when we need a constant source of motivation. When we write down something that is powerful and valuable to us, we can go to it repeatedly for a motivational boost. Thus, other people’s words are helpful to us because they are meaningful to us.

In addition to all this, somebody else’s words may give us a different view on a challenge that we are facing. This alternative way of thinking may be just the thing we are looking for or the very thing we need. Other people’s words have much to teach us about our own lives but also about other ways that we could be living our lives.

Remember there is nothing like words in black and white to help you see where you are and where you are going.

Sheryl A. Keen
Author “Journal According to John.”
http://www.sherylkeen.com
https://personaljournaling.wordpress.com
http://authors.aalbc.com/sheryl.htm