Journaling With Photographs

Most discussions that we have about journaling involve the written word. But we can combine regular journaling with photographs and this may even make our journals more interesting. Photos, by themselves, tell vivid stories that we may not be able to capture with words.

These photographs give an account of our everyday lives and also of special events. Of course, we can add descriptions and subtitles to our photos that give an explanation to the unique parts. In addition to these explanations we may also say how we feel about what we see and add our reactions to something caught on camera that we may not have seen before. With photographs we may either be subjective or objective. Hopefully, we will be more of the latter and try to see what is really there before us and not what we want to see. As with words, we can distance ourselves from the pictures and see them for what they are.

Dates are important when journaling and this is especially true when we add photographs. We may be going over our journals at some point and we would want to make reference to the date of a particular event. It is possible that something may have changed between the taking of a specific photograph and the present time. So the dates when these changes take place are important. In addition to this, dates are important to bolster our own distorted recollection that time can create.

Photos are interesting; they are worth a thousand words; and they make time stand still. For all these reasons, they can assist us in creating vibrant, dynamic journals that captures life. Maybe we should all invest in a camera.

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 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