iheartjournals.com blog

Daily Journal Prompts

So it looks like I might be hiking the Appalachian Trail this summer. It’s a walk through the woods from Georgia to Maine and takes 5 to 6 months.

Since I will be idle from iheartjournals.com for most of my journey, I’ve decided to begin a project for the web site.

I am creating enough journaling prompts for each day I’m on the trail. Each day, iheartjournals.com will have a new journal prompt for you to use in your own journal.

Keep coming back to this site any time you need some inspiration for your journaling writing. I might even discuss my own journaling experiences while traveling through the woods.

Wow, writing feels good in my soul

Sometimes it really amazes me. It’s easy to write about how beneficial keeping a journal is, but sometimes harder to live by it. After finally writing in my new journal for only about 20 minutes, I felt such a relief. I had some thoughts whizzing around my mind that needed to be written down. It’s like a breathe of fresh air.

Plus, I started brainstorming my very near future. The ski mountain here closes in less than a month, so off season and summer will be approaching rapidly.

For inspiration I wrote down words that have been in the forefront of my mind like: Alaska, solitude, camping, Appalachian Trail, guitar, etc. It gave me a great sense of what’s really on my mind and what direction my instincts will take me.

I recommend this exercise to everyone. It’s a simple method of word association and some of the words that come to your mind might surprise you.

Slacking on my Journal Writing

I have recently been slacking hard on writing in my journal, which made me think about the common challenges holding people back from writing in their journals.

My recent challenge has been being busy with distractions like snow storms, visitors and social activities. I haven’t even thought about journaling in over 2 weeks. Needless to say, I have a lot of catching up to do.

So I wrote an article about overcoming the challenges with writing in a journal. Check it out: Overcoming Journaling Challenges

I think it’s a very helpful article and will hopefully help some people get over any writers block or excuses for not writing in their journals. If you have any other advice to offer, please leave a comment and let me know. I will add any suggestions to the article.

Do you keep a Food Journal?

So I’m in the process of trying to build a solar oven and see if I can cook a potato at over 10,000 ft on the ski mountain. While working on the solar oven I started thinking about the idea of a food journal. I did a little research and it looks like there are some people out there keeping food journals as a form of dieting and healthy eating.

I think food journals are probably a great idea, especially if you’re having trouble staying in shape or just want to keep better track of your health. I can’t say I’ve ever personally kept a food journal, but this might be a new experiment for me since I’ve been trying to eat much healthier this winter than I have my entire life.

Does anyone out there keep a food journal and have some ideas or suggestions?

New Journaling Articles

Last week I brainstormed (and wrote) two cool journaling articles: The Builder’s Journal and Art Journals.

Builder’s Journal: Preserve old projects as well as record and keep track of all your new projects

Art Journals: My buddy told me about how they kept art journals in his art class in college. If you’re not the writing type, an art journal is a great way to express yourself using images and a creative mind.

There are a few articles I’m going to work on this week: River Journals, Burn Journals (burning your journal after writing in it), and the best hiding places for your journal.

Keep checking back because I’m on a roll and have tons of information to share with you!

How often to journal?

My life has been awesome the last few months (being a ski bum really is all it’s cracked up to be), but I’ve found myself journaling less and less.

Something I have found myself asking is, “how often do I need to journal?” Usually when I have a nagging sensation that something has been forgotten, it means I haven’t written in my journal for over a week. Because I’m in the habit of journaling a few times, one week is a long time to not write.

But that’s just me

How often you decide to journal is up to you and you alone. We each have different uses and needs from our journals. It’s your friend, not your nagging enemy. Have an idea of how much you want to write, but don’t set a steadfast rule.

If you like to write: I would start 2-3 times a week for at least 10 minutes at a time. That will give you time to get into a rhythm and develop your style.

If you’re completely new to this: Give it one night. Open your journal, write in it for at least 10 minutes and see what happens. Then, try it again the next night. Then… try it again the next night. As long as the inspiration and drive is still there, keep writing!

If you haven’t written in your journal for a while (say… a month), don’t use that as an excuse to not start it up again. In truth, a timely lapse in journal entries can, at times, tell a bigger story than words. What has been going on in your life to keep you from writing about it? Do you only write when you’re upset? Happy? Nervous?

So how often should you write in your journal?

There is no real answer. The answer is in your gut, and you should follow it. At least motivate yourself to begin keeping a journal and see where it takes you. You’ll either hit the ground running, or hit a few pot holes along the way. Creating a journal and writing a single line in the front page is still a valid journal.

Even if you never touch that thing again, it tells an important story. Cherish it, love it… and then write in a new one!

Journal Blogging!

Although I’ve been designing iheartjournals.com for permanent articles and information, I’ve recently decided to add the blogging aspect. Almost everyday I notice journaling having a direct impact on my life. From my perspective there is simply too much to write about and try to tackle it all with full fledged articles. Yet I can’t ignore these snippets of journaling and how they affect my life.

I’d like to have this blog venue to share little bits of knowledge and advice about journaling when I notice them having an impact on my life.

I’ll start with this little piece of advice:

Imagine something you do that gets you “in the zone.” Working out, playing a sport, sewing, reading, music… anything really. Well journaling does that for me, and it can do that for everyone.

The benefit of creating a journal is the record you leave behind. A record of your thoughts, experiences, emotions and mind. Whether you ever share your journal with anyone or not, the act of creating is most important. I believe we need to make some sort of impact in this world, and by creating a journal you are jump starting that first step.

We are all here for a reason. Discover yours. Start journaling. Explore what you might consider an ordinary life and discover the extraordinary.