tHe bOho cHicK v 1.0

 

I went to the library today with my sister and I came upon a book called The Decorated Paper by Gwen Diehn, in it were ways to spice up journals and also how to be more creative with the elements one uses. It actually whetted my appetitie to get the creative juices flowing and make my journal more colorful once again.

Yes, aside from blogging, my other passion is journaling. And this time around it's not the mushy or mundane stuff that gets recorded down although sometimes things like that do pop up in my journals.I am the proud owner of a HANDFUL of journals. In fact I am almost a journal addict. Almost because I am relatively short on cash these days so I cannot add any more to my growing "babies".

Most people think that journals are about recording the "big" events in life that's why they shy away from keeping one. Others have gone through the horror and pain of having another person read their diaries, the unveiling and baring of their hearts of hearts, which have caused shame that they have vowed never to write their feelings down again.

Well, I thought the same way too, that my life was "ordinary and plain" and that journaling was only reserved to the people who would one day make it big in life and have something to draw their memoirs from. I also experienced the pain and shame of having another person (one in authority especially) reading my journal and confronting me with the contents. That is why for a good five years after the incident I just wrote my feelings of bewilderment and all teenage-angst related stuff in my poems and in my stories. My poems contained my feelings in a nutshell, and my stories were basically what had happened to me, what I imagined to happen and what I had hoped would happen. The poems and stories that I wrote were my life, and besides, it masked my real emotions and ideas then.

"I DON'T WANT TO FORGET"

This my friends is the ultimate reason why I journal. I did not want to forget:

1. The good things and the bad things that happened to me.

2. The emotions I felt at a certain time whether I was incredulously happy or miserably sad.

3. How I was able to fight and overcome different things that came my way

4. How I came from point A to point B

5.How other people came through for me

6. How I grow each day as a Christian

I began to journal again and over a period of time, not only was my journal filled with recollections but it was peppered with poems that I had made or I have read, song lyrics, sketches, movie tickets, seminar tickets, and magazine clippings. Collages started popping up, photos were mounted, my journal came alive, it was like feeding my life into it. And then I started to find new things to journal about, until I had different themed journals. Journals gave me liberty to create without pressure from other people.

A few weeks ago my sister asked me why I wasn't keen on writing stories anymore, after thinking it thoughtfully, I just shrugged and said, "Real life is more exciting". Journals are great historians of your life, and they chronicle each event in your voice and in your style. They also capture your real essence, the untainted, unadulterated you.

Here are some journals I keep:

 

1. The Official "Elle" Journal: This is my life journal. It records my day after day life. In goes the things I did, what I felt, my observations, poetry by me or by my favorite poets, quotations, magazine or newspaper articles I find worth keeping, photos, collages, cut-out words, sketches, song lyrics, writing prompts, pieces of unfinished poems, short-story ideas, tickets of movies I've watched, concerts I attended, seminars I took part in. I also make a pocket at the inside back cover to put other mementos in. My previous Elle journals had titles,the first one was titled POTPOURRI, because it contained whatever things I wanted to put in, it had a list of Apache Indian words and the NATO alphabet; the second one was BOHO CHICK,which was more freestyle than the previous journal, it had sketches and weird collages, I think I overdid it thought because the spine was breaking down and the pages started to fall. My current Elle journal has no title. All of my journals are blank books that are lined and have really plain covers. I am scared of buying journals that are so pretty, my friends give me journals as gifts and they are so pretty that I'm so scared of spoiling it, that I rarely break the cover. The great thing about blank books is that I design the cover however I want to. My recent journal is covered with beautiful handmade paper which cost me Php50, but the older journals were collages that I made.

2. Quotes Journal: When I've read a cool quote which inspired me or just for the sake of it being witty I write it down in my quotes journal, My first two quote journals were written in a small spiral bound notebook but the one I'm using now is a steno-notebook. I collect quotes especially those that are motivational and inspirational so that i could flip through it when I'm down, or have something nice to write in a letter or email I'll send to a friend, or for speeches or essays for school.It can also include something I've overheard on the street, or in a restaurant, or the memorable lines of my friends. A friend of mine even writes down the SMS quotes that she receives before deleting it from her phone.

3. Spiritual Journal: This one is all about God. In this notebook I write my devotionals, praise and worship songs that I really love singing, memory verses, stuff that God impressed in my heart, poems that I've made dedicated to Him,and my personal Bible study. Of course I have another journal for the Sermons and Cell group cum reaction-application.

4. You Go Girl! Journal: This is my dream journal. Yes, a dream journal. This contains magazine clippings of places I want to go to, people I want to meet, quotes that motivate, self-help stuff, my goals list, my wishlist, my "fleshing it out" list, my timetable, my affirmations and my progress tracker. I have this journal to keep me focused on my goals, on what I want and to evaluate myself by keeping my perspective. Or when I feel down I just look at the things that I dream of and I just keep going. This is my self-improvement journal.

5.My Everything Journal: This little journal keeps my life together. I bring this journal everywhere, even when I'm in my house I go around carrying it in my backpocket.If I lose this journal, I'd just stop functioning. I am not a disciplined person by nature so I really work hard to keep things in order. This journal helps me. In it are a list of my online accounts and corresponding passwords,writing ideas that pop up while I do household chores, to-do list, important emails,half-finished poems,this is the glue which holds my life. My friend has a journal which tracks her spending decisions.Another has this diet journal where she writes down everything she eats to keep track of the calories and also identify problem spots.

6. Circle Journal: I got this idea from a scrapbooking magazine. It's a themed journal where a group of people can write on it, passing it along to the next person. What I did was I took out one of the journals that was given to me as a gift (it was really pretty, thanks Abigai!), and I decided that the theme was gonna be Love, I wrote a poem on a page and tried to make it artistic as possible and I passed it along to my friend (I am so blessed to have friends who love to write and are creative!) who drawing on from the theme Love wrote an essay on her page. And on and on it went, some wrote poems, some drew, some just doodled. It was great to have everyone pitch in and I saw how creative they were with such small space, and how our different personalities shown through.

7. Travel Journal: This is like your very own postcard. You could attach tickets, postcards, photos, and other knick-knacks, sketch the view, write a poem, capture your enjoyment...it will speak a bunch rather than just having photos which can't capture everything.

8. Reading cum Reaction Journal: One of the things I've learned in U.P. is "critical thinking", so when I read I try to dissect the text and come up with my opinion. I write down what I've read and what I think about it, it's a healthy exercise actually.

9. Writing Journal: I know redundant right? Yeah, well this journal I write, edit, re-write my poems, short stories and essays. I also write in here words that I would want to use in my work.

10. Online Journal: Of course my blog, this one is not-so private, mainly censored stuff, has to be properly edited but it's great to share your life with the rest of the world. And it encourages human interaction.

11. Audio Journal: Sometimes, my brain runs way faster than my hand could write so, the next best thing is an audio journal. I have two audio recorders.One needs a cassette cartridge and the other one is digital. I find that audio journals are quite handy when I am suddenly struck by something inspiring.

See, there are lots of ways to journal, and actually, it depends upon the person what journal he'd use. Happy writing!

excess: expect more journaling articles to come.

image sources:

untitled journal image: author's own

boho chick journal image: author's own

untitled image 2 - Sabrina Ward Harrison

untitled image 2- by Sabrina Ward Harrison