Painting by Belynda Wilson Thomas
Write what disturbs you, what you fear, what you have not been willing to speak about. Be willing to be split open. Natalie Goldberg
Has creating an Illustrated Journal been something you’ve done or would like
to do? I’ve kept journals for many years, mostly written, and I believe they
have helped me in ways too numerous to mention. Most of my journals are written but sometimes we can’t find the words to say what is in our heart and mind.
Long ago I gave up the page-day Diary in favor of the blank page Journal,
but I picked up a few yesterday that inspire me, for 2025 I might try a page-a-day guided journal, and one I like is called “Fit Happens.” It includes gratitude, goals, fitness, and inspiration with a two-page spread for each day. I purchased it at Dollarama.
Our journal is a place, to be honest with ourselves; we can pour our heart
and soul onto a page in words, art, or both. Sometimes it’s hard to find the
words and a picture might let us get all our angst out on the page in a
scribble, maybe we want to color in the blank space, or maybe we don’t. Georgia O’Keefe tells us, “I found I could say things with colour and shapes that I couldn’t say any other way.”
Zentangles are patterns we can add to our illustrated journal. Lines, circles, and dots create a pattern. Four patterns create a tile, we can incorporate lines and patterns in our journal in any way we choose, and can become a mindful meditative practice. Creating mandalas is another way of expressing ourselves.
Writing is another powerful way to sharpen the mental saw. Keeping a journal of our thoughts, insights, and learning promotes mental clarity, exactness, and context. Stephen Covey
Art is for all of us, and expressing ourselves on the page might be one of
the best ways to sort out our feelings, fears, goals, and aspirations, and help us deal with the problems and challenges in life. Art isn’t only for those whose artwork will end up in a museum or gallery. It doesn’t need to be hung up on our walls, but it can be.
The benefit of art is in making it, expressing ourselves on the page, and when we keep that art in a journal we can look back on it and see our progress. The words and pictures will bring us back to that day. We think we remember everything about our life but I read my journals and am surprised by what is in them. There are events written about in my journal I don’t remember until the journal jogs my memory. We might think we’ve always looked at things the way we see them now, but if kept over a long time, our journal will document how our view on things has changed.
A written journal or an illustrated journal is a way to examine our lives,
we may get more out of life by looking for things to put into our journal, live more fully, and drink more deeply from the cup of life. Does our life call out to be documented in some way? Isn’t this why we love taking photos? They can also be included in our illustrated journal and other memorabilia we can glue or tape in.
My idea of an Illustrated Journal is to excavate the past, document our
present, and plan our future. As a scrapbook, life planner, and vision
board nothing is too small or too big to be included.
Will creating an Illustrated Journal help us to live well from the inside
out? Will it change our lives in ways we can’t imagine? Is it true the more you
put into life the more you get out of it? Would creating an Illustrated Journal
be a way to get more out of life?
In the journal, I do not just express myself more openly than I could to any
person” I create myself. Susan Sontag
Documenting little details of your everyday life becomes a celebration of
who you are. Carolyn V. Hamilton
Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart. William Wordsworth
Thank you for reading this post. Please come back and read more, and have a blessed day filled with gratitude, joy, and love.
