I love to journal - here are some tips.

5 Tips How to Start a Journal Entry

I never thought much about journaling but now I find it therapeutic and help with my writing. If I’m not writing a story, journaling makes me feel like I’m getting my writing time in.

I was first introduced to it as a dancer. When I was a student at NYU my instructor encouraged us to write about our experiences in class, in NYC and this time in our lives.  I loved how they would encourage us to chronicle each day, the good and the bad, and how it reflected that day and episode. It was a total game-changer for me as a dancer as well as a writer. I didn’t know it then but journaling had helped me to write my first book – Bless Me Father.

I don’t journal as often as I would like. I have a crazy job that takes up a lot of my time. Which makes free time periods few and far between. But for as long as I’ve been journaling, as mentioned, there is a therapeutic benefit and I love being able to go back and revisit random days in the past. It helps to see where I was, where I’m going and how far I’ve come.

I hope this will inspire others to write your story. Even if it’s just a sentence or two each day or week, your life story is an important one to tell and no one else in the world has your point of view.

At first, I struggled with journaling for months. So today, I’m sharing with you my top five tips that helped me to begin a journal entry.

Tip #1: Write about your day. This may seem bland and boring but just starting with your drive to school or work can turn into a goals list for the week or a wonderful journal entry.

For example - One day, I went to my local Starbucks in my grocery store to kill two birds with one stone. The man ahead of me and I chatted for two seconds while waiting in line and when his turn came up he offered to buy my cup of Joe that morning. Random act of kindness?!  How amazing! I didn’t expect it; there were no expectations. Just a friendly neighbor spending a few extra bucks to spread some joy!

Boom!  Instant journal entry completed. As long as you’re able to tell yourself what happened and keep some of the details – you’ll remember the rest.

Tip #2: Write about your feelings. This can be tricky because you never know what emotional floodgates will open as your pen runs across the page. Or, who else may see the entry. That is a risk and actually part of it. Stand by what you write and the reader will have to deal.  

Start with your current mood or feeling and why you’re feeling that way. I have my sad days, like everyone else, but let’s start on a positive - so I’ll start with “I’m feeling great today because…” and it’ll start to turn into an entry with more depth and insight. Sometimes when I go back to those entries, I’ll use a different color pen and write in the margins what became of that situation.

Tip #3: Write about someone you love. This can be a personal love letter or something inspiring you’ve wanted to say to someone but can’t. Share why you love them and what they do to make you feel special and loved. You can even write it as a letter to the Universe about your ideal mate and what qualities they’d have. You can also go in the negative direction and give someone a piece of your mind or tell that rude driver off. I have a few journals, one is to my best friend Patty, who may or may not get it when I die. I suppose a lot of that depends on who goes first – or we’ll just go together. Another is to my husband, David. It’s more of a love letter to him. And then I have the journal that I use for traveling. All of the experiences for places that we’ve lived or visited goes in this journal. It doesn’t get used to often but it’s nice to know that it’s always there. And then lastly I have the one that I use daily. It obviously is fuller than the others.

Tip #4: Write about a place you’ve visited or vacationed. Just like my travel journal above - This can be for trips, places that you live or wont to go.  Suggestions -  You can write where you went, how you got there (Plane? Train? Car?) and what you saw or did. If it was a big family trip, you can write about a special memory with a particular family member or event.

Tip #5:  Write about a remember. Think of a big family occasion like weddings, funerals, Christmas or Thanksgiving. Write your point of view and what traditions you loved or would like to change. The greatest part about this is that it’s all from your point of view. Something to remember.

I hope this gets your creative juices flowing. My additional tip is to try to finish your entry in one sitting. I’ve found that trying to continue from another day or week can be difficult because your mood and writing situation may be different so your writing voice will be different. Your experience may be different from mine so feel free to try it on your own and see.  

I enjoy journaling as well as all of my journals. But maybe I’m just the weird one! And I’m okay with that.