A journal is a scrapbook created using words. It is a time capsule; a treasured memory and most importantly a keepsake. There are digital journals but being handwritten adds a more personal touch to the story of your life. Reading your handwritten version is more heartwarming than some cold computer generated printout.
Where would we be without written journals? They have been around for centuries. There is one on traveling from the 9th century that was kept by the Chinese scholar Li Ao. One written in the 11th century by Ibn Banna is the earliest surviving journal which most resembles today’s in the way it is arranged in order of days. The secret medieval journals by witches and alchemists were written to preserve knowledge. Renaissance journals were written to record events, itineraries, and opinions and were not written for the public to see. The ones written during the 14th to the 16th centuries were later published as books.
The art of journal writing is very simple. You can write about anything. You can use it as your bucket list for today, tomorrow, or for five years, ten years or a lifetime. Some people have writer’s block and need prompts to begin writing but after you have been writing for a while it will come much easier. You can write about a particular topic or you can just keep daily entries and write about each day’s events.
Some other ideas are writing about important events in your life; the birth of each of your children or grandchildren, your engagement and marriage, buying and remodeling your first home, your college years, a vacation, daily prayers, the topics are endless.
A photo scrapbook is a very dear keepsake and a very important part of family history. But where a scrapbook is a visual look into your life, the journal is the story.
Have you ever read a book and then went to see a movie based on the book? So many times the book is so much better. That is how it is with a journal; it tells so much more than just a photo. And a handwritten journal just adds that personal touch; picking it up and holding it makes you feel as though the writer is there with you. You know that they have touched that book and wrote those words.
The handwritten journal is your legacy and a treasure for future generations.
A journal is a scrapbook created using words. A journal is a time capsule. A journal is a treasured memory. A journal is a keepsake.
Journal writing is very easy and fun to do. You can write about anything. Use your journal a a bucket list. Write about a family vacation, a new baby, keep a record of your child’s school years, write about your career goals, life goals, write your family’s geneology or anything that is important to you.
