I love gathering and sharing stories about my ancestors. I am passionate about the idea that knowing our ancestors’ stories helps us gather strength and fosters resilience. A few weeks ago, my husband’s aunt gently reminded me that family history includes living people too, not just dead ones. I’m good at publicly sharing photos and stories about my ancestors, but a little less excited about sharing pictures and experiences from my own life. I will admit I have been neglectful about sharing important events–including the birth of my granddaughter–so a lot of family members (including this aunt and my sister-in-law) didn’t know she had been born until a month after the fact.
My aunt’s words reminded me that I need to make sure I am telling MY story too, whether in a public forum or in a more personal way. Although sharing publicly is not my favorite thing, I AM passionate about keeping a record of my life, and one of my goals this year is to get back to doing this more consistently. Today I want to share some ideas with you about the whys and hows of keeping a journal.
A few years ago I attended a seminar about keeping a personal record by journaler extraordinaire Camille Cornaby. I was so inspired! I have sporadically kept a journal my whole life, and at the time I attended this journaling seminar, my most recent journals consisted of a series of small spiral notebooks that I could carry with me and in which I had written everything from to-do and shopping lists to notes from meetings and inspirational quotes. I had included occasional entries about my thoughts and experiences. As I listened to the Camille, her words and her spirit spoke to my heart and I knew I wanted to keep a better record. Some of the points she emphasized that were behind this new motivation were:
- You are a real person, and your thoughts and ideas are important. They matter! Be more than a name on a page!
- Keeping a journal helps you keep life in balance and gain perspective.
- Keeping a journal helps you recognize the hand of the Lord in your life.
- Your journals will lead your children to Christ.
- Leaving such a legacy for your posterity will connect hearts and can persuade, uplift, encourage, teach, testify to, and strengthen those who read what you write.
How could I not be motivated and inspired by these promises?
After sharing the importance of keeping a record and what it has meant to her in her own life, Camille shared her journaling system. It was amazing, organized, and almost beyond my comprehension! After the activity, I immediately began thinking of how I could incorporate her ideas into something that would work for me. With her permission, I am sharing some of her tips (and a few of my own) with you today:
1 – Always record complete names, dates, and places in your journal.
2 – Write good things about others. If they don’t keep a journal themselves, your entries could become valuable to their posterity as well as yours.
3 – Give each journal entry a heading. These headings will be used to create a table of contents for your journal at the end of every year.
4 – If you are keeping your journal digitally, print your journal each year so you have a hard copy as well as a digital version.
5 – Make sure to paginate your journal when you print it so you can create a table of contents. If you are creating a hand-written journal, add page numbers in it, too.
6 – Create a table of contents for your yearly journal. With a list of entry headings and page numbers at the beginning of the journal, you will be able to locate entries easily and avoid having to search through each page to find what you are looking for. If using a hand-written journal, leave a few blank pages at the beginning. At the end of the year, you can write your table of contents on these pages.
7 – As you set up your own journal, think about the types of things you would like to record and make sections for different items.
Here is a list of my most-used sections and how I use them. The types of sections are based on suggestions from Camille, but I made up my own titles for some of the sections:
Planning With Purpose – This is my daily log that includes monthly, weekly, and daily planning pages. My daily planning pages include a task list, appointments, and reminders about habits I am trying to incorporate. I also try to record three things I’m grateful for every morning and three things that went well each evening. (This practice is based on research by Positive Psychologist Martin Seligman). I look at and work on this section of my journal for no more than 5 minutes every morning and evening. It’s a way to stay on top of my schedule and focus on the positive things that are happening in my life.
The Magic of Ordinary Days – This is a section I also try to write in daily. It is where I record the ways I have seen the hand of the Lord in my life and in the lives of those around me. This particular practice has been life-changing. It has truly made ordinary days become magical. This section could replace the Gratitude and 3 Good Things entries in the Planner Section–it sometimes feels a little redundant–but what I record in my Planning With Purpose section is usually a simple gratitude list and then one sentence for each of the three good things. I usually try to write a paragraph or two for entries in “The Magic of Ordinary Days” section.
Moments That Matter – This is where I write about life events in greater depth. If there is something that happened during the week that was meaningful and that I want to record my feelings about, I will record it here. This is a section for longer entries and I usually write an entry here every week or two.
The Spirit Speaketh (Camille’s title, which I love!) – A section to record answers to prayers, spiritual promptings, and personal revelation.
Quotes, Thoughts, and Inspiration (Also Camille’s title) – Here is where I record quotes, poems, and other tidbits that inspire me and which I don’t want to forget.
My Life Story – A place to organize and write about my memories so I can compile a life history someday. I have been recording my answers to Family Search’s 52 Questions in this section over the last two years.
Camille loves writing her entries by hand in a physical journal. She uses 5.5″ x 8.5″ three-ring binders with archival quality paper and pens. This way she can add to or rearrange sections of her journal as desired. One major thing I realized was that I would probably be most consistent if I could use my computer and/or smartphone to journal. I began looking at various journaling apps, but couldn’t find anything that seemed to be just what I wanted. When I told my husband what I was looking for, he suggested OneNote from Microsoft. OneNote is a digital note-taking app that can be used on your computer, tablet, or smartphone. What you write automatically syncs between devices and is stored in the cloud. I started looking into it and decided OneNote could be a powerful tool for the type of journal I wanted to create. Using a digital system like OneNote, you have the freedom to add or remove sections, rename them, and shuffle the sections around as Camille does with her binders. You can also move entries from one section to another very easily, which has come in handy. Sometimes I have been writing an entry in one section but decided it would fit better in another section, so this capability is very nice. You can also add pages as needed if you want to add an entry after the fact and keep your journal in chronological order. In Part 2 of this series, I will share tips for setting up and using a journal in OneNote. I’m excited to share what has been working for me and teach you how to use the application.
I have been printing my journals at the end of each year and storing them in three-ring binders. I also think I will begin uploading digital copies to my personal archive at Permanent.org. As I have learned more about Permanent.org, I have decided it will be a great place to preserve and eventually share my journals with future generations.
While this journaling system may seem a little complicated at first, once you get it set up, it is really quite simple. It helps to remember that you’re not keeping multiple journals, you are simply organizing your entries in a way that you and your posterity will be able to find what you have recorded quickly and easily. Learning this system has really helped me become a better journal-keeper.
I would love to hear what journaling system works for you! Leave a comment below to share.
Camille has shared her passion and expertise with friends and church groups in all kinds of settings over the last several years. If you are in the Utah County or Salt Lake County area and are interested in hosting an event about journaling, she would love to come and present her ideas with your group. Contact her at c (dot) marie (dot) cornaby (at) gmail (dot) com.
