Vir­ginia Woolf, on keep­ing a journal:

“What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Some­thing loose knit and yet not slovenly, so elas­tic that it will embrace any­thing, solemn, slight or beau­ti­ful that comes into my mind. I should like it to resem­ble some deep old desk, or capa­cious hold-all, in which one flings a mass of odds and ends with­out look­ing them through … “

Beth Jacobs on using jour­nal­ing for emo­tional balance:

“Writ­ing is a pow­er­ful tool of emo­tional bal­ance. It is per­sonal, cre­ative, flex­i­ble and acces­si­ble. In the process of writ­ing for emo­tional bal­ance, the page (or screen) can become a plane between the inter­nal and exter­nal worlds. Through this plane, excess emo­tion can be dumped and con­tained, con­fu­sion can be sorted, and the tini­est seed of hope or of a new idea can flower. How can you start using writ­ing to help man­age your emotions?

“Exper­i­ment with the con­trast of writing’s pow­ers to let feel­ings out and bring feel­ings in. Think of the most upset­ting thing that’s hap­pened to you lately and use one page to vent. Just keep phys­i­cally writ­ing and let the feel­ings flow out.

On the sec­ond page, write a list of things that soothe you when you feel the over­whelm­ing emo­tion you described. Include sen­sory expe­ri­ences, peo­ple, activ­i­ties, any­thing that can help you feel calm and com­fort. Through these two pages, you’ll cre­ate a brief sam­ple of how writ­ing can help you find both release and struc­ture. Infi­nite vari­a­tions can be devel­oped to suit your pur­pose or moment.”

Use Writ­ers and Artists on Devo­tion as your journal.

 

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