The first Friday of every month, Dawn Paoletta graciously provides a linkup for journal-keepers to bravely share something from their personal journals: RJD, Random Journal Day. RJD has become more RJW, Random Journal Weekend, which suits me wonderfully, especially in the summer, when I find it harder to keep up with blogging, and even my normally daily journaling gets more sporadic. Thank you, Dawn, for this week’s linky, and the prompt it gives me to share my latest journaling direction…
From my present journal’s first entry:
July 25, 2015
I bought this journal in a flash… because of its appeal on many levels: the ring binding, my favorite for journaling flat, for adding clippings and photos, for being able to tear out pages without destroying the binding; the fatness, to satisfy my written verbosity; even the color, I’m guessing, which surprises me (I never liked chartreuse, but this fresh spring green, I think it symbolizes fresh start); and not least, its “title”: RETHINK. Because that is what I have been doing, and what I want to do a lot more through the rest of this year.
I want—I think I need—to recycle my thoughts and suppositions of the past several decades, and what better place than in a 100% recycled-paper journal? Nice clean white paper, for recycled, too, isn’t it? That’s what I want to do with my past thoughts: clear them up, clean out the dirty deceptions and cluttered confusions, run it all through the new insights and understandings I have gained in recent months and years.
I may use this particular physical journal solely for this purpose, and record regular journaling of the day-to-day elsewhere—unless it somehow serves to recycle my thinking anew. Maybe that’s why I bought the bright tangerine Moleskine as well, along with the three-pack of Moleskine pocket pads. One of those rests in my back jeans pocket right now. I want always to carry one with me, along with a pen. I’d also like to get a tiny recorder, so I can record my “talkings to myself,” which can run faster than my writing, and thereby capture more of my fleeting thoughts.
All this because one of the things I’m rethinking is my “dreams” and “gifts” and “bents”—on the theory that it’s never too late to recycle them. They got largely trashed in my life, but look at the new whiteness and usefulness of this recycled notebook! Rather an encouraging symbolism for me.
Specifically I’ve been rethinking my writing—or better put, the rightful place and role of writing in my life. Then I want to relive it, in a more effective, confident, and empowered way, by God’s grace and enablement.
So God bless this ReJournal, and my hopeful ReLife!
*****
Ok, first off, I must admit that I was totally distracted by your AMAZING handwriting! it is artwork in itself! Mine is SO awful and i’ve always coveted the ability to write beautifully.
I also love your Rethink approach to a brand new journal. The fun of opening a blank journal will always be a highlight of journaling for me.
Hi Susie,
Thank you for your kind encouragement. I have to admit, I never thought of my handwriting as amazing. But there are two reason it looks good here: 1) It’s the first page of the journal! (get it? after page three or four, the writing quickly deteriorates. I just start out with great intentions…), and 2) I once had utterly horrible handwriting myself. Then when I was ready to graduate from college and teach elementary school kids (including… uh-oh! handwriting!) The thought of my scrawls on the blackboard before all those sixth graders made me shudder—and spend endless hours working on turning them into something at least legible, if not the best example for them to copy. If I’d never taught school… hm…
This reminds me that we are sometimes capable of far more and far better than we imagine, and are often our own worst discouragers. This is the kind of thing I’m aiming to rethink.
So nice to converse with you here, Susie. Hope to “see” you more in the future!
I just love everything about this post! LOve your journal, and the direction of your thinking. Truly I feel the same way, about Re thinking things…but mostly this reminded me of my One Word this year and how easy it is to get off track, and how joyful to be sparked, redirected back…to that word REdeemed! So thank you for that…and I agree with Susie, your penmanship is lovely! I love that bright color…and I am on a Traveler’s Notebook kick at the moment…so, the moleskins resonate. Thanks for joining us.
Dawn, it is good to be here! There’s a special journaling fellowship here, isn’t there? What an encouragement!
And you got me thinking (REthinking, really!) about the word REdeemed, as you wrote it. Hm, got me looking up “deem” in the dictionary, considering what RE-deemed would mean… interesting).
Thank you much for providing this link up and once-a-month challenge! I’m so sorry I dropped away from it. For a while I had trouble linking up, but then just got drawn away by other things. Hope to be back next month! 🙂
Sylvia! How nice to see you here…I lost track of you and your blog…so glad you are getting a REstart with you new journal! I love how you weave together the symbolism of the recycled journal pages and the title Rethink with your current musings about your life and your writing and your thoughts…I am glad to REconnect with you!
Hi Kel! Good to “see” you again! I lost track of this link up, and am so glad I’m getting back to it. As for the symbolism getting woven, isn’t it interesting how journaling, with words or pictures, so often brings that about, and we can’t even quite figure out how it happened? I’m thinking of a recent collage of yours with a red dress in it…