The journal you see on this page is one of the most important tools I own. When I refer to it as a tool I mean it is instrumental in maintaining sound mental health.
It allows me to go to a place of complete privacy, solitude, stillness where I can gather my thoughts and put some form on them. This may only involve writing them down in the most haphazard, unstructured way but it is of immense value to achieve clarity.
As an important part of my business marketing I am active on social media platforms such as Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter.
To have one place to go where nobody can judge me or give me a like or a thumbs up or down or criticise or look for free legal advice is of enormous benefit.
That’s what this journal gives me.
There are different ways of using a journal like this, different schools of thought. But I am concluding that a ‘morning pages’ type approach might be the most worthwhile over the long haul. This involves writing, I believe, three pages of long hand, ‘free form’ writing about anything that comes into your head. It is a practice invented by Julia Cameron to assist creatives with creative recovery.
I have no great creative pretensions, but I believe there is something in it.
For now, however, I am not even committing to writing three pages every day. For me just having the journal to escape to and write three sentences or three pages is helpful enough to allow me keep perspective on all the other demands on my time and attention.
My journal allows me to give attention to myself.
(The journal I use is a Leuchtturm 1917 but any notebook or copy will do the job.)