Build a journaling habit and create a rich repository: 9 practical tips
Reading time 5 minutes
by Mary Boza Crimmins
Your journal is both a repository and confidant
Word meanings and etymologies fascinate me. Not to the extent of a Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, but more than for most people. One word I attach to journaling is “repository.” In classical Latin, a repository is “a stand on which food is placed.” My journals are food. They nourish my curiosity, feed my soul, and grow my creativity. Merriam-Webster defines a repository as “contains the non-material” and “a person to whom something is confided or entrusted.” The 25 journals I ‘ve filled over the last 18 years fulfill these definitions. My journals are where I dump, contemplate, formulate, and store ideas.
How you view your journal will be different from how I view mine. It’s as unique as you. My journal is less like a diary, and more of a catch-all for inspiration, ideas, and prayer. While it’s not a traditional diary, my prayers archive significant seasons and moments of my life. If you don’t journal, I encourage you to take up the practice and try these tips. If you do, let me know how the following resonates with you.
Here are nine practical tips for making your journals a rich repository.
1. Journaling is personal, and there is no right way to do it.
Build the habit in a way that fits your needs. Simply do as The Call of the Wild author Jack London recommends, “Keep a notebook. Travel with it, eat with it, sleep with it. Slap into it every stray thought that flutters up into your brain.”
2. Experiment with a notebook style that works best for you.
Like Jack London, I travel with my journals; my earliest ones were heavy. I’ve learned to choose lighter versions and prefer smooth-textured covers, lines, and spiral bindings for flexibility. Some journalers I know have a preference for college-ruled lines. I also like the covers to reflect my love for color and/or have an inspirational saying.
3. Label and date your pages.
I capture many ideas and sometimes want to revisit them, so I write a short note at the top of entries indicating what I’ve written about. This saves time when I go through past journals to find an inspiration or idea I know I had somewhere.
4. Set aside time to revisit and reflect on what you’ve written.
Author Amy Tan reveals, “When I go back and read my journals, I am always surprised. I may not remember having those thoughts, but they still exist and I know they are mine, and it’s all part of making sense of who I am.” My mistake was waiting years to reread past journals. While I enjoyed reminders of prayers answered, even if the answer was “no,” and delving into memories forgotten, it took a lot of time to review several years. I also noticed missed opportunities and lost ideas I could’ve (should’ve) acted on. Now I’m building the habit of reviewing the past week on a weekend morning. Whether you review weekly or monthly, make sure you calendar it to take advantage of this essential part of journaling.
5. Number and date your journals.
Also, write the start and end date on the inside cover and reserve the first two pages for a content list. These tips save time when you want to access a past idea.
6. Write your name and contact information on the inside cover of your journal.
If you lose it and don’t have this info, you are 100% guaranteed not to get it back. If a kind soul finds it, they can return it (perhaps without reading it).
7. As the Stoics remind us, “Memento mori” - you have to die.
Decide and communicate what you want to be done with your journals when you can no longer add to them. My friends Tommy wants his burned. Consider bookmarking pages holding content you may want to redact in the future; just don’t use your black sharpie to remove content too soon.
8. I use color to indicate different types of entries.
As your journaling evolves, you may use it to store a variety of thoughts: gratitude lists, diary entries describing events and feelings, inspirational quotes, venting episodes, and creative bursts. Color coding makes identifying content easier. I use light green for prayers, magenta for gratitude lists, pink for creative ideas, and teal blue for book notes. I have other colors, as this system works for me.
9. Your memories are fallible.
“Cheap paper is less perishable than gray matter. And lead pencil markings endure longer than memory.” I’ll add to Jack London’s wisdom. Hand-written, hard copies of journals have a long lifespan. I wouldn’t be able to journey to 2004 if I had relied on digital tools.
Share your tips, struggles, and victories.
I invite you to share your journaling tips, struggles, and victories with me in the comments below or at mary@crimminscommunications.com. In the meantime, may your journals be a rich repository where you follow the advice of poet William Wordsworth and “Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
