What is a creative journal?
Creative journaling is one of the basic methods that helps both creative and reflective thinking and is helpful for psycho-hygiene and promoting creativity. As the name suggests, it should be something one writes daily. On the other hand, practice shows that unless you are a creative writer for a living or have a powerful will and motivation, it is highly challenging to follow a genuinely daily routine, and it is better to choose a different regular interval. So try to focus on a similar activity one to three times a week.
There are many variants of how to create it and here we would like to show some options or approaches that can be applied in creating a journal. There are two basic ways to work with it. Either in the blocks above, where we consistently engage in some reflective activity such as writing or creating a mind map, or we do it continuously throughout the day. We always keep the journal with us and put it in whatever we find interesting.
A creative journal can be a paper journal, a notebook, or a digital tool. Both approaches have pros and cons, and it's up to each person to decide which one they like. I find the model where I process quick running notes electronically on my mobile phone or tablet works for me. For systematic developmental creative work, it's good to take a paper medium (though I confess that I much prefer writing warm-ups on the computer than by hand, for example).
- Three positive things - try to write three positive things in your journal every day that happened to you that day. Don't just name them; try to say what is good about them or why they happened to you.
- Feelings Map - if you are keeping a journal on an ongoing basis, try to reflect on your feelings several times a day. How do you feel in the morning when you wake up, before lunch, on the way home from work or school? Try to name the feeling and describe or justify it briefly.
- List what you did that day. Try to go through the day each evening and quickly write down everything you did. It may occur to you during that activity that something that seemed very trivial is enjoyable and can serve as a resource for another creative activity.
- Poetry - either your own or some lovely poetry you've read. If one forces oneself to surround oneself with or create art daily, it is beneficial for thinking.
- One thing that surprised you that day. Learn to experience surprise and wonder at the world around you. If you have the time, try not to slip into simply announcing a fact, but try to describe it more.
- Make up and write a short story, narrative, and description. Although you can alternate genres and forms, I recommend choosing one and sticking to it for a while.
- A short extract from the reading. Try to read as much as possible. Always try to make a brief extract, a note, to capture an idea or topic that is interesting to you at the time.
- Write down your dreams if you remember them. If you don't, it may help some people to keep a journal by their bed and tell themselves that they will write the dream down as soon as they wake up. But this method is far from 100%.
- Whatever caught your eye.
- Draw a mind map of the past day or an interesting conversation you had that day.
Try using a creative technique to work with any of the areas given; it can bring a whole new dimension to thinking. Use the journal to map and develop your world and improve your creativity. Therefore, there is no need to worry about using it incorrectly or imperfectly. It is an exercise and self-reflective space and should be approached accordingly.
There are many ideas for journal writing on the Internet (14 Types of Creative Writing, How to Write a Journal Guide Create your Journal, How to Write a Reflective Journal with Tips and Examples Create your Journal, Creative Writing Journal Ideas - Part 1, These Journal Writing Prompts Will Encourage Kids to Develop Their Composition Skills, etc.), and they inspire the list below.
