Creative: Journal Technique

Daniel Milnor

January 29

Where do I start? This was my first question after receiving so many comments and emails regarding how to journal. We live in a world where much of what we do is controlled by something else or someone else, so suddenly facing an activity with no rules can be, oddly enough, daunting. Wait, I can do anything? Okay, what is it I actually want to do?

I feel that the most relevant hurdle to modern journaling is the idea of audience.

We now have generations of humans who live their lives for public consumption. An act, if you will, designed to be palatable to the masses, popular or controversial. Living a life like this is traumatic, and it is also tough to turn off because it plays on the chemistry coursing through our veins. Code-based chemical dependency.

Journaling, if done correctly, can immediately identify who you are.

For some of us, this is precisely the prickly point. Finding out who we are can be sobering, to say the least. Journaling without borders is liberating, but discovering newfound freedom often brings growing pains. The key is to start. No matter the pen. No matter the paper. No matter the brand of journal. No matter the ambience the internet tells you is required. No matter the time of day or your mood or state of mind. No matter the music playing through your headphones. These phony requirements are part of the act I mentioned above. Do you want to be a photographer or do you want to dress and talk and act like a photographer without actually being one? Sound familiar YouTube?

I believe if you journal every day for two weeks you will never stop. Even a paragraph or two of random thoughts or bullet points. Read back to yourself. Annotate, script, imagine, and explore the deepest, darkest recesses of what is left of your brain. Good luck, have fun.