Discover: The Art of Journaling
A journal offers a blank canvas to an artist and gives the gift of a fresh space upon which to create.
With each turn of the page there is the possibility of a new perspective yet the ability to go back to reminisce and for reflection.
Timely Messages – A Brief History of Written Communication
For millennia, mankind has sought ways to preserve stories and keep records. The earliest recorded messages are pictograms and cuneiforms that told stories through etchings of people, animals, landscapes and events. The evolution of ‘written’ communication reached a pinnacle in approximately 1500 BC when the Phoenicians created the first alphabet. It consisted of 22 consonants, yet no vowels until Greeks added the first vowels late in the ninth century. Then through Roman refinement came the alphabet we’re familiar with today.
The Art of Written Expression
Journaling is a form of self expression. Our modern age has introduced online journaling, or blogging, and there are many who commit to telling their personal stories via this medium. But there are those who believe to remove the technology is to impart the humanity in a very traditional form of composition. With just the writer a pen and a paper, something very transparent begins to emerge. There is no audience or deadline, and what is left is the ability to be genuine and raw in a way that truly reveals the heart of a matter. Once the decision to journal is made, there are so many different subjects to choose from: travel, food, books, prayer, family; truly the list is endless. But journals don’t have to be specific, they can simply be a way to chronicle each day as it comes or record each season of life. A journal can be added to daily or weekly, or simply pulled out when the need arises or an idea is sparked.
The Written Word and the Freedom of Self Expression
Journals are not just for words. Artists can paint or sketch what’s in their heart, photographers can capture images and paste them in a booklet, and musicians can write notes to a melody dancing around in their imaginations. Many types of journals combine words and art. Scrapbooks are a type of journal that chronicle stories through the artistic application of photographs with brief stories and decorative pages. Nearly everyone journals in one form or another. There are no rules, only the invitation to share openly what is in the mind or on the heart. Many want a means to document life in a way that gives the ability to go back and reflect on history or remember ideas and inspirations. Because of the freedom in this form of expression, borders, grammar, sentence structure, even etiquette are unimportant and sometimes breaking the rules is essential to the creative process.