Historians can look back at art, music, and literature to outline the correlation of events – and we can do the same with routine journal practice.
What do I mean? Your 1998 planner highlighting credit card debts + student loans, may help you reflect on who you were at that time – just as outlining feelings during a 2017 breakup may correlate with the fears that are showing up now.
Aside from the ways people journal, we can inspire each other with routine practice.
That’s where Ryan comes in …
Ryan has a morning journal routine at the local coffee shop I go to. He usually wears headphones and explains this is ‘to drown out ambient noise in the environment, but also to augment the process I’m engaging in with the variety of music I’m listening to.’
I find Ryan’s reflection on journaling inspiring. In the questions and answers below, Ryan shares what works for him, what he has learned from his past reflections, and how he uses journaling to move forward. 
Ryan’s Journal Practice
Ryan describes journaling as becoming a form of meditation …
I first started journaling in my twenties when I lived in Seattle (2004-ish), so one of the things that makes it invaluable to me is that it’s a very personal and specific accounting of growth and evolution since then. It started with Morning Pages from The Artist’s Way and stuck. It’s an amazing practice and has become a font of context for what’s proven to be a lifelong process (i.e., personal growth) that can frequently feel like nothing is happening because I’m so close to the work.
I think of it like our hair growing. We see the progress happening every day, but it’s so minor that it generally looks like nothing is happening. But when our hair-cutter-person sees us, it’s like “Yeah, you need a haircut!”
To make a very long story short, I was born into a cult and a family that was horrifically abusive, so I’ve spent a huge amount of time processing my way through those things and working to grow and heal and exit the big pit o’ turds my parents plopped me into when I was born. So being able to look back on the past 20 years of journals and see where I was, how things evolved and changed, and how much what I was entirely consumed by back then is not present at all for me anymore is invaluable. Without that little personal documentation of the past, it’d be easy to underestimate how much has occurred and how much ground I’ve covered, but being able to look back and read my own words and thoughts and see the tone of the handwriting I wrote it in and how that changed over the years is pretty astounding. It’s also invaluable to see that some of what I was working on then is what I’m still working on now. That definitely creates a clear sense of continuity and helps me understand that growth is a cycle and process, not a light switch that you flip.
I noticed Ryan drawing amazing cartoons on Post-it notes – so, I had to ask about …
Ryan’s Reflection on Visual Processing
I’m a very visual processor, so having the ability to vary what’s in my journals is valuable to me. I cycle between written and drawn content, and ballpoint-pen and fine-tip marker (for differences in emphasis and also the care required). Also, I’m an artist (personally) and visual designer (professionally), so that’s also a general form of nerdery that I enjoy bringing into the practice.
And just as artists’ mediums range from watercolors, acrylic paint, pencil, pastel, to oil and on …
Journaling can range from using bullet journals, productivity planners, morning pages with prompts, blank composition books, and so much more.
Ryan’s Journal Medium
The journaling medium I use are hardcover LEUCHTTURM1917 journals with grid-line pages. There’s something about the quality and weight of the paper and how it interacts with the pens I use that I love, and the grid allows me to be aligned and meticulous when desired (I love lists and order), and they also are a great size for my handwriting (the more messy and quick, and also the more measured and neat).
I started with Moleskine journals in the aughts, but discovering and trying the LEUCHTTURM1917 journals several years ago was a “Never looking back now!” situation. They’re one of those things where I basically have no notes. They’re just li’l nuggets of perfect for me.
Depending on your journal medium, you may already have prompts or organizational tools. Or, you may not. Which leads to the big question …
What to Journal about?
In one way, I use journaling to process and record what I’m currently experiencing through a more free-writing format. In other instances, I use it to help cement and establish new ways of thinking / feeling / being into my system and awareness.
Sometimes I sit down and just need to process and think more slowly and thoroughly about what’s been on my mind or in my heart recently. Other times I need to sit down and basically create a statement of what I’m committed to learning, being, or creating through the choices I make. It’s part of a system of reminders and declaring what my intention is, and then because it’s written in my journal, there’s a reliable place I can go to recall what was important for me to remember at that time and also read any comforting or encouraging words I wrote to myself.
I actually have 3 journals that I use on the regular. One is my “main” hardbound journal that’s my catch-all for the current season of my life, the others are my Vision Journal and my Gratitude Journal. The contents of the Vision Journal are basically “In this moment, I choose to _________.” The Gratitude Journal is my palace to record ~3 things that I’m currently feeling gratitude for to help encourage that practice, and also where I write ~3 things that helped me feel alive recently (those are different lists).
This is a great practice for me to step out of what’s much easier for me, which is to see all the things that I don’t like and wish weren’t there. I can fixate on the undesired, or put my energy into “Ok, what is the good that’s actually all around me right now?” which feels so much more valuable and important. In the same way that we’ll never run out of things to complain about if that’s what we choose to focus on, we’ll also never run out of things to feel good about if that’s what we choose to see. So why not choose to see the good? Even as just an experiment to see where it takes you, seems like a reasonable thing to try.
As Ryan shares the mindset of seeing the good, I have to ask another variation of the big question…
Ryan, if you had to create journal prompts for readers – what would they be?
[Note to Readers: Get out your pen and paper – this is where you transition to becoming WRITERS yourself.]
Ryan Provides SIX Journal Prompts:
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What am I finding difficult right now? Do I want to remain involved with that?
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What am I finding ease with right now? Do I find that fulfilling?
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Who do I want to emulate more? Why?
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What can I do today that would help me feel accomplished or content when I lay down tonight?
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Is there anything I want to say to someone that I haven’t yet? If so, what am I going to do about that?
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How is my life different today from how it was a year ago (consider both the preferred and unwanted ways)? What’s one action I can take to increase the preferred or diminish the unwanted?
Journaling can be a habit that gives so much back to those who use it. I hope this post has offered some inspiration if you’re looking to start journaling for the first time, or you’re returning to it after a break.
And if you have journaling ideas, prompts or mediums you’d like to recommend and share – reach out.
Interested in learning more about Ryan and his practice? Check out Hug the Universe.
