Keep a Journal - Preserve a Life

If you've always wanted to keep a journal, all you need to do is START! Once you start, it's easier to keep going.

Just like the scroll-down bar as you keep filling the box with text, it keeps giving you more space to write. The more you put into it, the more room you're given. So pour your life into a container that's ever-expanding: a journal. Your Journal. With a capital J.

Since I have had a long and deep love for the land, my Journal contains that love. Of course love of my God, and love of my family are absolutely in there; with deep intensity. But here, I mainly want to write about Nature Journals.

To "Keep a Journal", the writer must obviously keep writing. After four to six weeks of intermittent entries, you may enter a crucial time. You may not have time, or may not feel like writing for days at a time. It's important not to slack off now. Do not coast. Do not stop writing. You must pass "GO" and keep going. Take another lap.

Persist. You need to reach that point where you say to yourself, "I didn't write today, but I do have something to say. I need to write. I want to write. I will write today."

Once you are writing again, you become engaged. The mere act of writing will bring things into perception that you didn't see coming. Then it will flow better, and you can ride the current; follow the stream where it takes you.



Getting Started - Some Basics

Pay attention.          Slow down.          Be still.          Become aware.

Four, simple, two-word thoughts. Simple ideas that can generate good journal content.

PAY ATTENTION
Try to notice something new each day and every day. Observe and note the details. A weed may become a soft blue wildflower unfolding. An insect may be a darting dragonfly snatching up mosquitoes.

SLOW DOWN
Get up earlier. Before you get into your car, step outside. Check the sky, notice the clouds. Enjoy the sunrise. Appreciate your garden. Take an early morning walk.

BE STILL
Leave early for your destination so you can have time to stop if you see a doe with her fawn; a stunning display of lightning; a turtle by the side of the road; be alert for a possible rainbow.

BECOME AWARE

Look for colors; how many shades of green? Notice how light plays with shadows or plays on the water. Watch the wind patterns on the surface of a lake. Listen. What bird is that? Poplar (Aspen) leaves are trembling in a light breeze. Inhale the fragrance of Common Milkweed flowers. Feel the atmosphere around you. Be alert and apply the gifts of your senses.



Thoughts on Composition

Make an effort to find words that mean something. Words that will shape a sensory image.

Be specific. Don't settle for the ordinary. Fight through the barrier of commonly-used words. Search with patience for exactly what you need to bring your experience to life.

Seek verbs that strengthen your sentences. Provide power to your prose with active verbs.

Isolate fragments of time. Focusing intently could amplify a common event into a vivid memory.



Thoughts on Material

To provide material for daily entries and future ideas to write about, I always carry a pen in my pants front pocket and small (3" X 3") pieces of scrap paper in my back pocket. I jot down notes about something I want to remember. At my age this is necessary. At any age, it is helpful.

I use them in the car, on a walk, in church, at the library, at a friend's house, while doing yard work, when I have an idea in the middle of the night, listening to song lyrics, at an art show, at the theatre, after an engaging conversation, and definitely while reading a book.

When you realize an event or incident is worthy of your Journal, take notes or begin writing soon after it occurs. This will help you record sharp details with clarity, and get down the vibrant verbs immediately.



Thoughts on Observation

Try to achieve completeness in your observations. Stay longer. Examine carefully. Question. Investigate. Wonder.

Employ all your senses: Look. Listen. Smell. Feel. Taste.

I've noticed on my walks outdoors, that if I have my camera along, I see more, notice more. I have focused attention. Plus, the camera brings my eye closer, especially with a macro lens.

Let your eyes linger longer. Try different viewpoints. Circle around, see from different angles -- sun behind, into the sun, side view, above your subject, below (if possible), on the ground. Squint.

Walk at different times of the day. Especially early morning and late evening, when the sunlight streams in at low angles. Dawn and dusk create special moods, and it's usually quieter.

Don't forget to get out under the night sky. Be aware of the moon's phases, its place in the sky. Learn to recognize a few constellations, their locations, where the planets should be this time of year.

Become a skywatcher during the day. Clouds form patterns, drift, build, diminish, sweep, swirl, thicken, stretch, twist, roll, gather, evaporate, pile, bulge, droop, dangle, and threaten. Clouds scatter, filter, dull, mask, diffuse, radiate, and color the light.



Thoughts on Consistency

Keep your Journal up to date.

Keep it active and fresh.

Keep it with you.

Keep it going.

Keep it.



Final Thoughts

Pour everything you have into your Journal. There will always be room for more. Don't save something for a later time. Spend it all. Spend it now. Someday it will give back to you in unexpected ways, in memories saved, a life preserved.

Decades from today you can reread your Journal. Share it with your grandchildren, if you are blessed to have them.

When you are very old, your grown children may need to read it back to you. Then your old words will wash over you with a renewed and gentle grace.









To my loving wife, Mary:    "You and I have memories, longer than the road that stretches out ahead."    (Paul McCartney)