I have done just about every type (medium or method) of journaling, from paper to digital (anything done on a cell, tablet, laptop, or computer; that which is typed). Then again, with journaling over 39 years, this is no surprise.
I go back and forth between writing by hand with paper and pen and with digital journaling. Sometimes it is a good thing to switch it up. I rather enjoy both mediums.
However, if I were to be completely honest, paper and pen journaling is by far the best type of journaling.
I sigh at that confession and truth.
Journaling with paper and pen has many drawbacks, I will not lie. Journaling by hand is slow. It takes a lot more time. Never mind how it can cramp my fingers, wrist, and hand. It costs more money. It's tedious carrying it with you everywhere you go. It also takes up a lot of space on bookshelves or in totes.
And, yet, paper and journaling is by far the best type of journaling any of us can do. (Yep. I am quite serious about this. Please take that in and think about it. Let it simmer in the back of your mind.)
Now, after everything I just said, I bet you are wondering about me, my logic, and if I am even thinking. I can assure you I mean this. Paper and pen journaling, journaling by hand, is the best journaling any of us can do. Period. Hands down.
Why on earth would I make such an outrageous claim? You might wonder, particularly if you have done paper and pen journaling and just do not care for it because of all the reasons I stated. And the answer is simple.
Nothing makes us slow down, and think like handwriting and capturing our thoughts and memories on the page, like paper and pen journaling. Nothing.
The fact is we all need to slow down in this busy, chaotic, mixed-up, crazy world.
There is another fact. In this busy world we live in, we rarely take the time to think, let alone think things through... all the way through from the start through to completion.
Journaling by hand touches (uses) the right and creative hemisphere of our brains; whereas, typing and writing that way touches (uses) our left and comprehensive hemisphere of the brain. Writing, speech, and forming words and all that is also left brain. Therefore, when we hand write our journals and use paper and pen, we use both parts of our brains. This means we are able to capture more on the page and think things through more completely. Writing by hand, on paper, forces us to slow down and reflect. This helps us do deeper and less shallow journaling.
As much as I want to do digital journaling all the time, I know that I lose out on much when I do. It's far too easy to just skim the surface and rush. I really cut myself off from major blessings from the stillness and deepness that paper and pen journaling offers. This is why I journal this way 95% (or more) of the time (and type some of it up later).
The best journaling takes time and thought. It forces us to stop, reflect, look, listen, learn, and apply. It allows us to go deep. It give us time to search for the meaning and purpose of the moments of our lives.
It's in the stillness, in the quiet, that we are able to go deeper, to think things through, and journal in a very special and sacred way.
Too often we take things for granted. We overlook much.
This world sucks the life out of us.
In the stillness, pen in hand, rested on the page, magic happens. We find peace. We deal with our stuff. And our lives become better because we took the time, and the chance, to journal by hand, be still in that, look, listen, and go deep. We find our purpose and meaning in the moments of our lives.
A JOURNALING PROMPT
Journal your thoughts on what you have read.
A 90-DAY CHALLENGE AND JOURNALING PROMPT
As much as you might want to disagree, I know that if you do paper and pen journaling for 90 days, for three months, you will see how much your journaling has changed... and how much you have. So give it a try. What do you have to lose?
Start today. Hand write. Do journaling with paper and pen. Do not delay. If you wait to find the perfect journal, you won't start. Grab any paper you can find, with multiple sheets, and begin. Yep. Start journaling. Now. Then, go around and try to find the paper journal that speaks to you.
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