Creative Journaling
I am so excited today - we have a guest blogger! Today, Nicole Graham of Journals for Empowerment has stopped by our blog while on her virtual book tour. Nicole and her business partner, Tara Spicer have co-written the Journal for the Modern Goddess.
If you don’t already know, I have a passion for scrapbooking and as explained in the following article supplied by Nicole and Tara, journaling is something that could compliment the stories our photos tell.
Benefits of Creative Journaling
Journaling is the practice of keeping a journal that explores your thoughts and feelings surrounding the events of your life. It is more than keeping a diary and recording the activities of your life, journaling allows you to clarify your thoughts and feelings, thereby gaining valuable self-knowledge.
If you combine journaling with scrapbooking and collage, you have Creative Journaling. The purpose is still the same, however rather than expressing your feelings and thoughts purely through words, you use photos and images as well. Images can include sketches, paintings, clippings from newspapers, images from magazines and anything else that you feel visually represents you.
Creative journaling offers many benefits and I would imagine they would be similar to scrapbooking, some of the benefits are:-
Reduces Stress – Creative journaling has a proven benefit of reducing stress. The process of writing your thoughts and feelings down allows you to let go, and not carry as much with you throughout your day. The process of being creative allows you to relax and express yourself without having all the right words. This is a powerful form of self-expression, and through that expression you can gain clarity, release, and relief.
Promotes Self-Healing – Through journaling and reflection you can uncover and record patterns and cycles as well as heal the past, heal relationships and soothe troubled memories. You will gain surprising and valuable insights into yourself as you write and be creative at the same time, and again when you revisit past writings.
Encourages Personal Growth – As you express yourself you can integrate life experiences and learnings, explore dreams and fantasies, which in turn allows you to move forward in discovering who you really are.
Better Know Yourself – Journaling helps you create awareness of your beliefs and options, as well as help identify your values. This self discovery reveals different aspects of yourself, and allows you to better know yourself and make changes where you feel there is a need.
Better Communicator – Instead of saying something you may regret at a later stage, creative journaling is a safe way of expressing feelings and half-formed thoughts until you are ready to communicate them to others in a healthy and constructive way.
No Structure – Start today, stop tomorrow and that is how it should be. It is your journal, and your journey – record what you want and when you want based on your personal needs.
You do not have to be an artist to be creative because what is important is that you express what you want to say, in whatever way you feel. You could be recording your daily thoughts, or maybe your journal is a journal of holidays and time away with family and friends.
The important thing is to remember that your journal is your own sacred space, where you honour yourself and the unique light that you bring to our world.
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Nicole Graham and Tara Spicer are currently on a virtual book tour promoting their recently released writing journal, Journal for the Modern Goddess.
About the Journal for the Modern Goddess:
This beautiful hard covered, spiral bound writing journal helps women uncover the beautiful, unique and powerful Goddess that they really are.
The journal features 6 coloured inserts with inspirational quotes, guided questions, affirmations and 204 lined pages for journaling. The coloured inserts divides the journal into sections - Gratitude and Happiness; Moving Forward; Dreams and Visions; Journal Pages; Guided Meditation; and Sanctuaries and Sisterhood.
The companion guided meditation CD features 3 tracks that provide women with sacred journeys that inspire and encourage them to create positive life patterns. These tracks help them to recognise and invite magic, inspiration and loving energy into their lives.
The journal retails for $34.95 AUD including GST.
To view or purchase the journal, please visit Nicole and Tara’s website, Journals for Empowerment. To read more about their Virtual Book Tour, visit their virtual book tours blog.
Psss… they also have a competition going for the readers of the virtual book tour. To find out more about it, visit their competition page.
The last clue for the tour is: Our Goddess is Greek
Great article for Journalling, thanks for sharing the link to it
Comment by Kylie on 20 Mar 2008
[…] March: And our last stop of the tour we chatted about Creative Journaling with Jenny over at Assential […]
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