Jump into Journaling

Back when we were in Vail, Mom received an email asking if she knew anybody who would teach a class about journaling for the stake women's conference this month. So she asked me! I felt able to teach this class, because I love blogging so much.

I extolled the various virtues of blogging and gave several examples of how to journal and what to journal about. I hope that I helped the women who came to the class expand their definitions of journaling, because a pen-and-paper journal is by no means the only way to journal. Pen-and-paper journaling doesn't work for me, but a combination of blogging, scrapbooking, and scripture journaling does.

I found this great quote from a talk Spencer W. Kimball gave a long while back:

Your own private journal record the way you face up to challenges that beset you. Do not suppose life changes so much that your experiences will not be interesting to your posterity. Experiences of work, relations with people, and an awareness of the rightness and the wrongness of actions will always be relevant. . . .

Your journal should contain an image of your true self rather than a picture of you that applies cosmetics to everything you ever did, making you appear to be flawless. There is a temptation to paint with words one's virtues in rich color and whitewash the vices, but there is also the opposite pitfall of accentuating the negative. Personally, I have little respect for anyone who delves into the ugly phases of the life he is portraying, whether it be his own or another's. The truth should be told, but we should not emphasize the negative. Even a long life full of inspiring experiences can be brought to the dust by one ugly story. . . .

Your journal is your autobiography, so it should be kept carefully. You are unique, and there may be incidents in your experience that are more noble and praiseworthy in their way than those recorded in any other life. There may be a flash of illumination here and a story of faithfulness there; you should truthfully record your real self and not what other people may see in you.

Your story should be written now while it is fresh and while the true details are available.

Writing a journal is the literature of superior people. Each individual can become superior in his own humble life.--Spencer W. Kimball, "The Angels May Quote from It"

I love this quote. I feel that through my own blogging--and I'm coming up on my three-year blogging anniversary--I've been able to paint an accurate picture of myself, good and not-so-good.

Here's to blogging and jumping into journaling!!