Where / How to find inspiration to journal

I often get asked from time to time about how and where I find my inspiration from and also people have asked to see how journal pages come together. I haven't really know in what form I wanted to share this in with you all until now but I am finally doing that.



There are different styles of journalling and I tend to do some of them, all of them, a mixture of them depending on what I want to do that day for example:

• Just writing
• Art work on it's own
• Smashbooking (sticking in ephemera like receipts)
• Scrapbooking (using photographs and embellishments)
• Collaging
• Or a mixture like art work with a quote.

Why I am journalling usually infuences the style of journalling that I want to do, again there are many reasons why you may want to journal and for me those are:

• To document my day / debrief
• To record keep (momentous occasions like a wedding or baby etc)
• To process my feelings, good and bad
• For the sake of it, to art and create for fun and because I enjoy it.

No there is no need to other think this before you start, just open a book and go for it, however if you are struggling to get started then thinking about these things can be a great start. For example if we have been on a nice date to a restaurant I would want to record this and that would be the inspiration. I would likely write about what a lovely time we had and then maybe stick a photo in with some cute washi tape and then stick the receipt in. Jobs a good un'. The inspiration in that situation kind of found itself and that is easy.

What about when you want to journal but don't know what about, or if you want to start incorporating art work into your journal etc well then this can be a bit more tricky. Believe me it does up with ease the more practise you have so please don't get disheartened in the early days and give up, keep with it and I promise you that you will get there with inspiration flying at you all the time. There are times of course when you have blocks and that is natural but something will open you up again. If you do have a mental block which I often do, I just sit with my journal and collage. I love to collage I find it very relaxing and soon an idea comes to me and then I just roll with it!

To start to find your inspiration you need to open your eyes to see as well as look and try and be more present in your day and each moment. Think about the situations you have been in that day and enjoy each present moment before trying to rush to the next one. For me I find my happiness in the present moment, enjoying the everyday and the everyday is beautiful. Of course crummy things can happen and do happen but the key to your happiness is how you deal with those situations, cue your journal - process them in there! Documenting your day or having a 'de brief' with yourself is a great way to process everything that you have been through that day and helps you to clear and refresh your mind.

Every life tells a story and every story is interesting. You may not think it at the time but believe me it is! When in a few years you pick your journal up again you can look back and see how you have changed and grown as a person. Both sets of my grandparents passed away when I was young so I only remember them through a childs mind but I would love to read their journals (if they had them) to find out what life was like for them. How interesting would it be to know about their everyday lives, what they ate, what they wore all that kind of stuff. Of course there may be things that you don't want people to see in the future and that is fine, you don't have to leave your journals behind and of course you should set up boundaries with your family members for your privacy where your journal is concerened. Mr B keeps a journal and we are both respectful of each others journal space.

So start to find the inspiration in the everyday. The above picture shows Mr B on a Sunday morning having a cup of tea and reading the paper. He had had a busy week and work and on the Saturday so the Sunday was really nice to chill out with each other and it was some really special quality time together. Of course I really liked seeing him so relaxed and contented to I took this instagram snap of him which I love, it is so arty and in the journal it went along with some writing about that moment.

So moving on to my process of how I journal and how I find my inspiration and turn it into a journal page. I don't or haven't in the past eaten anywhere near as much fruit as I should, I am so bad at it but that is just the way it is. In the past week or so I have really upped my fruit and I am really proud of myself for doing that and I have gotten to the point where I am really enjoying fruit and I am actually craving it now. I love it! I never thought it would come to that being someone who really wasn't that interested in fruit. So it is so momentous for me I felt like I wanted to capture how I felt about it all and what it all meant to me. I had just been and bought some more fruit and it was a hot day and it all made me feel very happy. See more of my thoughts on this and how I put this journal page together in the video below...

 

I hope you found it interesting to see how I gathered my inspiration and then turned it into a journal page. I will do a little series of these to help get you on your way so you can see how I do it and hopefully gain some inspiration yourself.

If you are not sure if journalling is for you or not but you are just tempted by it, or indeed if you want to get into journaller or just have a refresher, I have a playlist over on my YouTube channel of inspiring videos all about journals. I just you go check it out as then you don't just have to take my word for it but the inspiration from many other people that journal too. Click here to go to that playlist.