As a child, I really loved the idea of a notebook where I could write my thoughts about the day. I was eleven years old when someone gave me a 5-year diary, for years I was able to glimpse at the mind of my eleven-year-old self, and then I lost the journal. In it, I would write about the weather, what I ate, and what I did. My childhood experiences were full of stories about my cousins. We were a large family and we lived in the same building in the Bronx.  We had so much fun. Later as an adolescent, my journals had deeper reflections on life, love, school, and whom I was becoming.

My journals held memories of wilted roses given by a friend, poems, newspaper clippings, dreams, and drawings. All of my love for the creative was reflected in all of my journals. Once I started making collages, the covers of my journals were the collages I made for each of them. In these journals, I continued to keep poems, snippets of a story, dialogue, my dreams, and of course images, drawings, paintings, and of course, the weight of my studies and the five years of my eventual doctorate. Yet, I never stop creating, writing or drawing. 

The research literature shows that Journal is a beneficial self-care practice.  Known as "journal therapy" when done in a  therapeutic context it has been shown to enhance feelings of joy, provide clarity, reduce stress,  clarifies thoughts and feelings, and you have an archive of your own personal journal, you get to know who you were and the journey of your own transformational process.

My interest in journaling culminated in the reading of Ira Progoff's book, At the Journal Workshop. He is the Godfather of the contemporary journal-writing movement. This book is the  basic text and guide to the application of what he called the “intensive journal process.” Progof died in 1998, he was 77 years old.

I was a teenager when the book came out, but it made such an impression on me. I still have that book. Back then,  I could not afford his workshops so, I bought a loose-leaf notebook and added different color pages to create the section and what I would call the Journal Workshop. I did the exercises imagining I was in the real workshop. To learn more about the Journal Workshop go to their website.

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 Later, my continued interest in journaling led me to take a course with Kathy Adams author of Journal to the Self: Twenty-Two Paths to Personal Growth - Open the Door to Self-Understanding by Writing, Reading, and Creating a Journal of Your Life Paperback – Illustrated, January 1, 1990

Reviews of this book note that Kathy Adams, "provides a powerful tool for better living--a step-by-step method to personal growth, creative expression, and career enhancement through journal writing." 

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Then a friend gifted me the Artist Way by Julia Cameron, and together we attended an Artist Way workshop with Julia, there were more than 400 New Yorkers at the venue, and everyone was so happy, loving, and kind. I highly recommend this book, "The Artist Way"  

This book is now 31 years old, it celebrated its  Artist Way 25th year with a new edition in 2016, but when it came out it made such an impression on me that I hosted an Artis Way group in my home. Since then, Julia Cameron has written many other inspiring books. 

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If you work with me, I will "invite"  you to keep a journal practice. I recommend you buy a journal today. You may go through several different journal notebooks before you find your preference but start today.  You can go here to these questions for your first journal entry.