Monday, May 4, 2009

The Joy Journal

I love diaries and writing in them, it’s something I inherited from my father; he’s kept diaries for as long as I can remember. If you go through his old stuff you’ll find some curved mildewed diaries of all shapes and sizes, some dating back as far as the 60’s. My father’s father, a schoolteacher for forty plus years, was also a great lover of the written word. He regularly contributed to the newspapers and magazines of his time, I don’t remember much about him because he lived in Champhai and died when I was twelve, but he would send us letters all the time, written in his curvy handwriting and always writing something encouraging.

I think I was unconsciously influenced by my father and grandfather to write. When I was a kid I used to write stories all the time, that is I would get some grand idea and would start writing a story (it was always about princes and princesses) but I never finished a single one. So much for perseverance. Until now I haven’t written a single story yet, haven’t tried it once, although I've read a million stories and have a fair idea of what would grab my attention and what would make an interesting read. The thing that’s holding me back is fear of failure. “I've never studied literature and drama and how dialogues go and how to properly frame sentences and paragraphs and whatnot, I don’t want to make a laughing stock out of myself.” I know it’s a silly silly thing and that you’ll never know unless you’ve tried it and that there are millions of material and courses out there that would help me polish my skills a bit and help me grasp the lowest rung so I can slowly inch my way upwards - but I'm too lazy to do some research and some digging around. Never mind, this post isn’t about my writing skills, or lack of; it’s about diaries and journals.

At some point in our lives I guess we’ve all kept diaries or journals where we write down our innermost thoughts and feelings and sometimes some downright ridiculous stuff which at the time seemed normal and important but when you go read it again after a few years you realized how silly it really was. When I started out I mostly wrote about everyday life, what I did, what I ate, who I met etc etc the usual girl stuff. Then it went on to feelings, thoughts, ideas, dreams, and daydreams. If something nice happened I would record down entire conversations, or what I could remember of it. But I rarely write when I'm happy, I write when I'm sad and angry and mad. Some people when they are sad/angry/mad cry and scream and shout, some people break things, some people sulk, some people write poetry and sad songs, me I write whatever is in my mind. And tear it off and throw it away later.

Recently I came across an article, I don’t remember if it was from the newspaper or from the internet, which said we should all keep joy journals. You know, journals/diaries where we write the things that made us happy, or something good that happened to us. Count your blessings sort of book. It should not be something that you wished would happen to you (like winning the lottery or having all the pretty girls/guys fall for you). It should be something that actually happened and that made you sit back and smile and feel good. Nothing is too small or insignificant, nothing too unimportant or trivial. If it makes you happy, write it down. “I went shopping today and didn’t look fat in the dressing room mirror.” “The taxi/auto driver actually had change today, for a change.” “My boss gave me a pat on the back for a job well done.” “My mother-in-law postponed her visit by three days.” “My roses bloomed.” “My phone bill was surprisingly low.” “The temperature went down by two degrees.” Etc etc . It’s up to you to decide what is important and what is not. If nothing makes you happy, don’t write anything, leave that day blank. If negative and sad thoughts creep in while you're writing, put your pen down immediately. If you are a grouch who never feels happy, don’t waste your money buying the diary/notebook. If you feel the world is full of sorrow and sadness and suffering, go look for the nearest lake to jump into.

So yesterday I went and bought a notebook, one of those spiral bound colourful little things. Took it home and wrote the first day’s entry before sleeping. Woke up this morning, read it again, and it makes life good, makes me realize that good things still happen no matter how bad you think things are.

14 comments:

  1. Diary ziah hi ka peih lo lutuk. Ziah hnu chhiar leh erawh nuam ka ti hle thung! I Pu Diary chu a ngaihnawm ngawt ang a!!?

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  2. Keipawh tunlai chu ka ziak thatchhe lutuk. Nia chhiar leh hi chu a nuam, mahse miin an lo chhiar hian a thinrim thlak thin. Ka pu diary chu keipawh ka chhiar chak khawp mai, hmuh tur awm se chuan....

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  3. My grandfather kept diaries too. Maybe people of the older generation were more 'literate' than us.

    I'd stopped having a diary a loonng time back, but I started one again when our baby was born. It's nice to note down what happened each day and not let the days simply blend into each other.

    A joy journal sounds like a good idea. Like you said, it's mostly the bad stuff you write about in diaries.

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  4. BTW, can I link you on my page please?

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  5. Maybe people of the older generation were more 'literate' than us.Now that's one thing that could probably be true, They didn't have everything available to them at their fingertips like we do, so maybe they put more effort in whatever they do.

    Try the joy journal, you will not be disappointed.

    Oh yes you can link me on your page, it'd be an honour.

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  6. and diary, I too am linking you, and following your blog. Hope you don't mind.

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  7. I read somewhere last year that keeping a diary keeps you mentally healthy and a joy diary sounds like an even better idea.

    About that never having studied lit thing, that's just silly. We don't study how to write dialogues or frame sentences. What you need is a good editor, that's all. And that'll happen when you finish the book and send it out to publish. So please do sit down and start writing. Trust me, you write extremely well so you needn't fear failure.

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  8. Yes the joy journal idea very much appealed to me when I first read about it. But it still took me about a week to actually implement it. Procrastinating as usual.

    I thought all you lit/English people ever studied was all those complex grammar things which we never studied in school, and read all those heavy intellectual books. It's quite a relief to know I am not missing much. Will try to sit down soon, very soon and work on a story. Not a book, but a story. Let's learn to walk first before aiming for the marathon.

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  9. I used to write a diary/journal way back. It started when in class 7, then later in hostel, but I realised that the entries were kinda getting monotonous, the same thing everyday while in hostel, so I stopped for a while.
    I started again a few years later as I matured, and the writings were more of thoughts and feelings rather than what happened during my day, it was a kind of build-up for a blog.. hehe..
    With todays technology, it makes more sense to fire up your internet connection and blog your ass off, rather then to make the effort to take a pen and diary and jot down your entries which no one will ever read except yourself.. And to remember events, theres always the trusty calendar on your mobile, so I guess times have changed the way we perceive the innocence of keeping a diary.. innocence lost, if you will.. :p

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  10. I agree that writing diaries was kind of a build-up for a blog,as you said. It's where we learned to write, where we learned to pen our thoughts down without worrying about censorship. But sometimes when I went through my old diaries the language I used just killed me, it was that terrible.

    Blogging is good, easy, and fun, and helps you grow as a person, but I think you should still write in your old diary now and again, at least for old times sake :)

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  11. Diary ziah hi chu taihmak a ngai khop mai. I pa leh i pu te hi an fakawm..hetiang fanu an nei hi an chhuang ngot bawk ang.. Dairy hi ka ziah thatchhe ltk a, tihdan ka thlak a E-dairy zawngin ka kal a, tha ve phian. Zanah PC khawih zawha mut dawnah enter juai thin a, fuh phian. mahse theihnghilh chang chu ka nei tho mai.

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  12. E-diary poh tha tho mai ziah peih chuan. Thil ho te mah ni se diary ziah hi taihmak a ngai ve lutuk. Ziah khat deuh phei chuan han ziah dawn hian kan bo hu zel.

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  13. Hey, you have inherited a love and ability for the written word right from your grandpa, that's simply great. So what's actually preventing you writing much much more besides on the blog?

    Diaries, i used to write during my early teens but gave it up later and never managed to pick it up again. It's a good habit, for sure.

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  14. mesjay, physically nothing is stopping me from writing something besides blogging, but mentally and emotionally I've put up many roadblocks for myself which I need to clear up before I can get anywhere. But it's always nice to get encouragement from the likes of you, it definitely helps clear some of the roadblocks.

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