How do I describe what journaling for creativity is? I felt that in order to write a brief introduction about this form of journaling, in order to make it straightforward for someone first presented with it, I needed to start with a single defining sentence.
The difficulty with this, is that journaling for creativity is a concept and not a single journaling practice. It is a collection of many different journaling practices along with a heady mix of mindfulness, awareness, science, active use of the senses, curiosity and review. All of these then become part of a journaling method that is focused on feeding and developing the creative energies and abilities of the journaler.
In all forms of creative art there is a simple premise, whether the art is writing, painting, dancing, sculpting or performing. This is;
If you continue to draw from your well of creativity without replenishing it, then eventually your well will become empty and you will have nothing to draw from.
So if there is one single defining sentence, it might be;
“To feed and develop the creativity of an individual through the use of journaling based activities.”
There, that sounds simple enough.
In practice however, execution is a mite more complex. There is a need for the self-development of the journaler, to improve their relationships with their senses, their awareness of themselves and of the world, and to rediscover the curiosity of youth. For if they don’t develop the eyes to see, the ears to hear, the fingers to touch, the nose to smell and the mind to question, then the greater part of what is available to them will be invisible.
Allow me to demonstrate this with an example of active looking.
Picture yourself in a town square. In front of you is an interesting old building; size, shape, type etc. are all apparent to you.
You could easily make a journal entry about that building, describing how it sits in the square, its colour, its purpose, its solidity, the number of floors and so on.
Look again at the building, but this time look actively at it. Question the relationships between things as they are now, might have been or probably will be. By doing this, you will be able to see beyond the obvious. Is it loved; is it maintained, does it make a statement for some corporation? Was it once loved; designed with ornate stonework, now aging, crumbling and a liability? Who are the people who use it, what tales are told by their presence or lack of presence? Are there alterations, repairs to trauma? What do the items visible in the windows tell you? How has its use changed over the years? The answers to these and many other questions are visible when you actively look at something.
To conclude this demonstration, now imagine yourself sketching the same building. The need to physically use your hand to draw components of the building requires you to be fully aware of them. Suddenly, other details become important, shapes around windows, front steps, the junctions with neighbouring buildings, shapes along roof edges, door handles, shadows, reflections on glass, etc. etc. etc! All these details that you now find a need to know were all present the last time you looked, but your mind disregarded them. To your mind they were inconsequential and so were ignored, making them effectively invisible to you.
This is important, as being able to use all your senses actively, to have awareness of the world, is key to journaling for creativity.
From the above example you may have already gathered that most journaling for creativity is practiced out in the field, some may be done quietly at home. But most of it is performed where the items or events of interest are. This in turn means that the journaler always has a journal about them, and because we use many forms of media, they may be carrying a notebook, sketch pad, camera, video recorder, sound recorder, digital journal, bag or any combination of these.
Learning to actively sense the world is not difficult to master, and in the Journaling for creativity section on the blog there are many enjoyable journal based games designed to assist the journaler in seeing beyond self imposed sensory filters.
There is much more I could say but I will finish up on one other major difference between most journaling practices and journaling for creativity, which is the regular review of past entries.
Entries are made deliberately emotive. They are filled with the sensory imagery, thoughts, feelings, visual imagery, emotions and insights of an event. In this way they are like memory capsules, brimming with knowledge of a moment now past, but when we review an entry the memories, feelings, sounds, scents, sights and emotions of that distant moment are present once more.
In this way, by browsing past entries whilst reviewing, there is a constant feeding of the creative mind, ensuring the creative well remains topped up.
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Andy Shackcloth lives in Italy and promotes journaling for creativity via his personal blog “Shack’s Comings and Goings”, dedicated Facebook page and Twitter feeds. He stumbled upon journaling after writing tutors insisted that it would be a good thing for him to do. Journaling and his subsequent research into journaling, lead to an epiphany that changed his view of the world and the direction of his writing.
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