10 Easy Ways to Fill an Empty Journal
You know you have a stack of them...
There is only one wrong way to keep a journal. And that is empty on the shelf.
A journal is a book that is written by you, for you, at your own pace, in your own handwriting. There is absolutely no way you can mess this up. (It is actually probably the only thing in your life that you can’t mess up.) If you write something and hate it, rip out the page and burn it. A fresh, clean page will always be waiting for you, no questions asked.
Keeping a journal is like befriending your true self. It is picking up a conversation with an old friend and jumping right back in where you left off. It is small talk and deep connection. It is becoming aware of who you are, in the innermost places, and honoring the little details that make up your life.
Maybe you want to keep a journal, but you don’t know what to write.
The biggest secret of journaling is this: it doesn’t matter what you write. Just write something. Make marks on paper. Your journals may be full of boring stuff (small talk). You may have to rip some pages out to protect the people you love. But if you are writing something, you are doing it right. And good things will come of it (deep connection with God and your true self).
Today, I want to share a simple list of ways to fill a journal. If you want to journal, but you don’t know how to start, pick the number that seems the most doable and give it a go. If you are bored with your journaling life and want to shake things up, do the same.
10 Painless Ways to Fill an Empty Journal:
Things I Love—Make a list of things you love. These can be big things and/or little things. Get specific. My list might say something like: red-winged blackbirds, the smell of a newborn baby, Early Grey and dark chocolate, the sound of the piano, laughing till I cry, etc. You can make a list like this every day, every week, every month. Let it be a record of the things you are thankful for in the blur and busyness of everyday life.
I Remember—Every day you sit down to write in this journal, start with these words and see what memories rise to the surface of your mind. Don’t worry about chronology or keeping them in any kind of order. Just write down the memories as they come. This journal will become a memoir of sorts.
Brain-in-a-Book—No rules here. Just write anything and everything that you need to write down in this one place. To-do lists, meal plans, creative brainstorms, notes from sermons or podcasts, things your kids say, dreams, hopes, plans, etc. This book will become a time-capsule of a certain season of your life.
Word Collection— Copy passages or phrases from books you are reading, things you heard people say that were inspiring/enlightening, quotes or scripture. This is a place to collect words and ideas that bring you joy, inspiration, encouragement, courage, vision.
Birthday Letters—My friend, Michelle, writes a letter to her sons in her journals every year on their birthdays. One day, they will be able to look back on all of their birthday letters spread out across the decades of journals. I love this practice. It is like a snapshot of the relationship between mother and child. A letter that a mother writes to her three-year-old son is very different from the letter she writes to him at 13 or 23. All three show a special, intimate love. Set aside an entire journal for birthday letters for everyone in your family. Date each letter, and write a message to the one who is celebrating a birthday. Read it aloud or show it to him/her, but keep the original copy in your birthday letters journal to read and reread in years to come.
Prayers for a Specific Someone—When I was sixteen, I started keeping a journal of prayers for my future husband. I took all the longing that I had to love someone and be loved, and put it into prayers for the man I had not yet met. It was amazing to be able to give him the book of prayers a few days before we were married and tell him that I had been praying for him for 7 years. I still keep a journal of prayers for my husband. Most nights I write my prayers for him and leave them where he can read them before bed. I pray over specific things that I know are on his mind, over his needs, our needs as a family, over his life and his future. After 22 years of marriage, I have found that this is one of the best ways I can love, support, and encourage my husband. I have also started prayer journals for some of my children, with the goal of having one for each of them with prayers that span years of their lives.
A Journal to Burn—A journal is a great place to write things that you can say to God and no one else. Maybe you are holding onto old hurts and bitterness, maybe you are holding tightly to something that you need to let go. Make a journal to burn. Write in it all the things that you need to say. Say them to God, give them to him, leave them with him. Burn the journal and let them go.
Curio Cabinet—Keep a collection of details about your life. You can make pages about your interests—books, movies, hobbies, music you love, food log, favorite recipes, places you’ve been, etc. Make lists, cut and paste images from books or magazines, put in stickers or pressed flowers from your garden, ticket stubs, receipts, photos, leaf rubbings, etc. The book will become a curio cabinet of your interior life.
Time Well Spent Log—My grandma kept a teeny tiny diary, and she would write little notes like, “Took a pie to Margie,” or “Walked up to Phyllis’s house and washed dishes.” These details give a glimpse into what she wanted to remember, and what she wanted to be remembered for. Keep a journal like my grandma. At the end of every day, date a page and make a list of the things that you did that day that were meaningful. These can be big things or little things. No detail is too small to write down. Life is made up of washing dishes and making pies.
Round Robin Journal—Write, pass, repeat. Collaborate! Get a group of friends to make a journal together. (Don’t forget that children are the best of friends, too!) Write a story or a memory and pass. Draw a picture, pass. Think of it as analog social media if you like. Post, share, comment, etc. No rules. Just put marks on paper and pass.
Sending love, a blank page, and an inkwell of possibilities,
Mackenzie
ps. If you want to play along, I’d love to know. Which number are you going to choose?
p.p.s. If you want a more guided journaling experience, become a paid subscriber and get access to my 6-week video course, Innermost Journaling: Mining the Depths of Your Sacred Everyday Life. (And know that you are making a huge impact on my life and my ability to keep showing up and writing posts like these. Thank you!)
Family News:
My 15-year-old daughter, Paloma, has a new journal in production! We will be getting the first proof in the mail tomorrow, and we are so excited. Hoping to have it available to preorder by next week. Look for her beautiful, whimsical, springtime journal coming soon!
In the meantime, here is a little coloring page she made. (Click to print it out.)
Do you love it? (I always look at her pictures and think, “That is the way life should be…”)
You can see Paloma’s other journal and her little handmade dollies in our family shop.
From Youtube:
Around this time two years ago, Randy was sitting outside in the front yard and he heard a bird singing three notes over and over. He wrote them down, and they became the first three notes of this song. I love this version where he is playing piano, bass, guitar, Irish whistles, and the bodhran. (And now you are beginning to know why I say I am married to a mad-scientist musician…)
From the Podcast: Life in a Big Family
“How do you do it?”
I have been asked this question so. many. times. When people learn that we have nine children 1-17, I think they are genuinely curious what our life looks like. In this episode, I am sharing a bit about life as a mother of a large family, as well as some thoughts about growing up as the youngest of nine children. This is not a how-to episode. It’s just a story of what life in a big family is and has been for me, how it has shaped me and made me the person that I am. I will sum it up by saying I wouldn’t trade either of my large family experiences for any other version of family I could imagine, and I am very grateful to have had my place as one of many in both. (Originally posted January 2023)
Upcoming Speaking Events:
Friends in Northeast Georgia! I will be speaking at a women’s event at The Torch in Cornelia, Georgia on April 21 at 6:30 p.m. This will be an interactive journaling event, and I am so excited! If you plan on coming, shoot me a message to RSVP. I would love to see you there.