Journals and Road Maps

HOW TO STAY INSPIRED

"One of the secrets of longevity is to have a strong interest and pursue it all the time." — Alexander Imich, age 104 (died at 111)

I went to graduate school to gain a profession, and I gained something even better. I gained the habit of keeping a journal. My journals have been invaluable companions on my journey through life. Often I encounter a passage I wrote years ago, even decades ago, that is just what I need to be reminded of today. 

The Road Map is a section I leave room for at the beginning of every journal—those on my computer and those I write by hand. Did I invent it, or did I imitate the practice of someone else? It's just a page or two of brief quotations that speak to me in some way. I find them in novels, poems, magazines, sermons; on the radio, in films, in conversations, overheard in public places. They are ideas that match my own or challenge my own; thoughts that inspire me; words that rebuke me or elevate me; truths I recognize and want to be reminded of. Sometimes I even discover something I've written in the body of an old journal that gets promoted to the Road Map of a new one, like a squirrel in winter digging up acorns buried in the fall.

RULES OF THE ROAD

1. In journaling, there are no rules. 
In my journal, I can say anything and do anything. I once studied a book of Sanskrit philosophy. It took me four months to read that book. It was so difficult that the only way I could seize hold of it was to summarize and paraphrase it, page by page and chapter by chapter, in my journals. My earliest journals were scribbled in black ink on looseleaf paper. Now they contain clippings, art (mine and others), cartoons, photos, greeting cards, poems (mine and others), and anything else it pleases me to keep in a book. Every chapter of my novel was drafted in my journals. Many of my small drawings have been saved in my journals. 

2. Keep an open ear. 
People are writing and speaking gems of wisdom all the time! Pay attention, and save what you like. If foolish ideas intrigue you, save those. 

3. Journals are a universal tool.
If you want to write a novel, keep a journal. Virginia Woolf did. If you want to rule an empire, keep a journal. Queen Victoria did. If you want to influence your generation with words and music, and even stop a war, keep a journal. Bob Dylan did. You're never too young to start a journal. You're never too old to start a journal.

"They say an old dog can't learn new tricks, but I take a more Buddhist view: by learning new tricks, you stop yourself from turning into an old dog." — novelist John Burdett in 'Bangkok 8'

These thoughts are offered, with thanks for their interest, to DDon and his English students, and to anyone else who would like to take them up. 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!