Sunday, May 30, 2010

Writing a journal - part 1

What is a Journal or some may refer it as Diary? According to wikipedia : "A diary is a record (originally in handwritten format) with discrete entries arranged by date reporting on what has happened over the course of a day or other period. Diaries undertaken for institutional purposes play a role in many aspects of human civilization, including government records, business ledgers and military records. Schools or parents may teach or require children to keep diaries in order to encourage the expression of feelings and to promote thought.
Generally the term is today employed for personal diaries, in which the writer may detail more personal information and normally intended to remain private or to have a limited circulation amongst friends or relatives. The writer may also describe recent events in his/her personal diary. The word "journal" may be sometimes used for "diary," but generally one writes daily in a diary, whereas journal-writing can be less frequent.Whilst a diary may provide information for a memoir, autobiography or biography, it is generally written not with the intention of being published as it stands, but for the author's own use. In recent years however there is internal evidence in some diaries that they are written with eventual publication in mind, with the intention of self-vindication (pre- or posthumous) or simply for profit.
Diaries are highly varied, from business notations, to listings of weather and daily personal events, to inner explorations of the human psyche, to expressions of one's deepest self, to records of thoughts and ideas."
Most time we may find it difficult to write as what is there to write about. Daily routine which makes it impossible to see anything great worth writing. Today one might start to write a journal but after a few days he may see that all that we writes are just repetitions and he may end up stop writing or only on certain occasions that he might seems worth writing.
The book 'Diary of a Whimpy Kid', that is a good example what a journal/diary should be .. as there are just so many things that one can talk about .. only he be able to do so as he is so aware of what is going on around and within him. He writes about himself things that he done throughout the day, his emotions, his likes/dislikes, events that happen in the school/at home, about his bestfriend, his brother, his teacher, the bully, the bus ride, science experiment, his studies and so much more .. all these are all too new for him and he is aware about it all .. the level of sensitivity grows more and more. In the end .. he got all the he ever wish for and for him to get another wish granted it is easier as he has em steps all recorded in his journal. Ohya it is a journal .. it is called as Diary as his mother bought him a book written diary on the cover instead of a journal.
Even I have difficulty in writing my own journal .. as every time I hold a pen to write all that comes out in my mind are the things that I dislike about the day and even sometime I ask myself this: "What did I do today?" As I can say my life is just living a routine .. nothing much that I adventure into .. that is what I want to believe. When I sit back, quite my mind and just review my day .. hey so much did happen today. When I was bathing my cat in the morning, I was so into getting him clean blocking all thoughts keep my focus on him .. it was easy he just allow me to do anything but the moment I switch my mind to lunch .. he started screaming and wanting the bath to be over. I would not noticed this then but when I was writing my journal things just reveal itself to me.
A journal is not much of what you did .. the events .. but more of the effect that it has emotionally and spiritually. That are the key to unlocking your true self, your greatest potential which is creation of your own destiny. With a journal you can keep track about who you were, who you are today and who you wanna be in future.
This was the first verse that was send down by Gabriel from God to Muhammad Al Quran verse 96 Al Alaq : "1) Read in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher, Who created (2) Created man, out of a (mere) clot of congealed blood (3) Read! And thy Lord is Most Bountiful, (4) He Who taught (the use of) the pen, (5) Taught man that which he knew not."
This is my definition of this verse; God wanting mankind to read about creations, creations of life/the living, looking in angle of Bountiful (abundance/gracious/gratitude), write down all that you have read as that will teach mankind what he do not know/understand.
To me this is the 1st step in understanding about life - your own life. The Quran was not there yet .. logically how can Muhammad read the Quran .. so it must be something else .. if Gabriel wanting Muhammad read the Bible or Taurah .. well I think He could have just said it clearly to Muhammad. But Muhammad was asked to read about life/about creations, whose life is better to be read if not his own looking at the beautiful life that he had and how much God has given to him .. a LIFE .. understanding it by appreciates to the very little details .. write it down well do a journal .. more and more things will just be self taught. Learning from mistakes, experience, which all has been documented for future reference in making a better person, a person that value LIFE.
So you that been reading this .. have you started writing your own journal .. looking not on things that you done but more in the value of that experience, the beauty of why it happen to you .. and have you ever put a value of your own LIFE?

--shall continue--

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