A piece of writing begins with a germ of an idea, an inspiration, a straw dog. Some people use their journals to spark ideas.
In addition to being a good starting point for a writer, journaling has other benefits. According to Leslie
Andrus-Hacia, a clinical psychiatrist Writing is a brain-based porthole leading to a balanced and calm
state of being … through writing, both right-and left-brain hemispheres communicate, synthesizing
information that ultimately results in greater mental coherence.”* Other benefits of journaling include memory support and increasing communication skills.
I like to journal on my IPhone. I always have it with me and I loaded Microsoft Word onto it so I can access the files from my IPad or MacBook. Whenever I get an idea or scrap of a thought, I enter it into my Phone Journal. I review my notes once a week to see if there is anything I want to flesh out into a poem. It’s a good system for collecting odd thoughts that otherwise would just escape you.
Sometimes those odd thoughts turn into your best work. I am publishing a new collection of poems at the beginning of the new year called Dread and Splendor: Paintings and Poems for a New Planet (Shanti Arts, 2026.) Many were from thoughts in my journal.
Check it out:
*Family Health and Wellness
Eileen P. Kennedy Author 