Starting my journal...

I have heard somewhere that a journal is supposed to be the window to your soul.
I really like that expression and I will aim to remember it as I go along this task as I feel this will prevent me from editing or scrapping any thing I have written that I feel has no use.

I used to write journals when I was a child. Back then I would call it a diary, but after my research and readings on keeping a journal I think now they were more like journals than diaries.
I wrote down my daily activities for several years in different diaries. I actually came across these diaries just last week. I had a quick read through my entries and they were very amusing but also really lovely memories to look back on.
I consider myself a very creative person in many different ways. I love writing and am very passionate about story writing. I have been writing fictional stories for my own enjoyment since I was a young teenager and have been working on a number of long stories for the past couple of years.
Because of my creative streak I am looking forward to keeping a journal and I'm not scared of writing down my thoughts and ideas.

Something that has held me back from starting the journal right away was one word that I kept coming across as I was reading the material given to us about journal keeping. That word was learning.
I could easily write down my thoughts, plans, ideas, daily activities and work issues..I could even do it in a creative way that I would enjoy. I have really enjoyed blogging for this reason.

But I kept asking myself....would I actually be learning? 

If I documented thoughts and ideas down in a way I always have done would I actually be pushing and improving myself?

Maybe I am looking too deeply into it. Maybe the learning process is not something that jumps out at you but happens over time as my writing changes with thoughts and ideas progressing and transforming into other thoughts and ideas. If I looked back over my writing, analysing and reflecting my earlier entries, would this be the point at which I can understand my improvements and how far I have come from my first entry to the latest entry?

I aim to create my journal in different ways. Description will be my main tool to portray my daily accounts as I would a story. But I would also love to use imagery. I think sketching and drawing is a lovely way to put across thoughts. I often have ideas that I can't describe with just words.
But descriptive writing and drawing is something that I already enjoy doing. I feel I have to push myself a bit more. So I aim, after more research to find different ways in which I can approach my journal. I may find that these new techniques bring forth new ideas.

I have decided to write my journal in a book format. I am very traditional and I knew I would enjoy writing more than typing! I could also jot down any thoughts I had at any time. Great ideas always come to my mind when I am just letting my thoughts wander.... In fact a lot of my choreography is created from me sitting down, with or without my music and just looking unseeing out of a bus or train window, steps and movements flowing in my head. It is at these times that I could pull out the journal from my bag and start writing....I won't have to rely on my memory anymore!

I have a habit of scribbling things down when I'm in a rush or writing some sort of list in different note pads and on loose paper...I didn't want my journal to become another junk pad....or maybe, upon thinking about it, that's exactly what it needs to be? After all, from piles of junk you may find a precious treasure!