Customer Reviews

Journal to the Self: Twenty-Two Paths to Personal Growth - Open the Door to Self-Understanding by Writing, Reading, and Creating a Journal of Your Life

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3 star:		(1)
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"Journal to the Self" is a wonderful smorgasbord of ideas for personal journal writing and for writing in general. Taking proven journaling techniques from a myriad of resources and condensing them into a single tome, Kathleen Adams effectively gives her readers the opportunity to explore different facets of journal writing.

Whether you have fifteen minutes or five hours, Kathleen Adams has an approach for you. From "Topics du Jour" to Dr. Ira Progroff's Steppingstones, both veteran journal keepers looking for clever methods of journaling and novices trying to find interesting ways to get going will find this book invaluable. Even if you aren't a journal keeper now, this book has a wealth of information to jumpstart your writing and will convince you to start journaling!

As a veteran journal keeper, I have enjoyed a better understanding of myself and found a greater depth of writing outside of my journal using the different prompts and exercises in this book. Although the perspective is written primarily from a self-help journal "therapy" point of view, I highly recommend it as an excellent, "must have" resource for any writer's personal library.

That is what the author calls her journal, the 79-cent therapist. Nowdays, when even those tiny 3x2 memo notebooks cost nearly a full dollar, and when a regular notepad will go for almost three, calculate the cost of therapy: the price of this book + shipping + some paper & pencil = ...? Compare to $150 per hour at the local shrink.
This book helped me overcome the misery of a sad breakup. I was in college. After the heart-break, I spent my free hours between classes hiding in a library cubicle, crying. Then I found the book by mistake at the local bookstore, and added a journaling time to the crying and hiding. Using just a few of the techniques in the book, it only took me a couple of months to get over the guy who broke my heart. My self esteem improved. I recommend this book as a Self-Help tool. I am into writing anyway, but I'm sure that the tricks will work even if you're only a beginner or can't even spell well.
Sometimes you feel like you can't tell anyone what's going on. When no one else will listen, paper will. Paper can handle even the craziest thoughts. I recommend this book to you.

Some people seem to have the natural ability to spill their thoughts onto paper without feeling self-conscious. Others, like me, need a little direction when putting pen to paper, and this is where JOURNAL TO THE SELF comes in.

The book presents many ways to express yourself in a journal including: character sketches, captured moments, dialogue, lists, unsent letters, and stream of consciousness among others. Using these methods, you will work through problems and gain greater self-awareness as well as purge yourself of any problems in your life that you feel you can't talk to anyone about.

For those who think they can't fit journaling into their day, all of the exercises in the book can be done in as little as 15 minutes a day or expanded into writing sessions as long as you need them to be.

Journaling is truly one of the best and least expensive ways to get to know yourself better, and maybe solve a few problems in the process.

I've tried many times to start a journal for many reasons, therapy, just because I love to write, maybe I'll write a book someday, or just to leave behind a little history for someone to read after I'm gone-the good and the bad of what made me, me. I was never really able to get any direction. This book really helped me get started...so well that I bought another copy and a blank journal for someone I know going through a rough time hoping it would help my friend too.

some great techniques for journaling. I tried most of them and liked them. They did not have some profound impact on my life, but it gave journaling a little more dimension and made it intresting. If you do get this book remmeber that it has ALOT of fluff( useless info); flip through the pages, get the gist of the techniques and go for it. It took me about an hour to read this way. It very boring if u read every page

I've been journaling for nearly 20 years, and I've also been a teacher of writing. I wish I'd found this book years ago! There are terrific suggestions that will promote self-insight in your writings - great ways to jumpstart your daily entry. If you journal for self-discovery, buy this book!

Kathleen Adams life is journal keeping and this book reflects the passion she has for using writing to enrich our lives. The Director of the Center for Journal Therapy in Colorado, and the author of several journaling texts, including a workbook that accompanies this book, Journal to the Self ranks with the works of Ira Progoff, Tristine Rainer, Christina Baldwin and Natalie Goldberg, in my estimation. Every serious journal keeper should have Kay's books in their collections. She also offers workshops throughout the United States and is a facilitator second-to-none.

I picked up a small spiral bound ecru book for sketching a couple of years ago. No, I'm not an artist, but find myself wanting to make sketches when I'm not making photographs. I then found myself writing on one page and drawing on the other. On a whim, I picked up a copy of "Journal to the Self" at a local bookstore. I read through a few pages.

Then I bought it.

I've read JTS at least three times and every time I approach the book again, I find something new to try out. I find these techniques great for analyzing the things that are on my mind and in my heart. The tools presented in JTS by Ms. Adams are carefully thought out, well-explained, and easy to apply.

That doesn't mean journaling is easy. I found a lot of hard issues to deal with as I probed my background. I also found a number of difficult issues when thinking about my life, where it is, and where I want it to be. The journal is an excellent place to put these thoughts. I return to my thoughts and see if my mind has changed. When my ideas remain the same, there is validation to be found. When my ideas differ, then it's time to think some more. And, it's time to think with a pen.

My favorite tools are Lists of 100, Dialogue (great fun too), Character Sketches, and Unsent Letters. These writing techniques will help you get your thoughts in the books. I highly recommend JTS.

Oh yeah, when you start writing, treat yourself to a Moleskine! They are great journals to work with.

This is my second favorite journaling book (after T. Rainer's "The New Diary"). I found it particularly useful for the variety of exercises suggested by the author. Already a journal-keeper for 14 years when I first read this, I still found it useful, though the beginning chapters are largely devoted to an audience that has not journaled before. There's even a chapter for men who might uneasily feel that journaling is a woman thing.In my view, this book is matter-of-fact, and conveys the right tone -- that, hey, writing in a journal is not such a big deal after all! No need to be fancy, or "deep" (i.e. psychological), or even to write in it regularly! Very encouraging tone throughout!

Since I began writing journals regularly five years ago, I've been on the lookout for books which will inspire me. This is one of my favorites. There is such a variety of exercises that you can find one to fit any style, whether you keep a strict ritual or are interested in trying new styles. I particularly related to the section about using journals as therapeutic tools. I tend to pull out this book whenever I'm looking for inspiration.