Keeping a Grief Journal

Posted by
Jenn Greenleaf
Apr 20, 2009

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about keeping grief journals over the past six years, and it hasn’t been until lately that I decided to really put this into practice. I’ve lost a lot of people since 2003, and it’s time to really move past that pain and move forward with life. It’s funny how what hurts us sticks with us the most. I tend to wonder, though, if purging these thoughts on paper will help me grieve, and move forward?

Here is what I’ve been reading lately:

Now, I want to take these thoughts and ideas and twist them into art journal ideas. I love plain text journaling and do it everyday (several times per day, actually), but I need to do this creatively. That way, when words fail me, I can use visual associations. I’ve created a few page spreads in my day to day art journal, but I think creating a dedicated journal would do me much better through this process. I might create a text-only writing journal for this, as well, but I’ll see what happens. Do you keep a grief journal? If not, does this sound like a process you might need or want to explore?

Comments

Apr 20, 2009 7:12 AM

Donella Bowles :

I'd be interested in learning more about an art grief journal. I do keep one about my oldest brother who passed away nearly a year ago in a private online blog. I'd like to get it on paper, though, so my future children can have something tangible to read about their uncle.

Sorry for your loss.

Jul 11, 2009 12:33 AM

Guest :

This is something that I am in the process of creating - I have kept written journals and created art throughout my grief journey, but I am making a journal to combine the two.
Megan
http://4ravens.wordpress.com

2 Comments