{"id":86850,"date":"2016-02-23T10:38:51","date_gmt":"2016-02-23T18:38:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/journal\/"},"modified":"2016-03-29T13:16:27","modified_gmt":"2016-03-29T20:16:27","slug":"journal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/journal\/","title":{"rendered":"Journal"},"content":{"rendered":"

A<\/span> conversation about journaling comes round on the Camino forums<\/a> every so often – what do you use, how do you do it, and so forth. Rather than ramble there on scattered threads, I thought it might be better to ramble here, where at least my ramblings have the virtue of being together in one place.<\/p>\n

\"20130414-174256.jpg\"<\/a>To be brief: I journaled on the Camino. And I’ll do it again.<\/p>\n

When I blogged from the Camino, I generally took the text from my journal, having tidied up the language and edited my thoughts for electronic publication.<\/p>\n

But a year after our first Camino, I also posted my journal entries verbatim<\/a>. I wanted to walk back through the unvarnished, unedited thoughts and feelings of those days.<\/p>\n

On the Camino, I wrote every day, sometimes several times a day. Always at night, trying to summarize where we walked, where we stopped, who we met, what we saw. But also during the quiet moments at second breakfast over a caf\u00e9 con leche.<\/p>\n

It’s important to record your insights, your spiritual musings, the state of your mind. But no less important are the ordinary things: food, weather, aches and pains. Your evolving Camino family.<\/p>\n

\"2016-02-23<\/a>Don’t feel the need to be profound. Don’t self-edit. Just let it pour out of you higgeldy-piggeldy. Give yourself permission to blither. You can set it in order later, if you wish.<\/p>\n

Don’t be afraid to record minutiae – or even silly thoughts – but try to write down the big ideas and big experiences too.<\/p>\n

And do it as soon as you can. Sharp details fade in the memory quicker than you think. Write them down.<\/p>\n

I also stuffed my journal with papers I picked up at various places – holy cards, maps, notes, even a restaurant napkin (from the Drunken Duck<\/a> in Logro\u00f1o). <\/p>\n

\"8729816764_ab80b69b3e_b\"<\/a>For me, these are important memory aids (as well as souvenirs), which can evoke the time and place and add immeasurably to my journal entries. You can overdo this, obviously. I probably did.<\/p>\n

Eventually, I had to use a rubber band to keep my journal closed!<\/p>\n

So – what kind of journal should you bring?<\/p>\n

That’s a question whose answer is going to be different for every pilgrim. Some are going to want lines, grids, dots, and so on. I prefer blank pages.<\/p>\n

And then there’s size – pocket? Standard novel size? Digest? Letter? I took a pocket Moleskine for brief notes (because I always carry a pocket Moleskine), but my journal itself was 6″ x 8″, which I feel is a good size. It’s not so big that it won’t fit in the pack, but it’s not so small that you can’t put in a lot of text per page (not to mention a lot of extra stuff!)<\/p>\n

\"2016-02-23<\/a>Now a normal notebook of that size might be a little too heavy to carry. Paper can be surprisingly heavy! <\/p>\n

However, the book I took is made in Nepal from lokta paper<\/a>, which is very strong and very light. As an added bonus, I really enjoy writing on it – the texture of the paper is a delight, and it takes ink well without running or blotting.<\/p>\n

You can purchase these books at Barnes and Noble<\/a> for about $11. The last time I visited my local store, they had stacks <\/em>of them.<\/p>\n

I purchased two of these for our upcoming Camino.<\/p>\n

On our last Camino, I started running out of room in the book at about Le\u00f3n, so I had to buy a new book locally. It was very nice, but way too heavy. I found that I wrote much less frequently and much shorter entries.<\/p>\n

The lesson is that the paper and the book really do make a difference. So find something you enjoy writing in, and write write write!<\/p>\n

(Originally posted to Pilgrims on the Way<\/a>.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A conversation about journaling comes round on the Camino forums every so often – what do you use, how do you do it, and so forth. Rather than ramble there on scattered threads, I thought it might be better to ramble here, where at least my ramblings have the virtue of being together in one place. To be brief: I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":86852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-camino"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/2016-02-23-05.55.04.jpg?fit=3264%2C2448&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s1aGBK-journal","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":83902,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/buen-camino\/","url_meta":{"origin":86850,"position":0},"title":"Buen Camino!","author":"Thom","date":"31 March 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"A rough day, full of missing the Camino and my Camino family. I believe I will deal with this by using this one-year anniversary to begin typing my journal - rough as it is - and posting the entries to my Camino blog day by day. Let's see what happens,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Ephemera"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Ephemera","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/blog-ephemera\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":83955,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/one-year-ago-halfway\/","url_meta":{"origin":86850,"position":1},"title":"One Year Ago: Halfway","author":"Thom","date":"17 April 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"(from my journal) Bercianos del Real Camino 17 April Francine is in flight! Meanwhile, today was another introspective Meseta day \u2013 bleak, virtually unchanging scenery pushing thoughts deep within with little distraction. Entered the Province of Le\u00f3n. Just before arriving in the town of Sahag\u00fan, at a little place called\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"On the Meseta","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/9033548213_7fef17d58e_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/9033548213_7fef17d58e_b.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/9033548213_7fef17d58e_b.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/9033548213_7fef17d58e_b.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":107967,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/camino-training-update-feet-heat-and-shiny-umbrellas\/","url_meta":{"origin":86850,"position":2},"title":"Camino Training Update: Feet, Heat, and Shiny Umbrellas","author":"Thom","date":"20 July 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"a delay prompted by my injury, we are back to training in earnest! This week, I've added some weight back to my pack, taking me up to about 16.4 pounds (without water). The only things I haven't added back in yet are my breviary and prayerbook bundle, my \"strawberry troll\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-07-20-08.13.40-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-07-20-08.13.40-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-07-20-08.13.40-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-07-20-08.13.40-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/07\/2023-07-20-08.13.40-scaled.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":87144,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/some-lessons-from-the-camino\/","url_meta":{"origin":86850,"position":3},"title":"Some Lessons from the Camino\u00a0","author":"Thom","date":"08 April 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"It has been several days and 10 journal pages since I last posted. In that time, we\u2019ve walked 64 km.\u00a0The Camino continues to teach new lessons every day. Here are three.\u00a0 God speaks through whom He will. If necessary, He will send updates and clarifications.\u00a0 Several days ago, an issue\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Camino"","block_context":{"text":"Camino","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/camino\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"2016-04-11 09.00.29","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/camino\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/04\/2016-04-11-09.00.29-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":105641,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/still-blogging-the-camino\/","url_meta":{"origin":86850,"position":4},"title":"Still Blogging the Camino","author":"Thom","date":"06 July 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Francine and I finished our second Camino in 2016, I began a project on my Camino blog to post the best of my Camino photos, one day at a time. The \"Camino Photo of the Day\" project has been running since July 6 of 2016, so today marks its fourth\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Blog Ephemera"","block_context":{"text":"Blog Ephemera","link":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/category\/blog-ephemera\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/06\/27825974510_ffc6a7fcfe_k.jpg?fit=900%2C1200&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":105437,"url":"https:\/\/www.thomryng.com\/amateurmonk\/listen-2\/","url_meta":{"origin":86850,"position":5},"title":"Listen","author":"Thom","date":"02 May 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"my conversion, May the second has loomed large in my life. Shortly after my baptism, I became an Oblate of the Order of Saint Benedict. Each year, we read through Saint Benedict's Rule three times, a chapter or so each day. 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