Over the past 7 days I have been attempting to follow the ways of journal writing that was shown in the handbook and I have actually found it very beneficial in working out what is the best way for me that really allowed me to deepen my reflective writing.
Description - I found this quite easy to write a lot about but looking back on it after the week i found that it was less reflective and more informative about what I did that day and didn't really inspire me to really think about what happened.
Initial Reflection - As this type of writing is strongly bases on reflection it did make me think further into my thoughts, feelings and actions of that day. I did really like this form and I think looking back and comparing it to the other days it is the most reflective journal input from that week.
List - To be honest I didn't really like this way of writing. I found it really detached and impersonal and it didn't really inspire me to reflect it just allowed to write down some things that happened that day. I think you may want to include small list occasionally if necessary within my journal but I wouldn't base my whole journal writing on this style alone.
Evaluation - I did like evaluation although when I was writing it did take me a little while to get into it and I didn't feel like I could write a lot except my mood that day and whether the day/events that happened that day were good or bad. However, since finishing this 7 day task I now draw a little smiley face next to each entry determining my mood for that day which I find quite fun and makes the page look a bit more interesting.
Graphs, Charts and Diagrams - I found this really hard as I didn't even really know what to put in a graph but on this day I resorted to the good old mind map which did make me reflect into what happened that day but for me I didn't really get much out of it and it seemed like a lot more effort that it was really worth.
What if - This section actually reminded me of when I was young as I was a very shy and nervous child and was scared to try anything. My mum always used to tell me to stop thinking 'what if' because I would always imagine all the bad things as a child and obvious children have a vivid imagination and I would scare myself out of doing things. Although my mum advised me against it I have always been a bit of a what if kind of person as I can be a worrier at times but I found this form of writing quite interesting. I tried to think about my day and thought about small things I could have done differently and tried to focus on some of the small positive outcomes that could have come out of doing things slightly differently rather that negative repercussions which I seemed to focus on as a child. I did find this quite good as it made me really think about what I could do to make improve in things professionally as well as personally. And when I say improve I don't mean I thought out changing the whole way I live my life day to day but it just made me think of the small seemingly insignificant things that might make your day that little bit easier.
Another view - Okay I am going to admit and say that on this day I spent most my day in my bed on my laptop just not really doing anything. Everyone is allowed a lazy day once in a while! So at the end of this day I actually wrote from the point of view of my bed. It was quite an interesting journal entry and as I had a lot of time on my hands that day it ended up quite long and descriptive but I would say it came out a lot more like a short story rather than a reflective look on my day. Maybe I didn't really pick the best day to use this process but for me I didn't find it very helpful.
I hope this gives you an idea of how I reacted to each form of journal writing and now I would say I base the majority of my entries on initial refection with a bit of description, evaluation and what if involved in some entries. I think to reach the optimum level of reflection you have to use a few of these techniques simultaneously rather than just one.
Great - in the 'what if' section can you give an example or extract form your journal of an experience so that we can see more clearly what you are talking about? what are some of the small insignificant factors for you? The 'horizontal' laptop view is also an interesting one - can you give an extract of the journal that showed how a relaxed session might have given your unconscious a chance to help with your thinking? The artist Frida Khalo had a terrible accident she was young and had to spend a lot of time reclined in her bed - and painted her famous portraits from this position - interesting because generally artists (visual and performance) are vertical - but there are exceptions. Dance seems to use 360 degrees!
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