Journaling Your Resolutions, Intentions or Word of the Year

This is the second post in an online sharing project I'm running this year called "Art Journal Your Resolutions and Intentions."  Yesterday's post (here) discussed three common approaches to setting goals for a new year. Whether you decide to create a list of resolutions or intentions or choose one little word, the real challenge can be figuring out a way to record them so they can be revisited throughout the year.   In today's post, I'm going to discuss two different year-long approaches to journaling your resolutions, intentions or word of the year. Athough both of the approaches discussed here assume a twelve page journal, you could change the number of pages or use a different format entirely (such as a twelve page mini-album with photos and journaling or twelve blog posts). This weekend, I'll show you the art journals I'm creating using these two approaches.

Approach 1:  Monthly Pages
One way to keep track of your little word is to check in with it once a month.  If you have a twelve page art journal, you can pull it out once a month and create a page about your word.  I made the art journal page above about my word "horizon" when I felt like I needed to focus on my intentions a bit more.   Although not as intuitive, this approach can also be used for intentions and resolutions.  For example, you could create a journal page each month about all of your resolutions or choose to highlight your progress toward a specific intention. You can even label each page with a month if you choose, but you don't need to do that.

Approach 2: Topical Pages
An easy way to keep track of a list of resolutions or intentions is to create a journal with one page dedicated to each resolution or intention. Last year, I created the page above about a very meaningful and revealing talk I had with my brother that matched up with my intention about becoming a better sister. You can pull out your journal once a month and create a page about what you have done to accomplish your resolution or keep on track with your intention. You can add the resolutions/intentions to the pages at the beginning of the year OR choose one intention to work on each month when you pull out your journal. If you like the topical approach but also like the one little word approach, it will be useful to come up with twelve sub-topics for your one little word.  For instance, for my one little word, "health," I could create topical pages about finding a doctor, doing yoga, finding a gym or exercise class, creating a food log, getting on the scale, getting tests done, going to the dentist, etc.

So, what do you think?  Does one of these approaches call out to you more than the other?  Are you having trouble visualizing the actual journal?  If so, don't worry! Come back this weekend and check out the art journals I'm creating.  Tomorrow's post will even have a description of how to assemble a simple 12 page art journal! And Sunday's post will talk a bit more about art journaling and how I plan to work our online sharing.  Let me know in the comments if you plan to take this journey with me and also what your current thoughts and questions are about these journaling options.