Journaling Your Past for the Future

Journaling Your Past for the Future

Journals have been used for hundreds of years and for many reasons. For instance, the earliest known journals date back to 6 AD in China. In the 10^th century, Japanese ladies used “pillow books,” which they kept in their bedrooms to record dreams in poetic or pictorial form. During the Renaissance, when the idea of “self” became more prominent, journals or diaries became more prominent. Throughout time, many famous people have kept diaries or journals. Most notably among these are Anne Frank, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Ronald Reagan.

Today journaling is very popular. It is sometimes used for therapeutic reasons to help individuals work through some troubling issue. Others use journaling to record a personal journey, such as one’s first pregnancy or the process of working toward a career goal. Others document things like the steps to developing a new product or starting a business. Still others simply keep a daily accounting of their life for personal reasons.

Our ancestors did not have the benefit of archival pens to help preserve their thoughts. Who knows how many other journals might have been preserved, if the proper ink had been available. Older inks and non-archival inks can, over time, lead to a breakdown of the paper used. This can have the opposite of the desired result. It can degrade the writing, rather than preserve it.

Archival pens use special ink designed to be waterproof and resistant to chemicals. These pens will not smear or bleed through the paper, leaving your words intact and legible for many years to come.