Travel Journals – Today’s Diary Is Tomorrow’s History

What if you used a trip diary to record a different kind of travel - a journey into the milestones of your life or the lives of loved ones? Did you ever think that your everyday life is an adventure worth preserving?
We travel for lots of reasons, such as to enrich our lives, to relax, or to visit friends and family. Travel journals are the perfect tool to capture our travel experiences, so we can preserve them and relive them.
Historians use diaries to gain information about the past. A good example is Laura Ingalls Wilder's Little House series. Her father's restlessness caused the Ingalls family to move across the Unites States, which became the basis of these famous books. A more tragic story comes from one of the most famous journals, The Diary of Anne Frank. The author described a journey that forever left a mark on history.
What do Anne Frank and Laura Ingalls Wilder have in common? Neither knew they were making history when they started their journals. Both of these girls lived extraordinary lives but started out writing about ordinary circumstances. When Anne Frank made her first diary entry, she wrote about her birthday. She did not know that her diary would become a book and historical document.
The words 'journey' and 'journal' come from the same root, from the French word meaning "a day." Anne Frank and Laura Ingalls Wilder captured the journey of a day. All those days added up to a legacy.
What if you were to start your journal as travel of a day? Can you imagine what you would have if you wrote one sentence and took a photo of something, every day for one year? Perhaps you start out recording the ordinary, but if something extraordinary happened, it would be easy to write about it since you have already begun your daily journal.
You could concentrate on special events, such as social and family gatherings, trips, family traditions, holidays, or historical moments. Perhaps you could write about tiny trips, such as going to a movie or out to dinner. These may not seem important now, but can you imagine your grandchildren reading what you wrote?
What if you made this a family project? Imagine what you would have if every night before bedtime, your children wrote something about their day? In these days of economic uncertainty, a keepsake like this would be priceless.
If you want to, you may add photos to your journey journal. You can keep them on a CD or DVD and store them in a pocket in your diary. If your journal doesn't have a pocket page, you can attach a CD sleeve to the inside back cover.
You can start your armchair travel anytime. Your birthday, the New Year, or today. Remember, you are capturing history, and history does not make an appointment. So why not start now? You never know what will happen tomorrow.
Oscar Wilde wrote, said, "I never travel without my diary. One should always have something sensational to read in the train." Perhaps your journal will not make for sensational reading now, but later, when the memories are cold and forgotten, you will have created a legacy.

Benefits of Blogging

Blogging has been around for years now and a good percentage of netizens have already tried their hand at blogging. Others have grown out of it, while others have invested time and energy that their blogs have become a source of income. If you have never tried blogging, you might want to consider the benefits of the sport of online literature that is blogging.
Blogging is typically used for publishing an online diary. Composing a journal entry and publishing it online for everyone to see can be rewarding especially when you know that there is someone out there who is interested in your life, and is going through something similar in their life. It is also a form of networking with other bloggers, and if you join a blogosphere (blogging community), you will receive comments from people who enjoy blogging or reading blogs. It is a great way to make new friends online.
Although journal writing is what most people do with blogs online, its purpose is certainly not limited to that only. Over the years, companies have added a blog section to their websites where they can update their customers with the latest news from their end. This is very useful and informative, as customers are able to be informed at their own will. Companies don't have to spam their clients with newsletters, as blogs are equally useful but less invasive.
Blogs are used by scholars who enjoy publishing the latest information about their chosen specialty. Blogs are generally set up in a way that they can be socially bookmarked if the particular post is a recommended read. Visitors can also comment on every post. Blog layouts are also very simple to browse, so it is not limited to the computer literate population.
A fun way to blog is to fill up a site with collaborative content. Friends can all have user accounts, and everyone can blog whenever they want to. The contents are made public to each author's circle of friends, and everyone can contribute either a post or a comment.
Although many blog for fun alone, a handful of bloggers out there provide content to the public to earn an income. They earn an income through advertising on the blog space. They have to provide a good number of posts every week and have to keep the content fresh for regular visitors. It takes a lot of time and thought to post such entries but it can truly be worth it in the end.

What Are Journal Articles?

Any ideas what journal articles are? Have you tried to write one before?
Scientists and engineers who want to present original work often do so by publishing them as journal articles in peer-reviewed publications. These types of writing tend to be similar to formal reports in content, although they tend to differ in length and format.
Because of the limited space that most journals can accommodate, submissions will usually need to be abridged from their original report versions, making some rewriting as well as a good software proofreader necessary.
Summaries will need to be either descriptive or informational with descriptive elements. Other summary formats usually won't serve the need to learn about the topic while taking up little space.
There is little to no room for appendices, so you might need to get rid of them.
Forget about tailoring the material for multiple audiences. The limited room makes having that unlikely. As such, try writing for as general an audience as you can handle, keeping in mind that the majority of people perusing it will likely be your peers in the industry, students and members of the academic community.
Basically, journal articles are usually picked through recommendations from professors and other influential individuals in the field, so look towards those people when hoping to get your work published in one. Different types of journal articles can be seen in these types of publications, including letters, research notes, full articles that range from five to twenty pages, supplemental articles and reviews.

4 Free Ways to Re-Commit to Your Diet

Ways to re-commit to your Diet.
1) Re-commit. Take a minute to look back and remember why you decided to diet in the first place. Perhaps it was out of a health concern or perhaps you decided to go into this out of wanting to shed a few pounds. On a blank sheet of paper write down what ever action brought you to start a diet.
Next ask yourself to remember the feeling that brought you to this resolution. What where you feeling when you decided to do this? Where you feeling fear, disappointment, concern? What ever the reason or feeling you had at the time, revisit that and re-focus your efforts.
2) Start a Diet journal. Starting a journal of any sort can be a daunting task but can be a very powerful tool to add to any diet. A journal can help dieters keep track of food by adding accountability. I can think of at least one VERY well known diet plan that uses accountability as it's prime tool in the battle of the belly fat.
The two things you'll need in order to make a diet journal work are honesty and regularity. You must be honest enough to write down what you've had and you must make entries with regularity in order to make sure you've stuck to your.
3) Drink lots of water. You hear it all the time but it's a fact, water is good for you. Some studies have also shown that people often mistake thirst for hunger. And we all know that hunger is a dieter's worst enemy. That said, the next time you think you might be hungry, stop for a sec and be sure. If not it may just be a question of easily extinguishing this urge with a glass of water.
I might also add to be sure it's water. None of this sugar substituted iced tea stuff, just plain old water.
4) Read the nutritional information. Whether you're on a diet or not, reading the nutritional information is always a good idea. In fact I dare say that a dieter who does not read the nutritional information is akin to a financial expert who refuses to read bank statements. After all how do you know what you're eating if you don't even know what's in it. Burying your head in the sand might make eating that tasty treat easier in the short term but you owe it to yourself and your diet to read what's in it.
I sure hope this helps, they're just a couple things I'm trying out myself so I decided to share with all of you as well. Till next time.
Happy Dieting

What to Do With Your Journal

What you do with your journal depends on many things.
You may be using the materials for personal development - to understand yourself better through the objective recording of your story. Or you may use it as a unique resource for your fiction writing, recording stories drawn from life - your own and other people's. You may write down conversations overheard on public transport, or in the pub, or at the doctor's surgery. And you can turn all this into a story without end - writing this in daily or weekly installments until it grows into a volume of anecdotes with its own themes and enhanced with images, cartoons and objects whether discarded tablet packets or sea-shells.
From either of these kinds of journal you have ideas and notes which will make your fiction and your autobiographical non-fiction authentic. And this will mark out your writing's unique selling point - its individual 'voice'.
When you come to review your materials, of course, other issues become significant.
OK. So you've had an interesting life; your journals are waiting to be mined for information; your family and friends are clamoring for 'the book'. What next?
Autobiography is now an industry and - as with any other kind of writing - certain rules underpin success. Even if you are thinking of self-publication, consideration of these can make all the difference between a book people want to read and a book that stands neglected on the shelf.
Your reader - the audience - is as ever in pole position. Who are you telling your story to? This will dictate what words and expressions you employ. Would you, for example, want your mother to read what you write for your friends?
And then, there's the thorny issue of what you include and what you leave out.
The trick lies in the vexed issue of goal-setting. A recent visit to a writers' group left me convinced that not one among the seven people who read their 'stuff' out had the least idea about goal-setting, either for their literary career or for their individual project. Planning for this group was anathema and so was review. People wrote what came into their heads with no idea of where to go with it. The resulting prose excerpts were shapeless, unstructured and cliché-ridden. Their material was raw beyond belief - although not irretrievable. And their goal, if any, was to enjoy their writing. So - in that sense - they had achieved one goal. And yet - in spite of all this - they still hoped that publication would happen.

Money! It Makes The World Go Round

Money is one of those things that makes most of us crazy! You either have lots of it or none of it. It's seems that we give this commodity a lot more power than we should, to the point that it actually controls our lives and base our beliefs and values systems on it. Sometimes, there comes a time when we really need to think of money for exactly what it is, a state of mind. Our attitude towards wealth and money seems more important than any other aspect in our lives. For some it is even more important than anything else in the world. Which, from my point of view seems very sad indeed.
Let's think about it. How we think and feel about money seems to determine how we live in society these days. If we have lots of money, and a high paying job, then it seems logical to think that we are better off and positive about our future and in turn, others in society are likely to be attracted or think highly of us. However, If we don't have a great deal of money, don't have a job, or have the security of a permanent job, then we are much more inclined to develop disorders such as Depression and such as well as the opinion of other in society looking down on us for not 'Keeping up with the Jones'.
To instigate change in our thoughts about money, either having or not, we really must start with changing our mindset and our predetermined opinions we have towards others around money and social prosperity. From change comes the power and determination to adjust and really see the real value in life.
Here are some things you may like to do for those situations where you feel uncomfortable when you spend money, or feel depressed about your financial state, or at any other time when you need to keep positive of your outcome in life.
Gratitude
Be Grateful for what you have. This may sound basic and like something your parents used to say to you when you were little, but, to be honest, it works. Take a notepad and write down all the good things that you have in your life. Don't concentrate on what is lacking and don't focus of material possessions or bank balances. Think of things like: Your Best Friend, the love of your dog, a roof over your head, the birds that fly around in the garden. the heat that makes your shower hot, the family members you have in your life and so on. Once you've done this, write a list of the things that someone from across the other side of the world might have to feel grateful for in life. Compare the two lists and really think about the differences in your answers compared to the answers in the other list. Chances are you will have a lot more to feel grateful for than you realise.
Self Esteem
Whenever you feel bad or negative about money, try to see it for it really is. Whenever you receive your paycheck or you get that payment deposited into your bank account from a client sale, why not pause for a moment and think to yourself "I've earned this money by working hard for it but I will not take it for granted. The money itself is only a reward for my personal efforts, it is not an acknowledgement of my status in the world." To become successful is not just about how much money you have, it can also be about your reputation in your line of work. For me, being successful in my business is more about how many satisfied clients I have, rather than, how much money I have in the bank. My reputation in the business world and how far I have come in my journey is much more important to me than having money to flash around.
Money Journal
Creating priorities is essential to find the money you need for your own self-care. To decide what your priorities grab a note pad and create a list with these categories:

Amount Spent (e.g. $8.50)

On What (e.g. Books, Lunch, Songs or Apps)

Feelings (e.g. Felt guilty afterwards, Felt good to read to magazine)

Once you have written down all the things you have spent for one month have a look at the patterns and try to figure out what to spend your money on in the future. For example, I don't enjoy buying my lunch but I love buying apps for my PDA, so I make my own lunch and save money every week to buy a $20 music voucher so I can buy more of the things I like. By paying attention on how you feel when you buy things you can rearrange your resources to better suit your real needs and feel good about the things you buy instead of feeling guilty or feeling bad.
Intuition
Next time you want to buy something you want, why not get in the habit of asking yourself:

Do I really need this?

Why am I buying this?

If I buy this will I still have enough money to pay for...?

Give yourself time to try to hear your inner voice of wisdom. Asking these questions will trigger your intuition and help you when you're feeling unsure if you should buy that latest item or not. If you think about it before you act, you can think about the effect it may have if you buy it or if you don't. It may leave you short for that power bill you need to pay next week or it might be okay to buy it this week but you may not be able to buy the following week.
When it comes to money, I agree it does make the world go around but I feel that there is way too much emphasis on how much of it we have and the importance that some of put on money as being seen as a successful person. If you have tips, stories or comments then I'd love to hear from you.

Why Journaling Every Day Is a Great Idea

People have been keeping journals and diaries for a long time and for some very good reasons. Journaling has many benefits that can impact a person's mental health, creativity, and memory. If you don't keep a journal, perhaps you should consider it. Here are a few reasons why journaling every day is a great idea....
To express your feelings. Every human being experiences emotions and some of these feelings can be hard to handle. If you're going through a rough time or need an outlet for your emotions, writing in a journal can be a big help. It can help you process difficult feelings like loneliness, depression, and anger, and also serve as a record for your more positive emotions. If nothing else, writing about your feelings can help you sort them out so you can accept them and move on. It's almost like free therapy which can be really helpful.

To record your life. While many people record their activities via social media websites such as Facebook, there's something homey and quaint about recording one's activities in a journal. For one thing, you don't need an Internet connection to do so. (That is, if you're using a paper journal as opposed to an online service like LiveJournal.) All of your experiences will be chronicled in a book that you can take down off the shelf so you can remember the good times (and the bad times, if you wish).

To keep track of inspiration. Writers and artists can really benefit from journaling. If you're out in the world and inspiration hits, you can jot down your ideas or even do a quick sketch so you can work with the material later on. Trying to remember creative fragments (i.e. a few notes of music, a phrase for a poem, bits of a dream, etc.) can be difficult, but if you have a record of them, you'll be able to use them at a later time.

To save mementos. You don't just need to draw and/or write in your journal. You can also use it as a kind of scrapbook and paste photos, postcards, ticket stubs, and more in it. This is an especially good thing to do if you take a special trip somewhere or go to a great concert. It will also make looking through the journal really enjoyable in the future.

To get creative. The best thing about journaling is that your journal is yours. You can get as creative as you want with it; no one will judge you for how you keep it or what you put into it. You can write with colorful markers or soft pencils. In all caps or small letters or a mix of both. It's up to you. If you want, you can even create your own journal if you have cover stock, paper, and access to a binding machine. This can make the book really special and you won't have to shell out money for a store-bought journal.
Journaling every day can be beneficial for many reasons. It can help you process feelings, record life events, and encourage you to be more creative. Start keeping your own journal today.

Why You Should Be Writing in Your Gratitude Journal Each Day

We have so much to be thankful for in our lives. It's very easy to overlook everything that we have, which is why you should be writing in your gratitude journal each day.
What's a gratitude journal? It's like any other diary or journal, but in a gratitude journal you're only allowed to write positive things. There's no negativity allowed.
If you don't already have a gratitude journal, you can start one day and write down 5 things that you are grateful for in your life.
The whole point is to look at the positive things in your life that you are thankful for.
Maybe you are having the worst day in your life, but if you change your thinking and write down 5 things that you are grateful for, it can really change your entire mindset. Maybe the day turned out to be not so bad, after all.
When we go through the bad days, that's when a gratitude journal can really shine - it will make you think of the positive things in your life and that's when we really need the journal. If you continue to write in it, you can go back and see everything in your life that you are grateful for.
Don't you think that would change your mindset - from focusing on the negative and what's bad in life, to what is positive and good in our lives? It can be a real life-saver when we tend to be pessimistic people who only focus on the bad things in life.
Everyone can think of 5 things they are grateful for.
Are you grateful that you have a roof over your head? Write that down.
Are you thankful that you ate today? Write that down. There are people in this world who have had nothing to eat today and have no home to go to.
It doesn't have to be the big things in life - each person is grateful for different things in their lives.
This is not just an exercise in positive thinking. You can become really creative when you are writing down in your gratitude journal. The point is to be conscious of what is positive in your life and be grateful.
Come up with at least 5 things to write down in your gratitude journal each day. You can do this at night or first thing in the morning.

Rupert Murdoch – Chairman of News Corp, Owner of the Wall Street Journal

Melbourne, Victoria, Australia was the birthplace of Keith Rupert Murdoch. He was born into a wealthy family in 1931 and his father was a leading owner of many newspapers. Young Murdoch was sent to Oxford University while a young teen and he was only 22 years old when the elder Murdoch suddenly died under what was deemed suspicious circumstances.
As the heir to the newspaper family business Keith Rupert began to assume many executive duties and in 1953 he became the managing director of the News Limited. Soon his attentions would focus on the expansion of the Murdoch empire and he set about acquiring many of the competing news publications.
His first buyout was the Perth based Sunday Times. The brash young businessman utilized many of the tabloid fundamentals that he had learned from both Lord Northcliffe. Soon the struggling Sunday Times had become a major success. Expanding his reach, Rupert Murdoch began acquiring other newspaper businesses such as The Daily Mirror. It would not be long before Murdoch took control of The Dominion paper in New Zealand. This would be followed by additional takeovers that would eventually lead to Rupert Murdoch becoming the dominant stock shareholder for the New Zealand Independent Newspapers Limited media group. He would retain this prominent position until 2003.
Murdoch was directly responsible for the debut of Australia's 1st daily newspaper to achieve national prominence, The Australian. This paper would help boost Rupert Murdoch's personal stock and would earn him a reputation for heading a serious, quality newspaper. Additional businesses were added to the rapidly expanding Murdoch network but once he had made conquests in Australia, New Zealand and Britain his eye was on moving into the US newspaper world.
The first of Murdoch's many acquisitions in the US would occur in 1973. This was the year when Rupert Murdoch would seal a deal that gave him the San Antonio Express-News. Shortly after this buy was completed he created a tabloid that would become a fixture on news stands and supermarket checkout aisles, The Star. 3 years after making his first US newspaper buyout Rupert Murdoch would take over the New York Post.
Murdoch still wanted to add to his thriving media empire and in order to purchase a US television station he became a naturalized United States citizen in September of 1985. His Fox Network would be embroiled in controversy and scrutiny at the beginning but today this network is a major player in the market. In 1995 Rupert Murdoch cinched a deal with communications giant MCI that provided for the development of The Weekly Standard which was to be a combined project involving both a news website and a magazine.
His most recent acquisition was that of the 2007 purchase of the US based financial journal, the Wall Street Journal and the Dow Jones Company from the Bancroft family. The Bancrofts initially rebuffed the News Corp offers but after 3 months and a sweetened offer of $60 per share or just more than $5 billion.
Even though he has had to battle lawsuits, enormous debts and a shifting world economy Rupert Murdoch continues to be a leader in the world of media and communications. He recently celebrated his 79th birthday and his current personal net worth is estimated to be $4 billion dollars.