What pens or pencils do you use to write in your journal? Do you have a favorite, or do you use whatever is handy at the moment? Do you keep a special writing implement just for journaling, like a high-quality pen or pencil, or do you just grab whatever will write?

This week, why not consider adding some colors to your journal? Color is a great tool for expressing yourself-most of us have colors that we associate with warmth, joy, excitement, depression, anxiety or anger.  What would happen if you chose the color of your journal entry based on your predominant emotion when you begin writing? The colors could well become signals that give clues to the entry’s content before you even read it.

Some people also color-code their journals according to some pre-determined key. Hopes and dreams may be one color, and accounts of experiences might be a different one. Practical, bright ideas could be green, and fanciful ones might be a delightful shade of pink. Memories might be purple, and musings from deep in your psyche could be blue.  It’s completely up to you!

What tools could you use to add color to your journal entries? Well, there are a rainbow of inks in pens available, and there are some delightful fine-point markers that just may fit the bill.  Colored pencils offer a wealth of possibilities, too. Crayons, on the other hand, are a bit tougher to write with though a person could certainly do so if they tried.  Even highlighting markers might have their place when you want to emphasize some words, phrases or sentences.

And you’re not actually limited to words, either. Some journals (and some people who journal) are actually set up to doodle on one page and write on the facing page. There are many ideas that are more easily expressed in pictures than in words, or perhaps you are one of those people who thinks and communicates in more visual ways.

This week, why not leave the monochrome world behind and add some color to your journal! Experiment! Try new things and you just may find a style or technique that truly reflects who you are deep down inside.