Journals? Are you out there?

Hello World!

Before another year goes by, I thought I would post a new message.
I'm still waiting to hear any news on the travelling journals that I've
sent out. Please post here if you have your hands on one of them!
Also, if you complete one of the journals, please send it back to
Claudia Jurt
2 Daly Avenue
Ottawa, Ontario
K1N 6E2

The journal journey continues. I have to admit that the journal I
started what feels like eons ago to Oprah is still on my bookshelf
waiting to be shipped off...perhaps I will send it this week.
Maybe if I stop procrastinating, so will the other journalers out
there!

Thanks for reading.

xo,
c :)

PS: The picture you see is my brother's girlfriend at the airport.
(not sure if I'm allowed to post it, but....)
It is one of the most moving photos I have seen in a long time.

Inspiration at 6:30am -- thank you!

I've been waking up supremely early for the past couple of weeks - fyi - and right before I sat down at the computer, I thought, 'hmmm...perhaps I should write in a journal'...and then I got a lovely message from my dear friend LC who lives across the country.

"Claudia I'm SOOOOO proud of you! I just read your blog and WOW! You GO girl! Amazing. I think you are truly amazing. SO creative! I think this is the neatest thing anyone's done in a very long time, congratulations my love! I'm going to sleep now (wonder what *I'll* dream about!)

Dear Journal, I wish I could have taken you to Thailand!

I have the perfect person to write in your journal. His name is Thor and he lives on Koh Chang in Thailand, I didn't talk with him much, but he is a very special person and I know where to find him. Just a thought!"

Now, I'm not just thinking about writing in a journal, I'm WRITING in a journal or two or three... :) Thanks to the lovely message above and the many other messages that I've received from wonderful people all over the place. I am grateful to all of you for reading this blog and for your constant encouragement.

So much love.

c :)

PS: I will gladly send a journal to anyone who asks, but please keep in mind that I have accumulated a long list...so patience...patience I ask of you. :)

This is how it works...

A lot of people have been asking for clarification and how they can get a journal - yay!

Here's da scoop:

1. I purchase a beautiful journal (am getting a journal sponsor, am getting a journal sponsor...)
2. I write an intro and first entry into said journal
3. I pass it on to another person (friend, co-worker, stranger, family member, anyone!), OR mail it to someone OR leave it in a public place for someone to find.

Each journal encourages the recipient to add their own personal entry and pass it on!

Usually I choose to whom or where the next journal will go, but lately a number of people have offered to take journals on their travels - this is cool! If you wish to have your own travelling journal, please email your name, email, mailing address and phone # to cjurt@rogers.com (I will do my best, though I cannot make any guarantees...)

Love,
c :)

www.sixtravellingjournals.com

PS: I am grateful for all of you and all the positive and inspiring messages that I've been receiving.

Everyone needs a beautiful journal like this!

This is Journal #8 - I gave this to my brother, Peter just over a week ago. For some reason, this particular journal seemed to radiate a special energy, even now when I look at this picture, it's as if it is glowing. I'm in love with all of these beautfiul pictures so far and am looking forward to receiving more pictures of the journals on their journeys! Tomorrow, I will dedicate my day to journalling!
Talk soon,
c :)

PS: Thank you to Karl for offering to take journals to Europe & Katie for Heathrow Airport & Barcelona! So exciting.... :)

PPS: Thank you Kathy Logan for giving me a lovely box of four adorable journals - I will be keeping those! One has become my 'songwriting' journal another has become my 'idea' journal, another will be my 'reiki' journal and the fourth...well, we'll just have to see now won't we?

Words of Wisdom from Sri Chimnoy

Good morning!

I'm just transferring the following quotes from an old blog (found these lovely cards at my favourite vegetarian restaurant, 'Perfection, Satisfaction, Promise', located next to 'The Garden of Light', where I buy my journals)

Dream, dream, dream!
You will never
Have time to suffer
From despair.

To silence enthusiasm
At any moment
Is absolutely wrong.

Do not blame the world,
Better it. How?
By bettering yourself
At every moment.

Turn your Wishful thoughts into
A powerful
Will-power.

Do not be afraid of tasting
The bitterness of failure.
Be brave!
The sweetness of success
Will before long
Befriend you.

Break your bad habits
By dropping them.
Strengthen your good habits
By treasuring them.

How can one get
The greatest joy?
Not by possessing,
But by sacrificing.

True humility
MeansGiving joy to others.

Truth is in all
But love is all.

To serve
And never be tired
Is love.

By seeing the past
I gain nothing.
By knowing the future
I gain something.
By living in the present
I gain everything.

First be sure
That you know the truth,
Before you talk to others
About the truth.

Be happy.
You will get
What you like most.
You will be
What you like best.

If you do
The right thing,
Eventually
You will inspire others
To do the right thing.

The Sixth One: signed, sealed & delivered!

You can't see me...

This is the last journal of the original six...

...but the second last to be passed on

(still have to finish #4 for Oprah!)

The lovely journal that you see above was given

to my best friend, the raging bull or the bull

who doesn't rage...(just trying to make a 'clever'

connection to the beautiful bull that you see on the back!)

Best friends often get gipped 'cause they are 'the best friend'
(which means that they are unconditionally there for you),

so while she would obviously receive a journal, it didn't

become obvious to me until I experienced a little personal drama.

I have since heard that this journal will be travelling to Mexico!!!

A Photo of The Second Journal

This journal arrived in Vancouver, BC on February 5...
but before I let it go, I took this lovely photograph.


I wonder what's inside...

Seeking Journal Sponsorship!!!

My journal writing comes with a price...uck...I just called someone at Paper Blanks (the first six journals happen to be from this company) to see whether or not they'd be interested in sponsoring this fantabulous journal adventure...well...it turns out 'David' (da man in charge of saying 'yay' or 'nay') will be out of the country until Friday or Monday (darn, he could have taken a journal with him)!!! Fingers crossed. Out of journals. Need more. More journals will come my way...they will...

Thanks Universe!

love,
c :)

PS: The most up-to-date info for each journal:

Journal #1. Handed by me to Kate D. & Ben W. -- handed to a woman & her daughter on the NYC Subway by Ben W. -- wonder what the journal is doing now...

Journal #2. Mailed to my mentor in Vancouver, BC -- it arrived at her school yesterday

Journal #3. Mailed to a writing genius in Toronto, ON -- it arrived in his hands yesterday morning
(I only know the above thanks to the Purolator tracking system, ha, ha...but I do wonder about their reactions)

Journal #4. Almost complete -- sending this to Oprah!!! www.oprah.com -- gosh it'll be fun when she reads this, it's a 'Dear Oprah' letter, but in a journal - oh the excitement!

Journal #5. Left at CBC Radio in the studio after my interview on the morning of Feb. 4

Journal #6. Completed - just need to give it to the recipient...stay tuned for that info...dun, dun, dun...

Travelling Journals inspire the Green Party!

Ok, I'm not trying to stir up a political discussion on here...but I believe that whatever our beliefs (aside from those that harm others), we should follow our hearts - see message below...

"I heard your interview on CBC Radio this week and thought your idea for the "travelling Journal" was fabulous.

You made a comment on CBC that you welcome others to try your idea. I thought of a special way to try it, but I would like to ask your permission first.

I'm involved with the Green Party. We just started a process out in Stittsville to talk to ordinary people in small settings to find out what they think about politics in Canada, and what is important to them. We don't have money to do polls, and frankly it's not really our style. We wanted direct interation to make sure we were properly interpreting what the message was, not just processing data.

What I'd like to do is try your idea on a very local scale to allow some people that don't normally feel confident enough to express their opinions on politics to have an opportunity to do that.

We would only circulate a few of them locally in west Ottawa (Kanata, Stittsville, Almonte area), and would be careful to preserve your message and theme of hearing what people have to say, not navigating them with questions. You would of course be welcome to see and hear everything that come out of this, if you wish.

If you would prefer we don't try this we will respect your wishes, and hope you the best with your project." ~ Murray Reeves

Murray,
thank you for your message - I think that's a fantastic idea - one of my points about being creative is NEVER STOP THE CREATIVE FLOW - I don't own this idea - my goal is for these journals to inspire other people - and I'm glad to hear that it's already working!

Best of Luck,
Claudia :)

PS: If anyone is interested in helping out for the above mentioned project, Murray is always looking for volunteers! Just post a message here.

Wanna hear about the journal story on CBC Radio?

Then click here: http://www.cbc.ca/ottawamorning/archives.html
Thanks Doug! :)

Journal-o-Rama

That's the title that just popped into my head...hmmm....have been avoiding this blog...have also been avoiding sending out 'The Second One' even though it's been finished for days. Today, however, is the day...Journal #2 will be off to Vancouver in no time...I swear! This morning, I figured out why I've been slowwwwwwly working on the journals...it's 'cause I've started missing them already! What will I do when all six are out of my hands....ahhhhhhh....so...here's the relief part: this project is no longer simply about 'Six Travelling Journals' - I'm going to send out ONE-HUNDRED TRAVELLING JOURNALS!!!! (and when I finish those, I will send out another 100). I realized that I have way too many people and places to send journals to. (a good dozen have already expressed interest in writing in one, which bothered me at first -- 'you can't just ask me for one of my journals, I have to feel it -- gimme a break Claudia' -- but now I realize that it is a compliment and another step closer to reaching an infinite goal. The goal is to touch the whole world. Six Travelling Journals. What was I thinking? Ha! I wasn't. I did dream that only one journal travelled the world - now I'm making that dream a reality that is even bigger than the dream itself. Wow.

So much love,
Claudia :)

PS: Each journal is a unique gift to each person that it's passed on to. My dear friend Kate and the girl who co-received the first journal said that when you give something to someone, it makes them feel like they're valuable. Too many people don't feel cherished. This journal gives you permisson to celebrate the greatness that's in you. You are important and your greatness needs to be shared.

PPS: The song 'Message in a Bottle' is a perfect example of what's going on here. One of my students told me that the guy sends out 1 Message in a Bottle and at the end of the song, he goes back to the shore and receives 1000 Messages in Bottles back! Now imagine, the entire world communicating via journals! I am going to keep fighting against our soul-sucking, electronic world by 'handwriting' my thoughts to the world. It is more touching to receive a letter in the mail that someone took the time to write, than a quick message via email. Isn't it?
Yesterday, I requested my Danish friend's mailing address and she replied with her email address! When she realized that I actually wanted to send her something in the mail she called me 'sooooo old-fashioned'! I say go old-fashioned, go!

PPPS: My ps's are long winded. I don't even know that they stand for or how to do a third PS - anyone care to enlighten me?

The Second One is Ready to Rock (and a thought outside the box)

Heya, just wanted to mention that I just finished writing 15 pages into The Second One -- the book is smaller, but still, it received a lot more attention and TLC than The First One - and this of course suddenly makes sense to me - You see, the first journal was sent to NYC - NEW YORK CITY - everything is fast-paced and full of haste...just like I was in getting it there...the second journal however, is going to VANCOUVER, BC, where people are chill..laid back...'tis perfect...I spent a few hours writing down my teenage girl thoughts -- I'm 30 yrs. old, but when it comes to boys, I turn 16 again. Ha!

Now for...

A Thought Outside the Box

Ok, so ever since I first thought about this project..I always pictured the journal going to many, many people and each individual person filling out a few pages and then passing it on...until... this adorable & rather intelligent boy (who I'm recently getting to know) told me that the journal in NYC would probably end up in the hands of a homeless man who would fill the entire book, pass away on the street leaving the journal to be found by police who would mail it back to me. Wow.

Now of course...this led me to think ahead to a future journey of the travelling journals...the awesome possibility of creating a movie out of this!!!

Enchanted.
Enthralled.
Thrilled.

Claudia :)

(I wanted to sign-off: Magically Yours, but felt too dorky)

The First One - travels to New York City! The Second One...

On January 24th, 2008 - I woke up at 3:30am to drive Kate & Ben to the airport - they were heading to NEW YORK CITY - (sigh) - all of a sudden it hit me - The First Journal!!! There was not a doubt in my mind that this was it. The first journey of the first journal. So excited. I also felt compelled to place a gift inside 'the gift' for my friends. I stopped somewhere near Kate's house to hastily write my first message - no getting this right - nothing profound - I simply wrote down exactly what was happening in my life at that moment. ie: sorry for being late to pick you up -- then I wrapped the journal in tissue paper and placed it in a beautiful gift bag. Don't worry Ben, it was re-used... I insisted that Ben & Kate wait to open the gift until they got on the plane. I was smiling the whole way home.

This evening, I began writing into The Second One - will send this to a special person in Vancouver.

As I started writing tonight, I realized just how different the personalities of each journal will be.

A Trail of Faith -- I have faith that the journal journeys will end where they began.

So much love.

Claudia :)

The Beginning

On January 14, 2008 I had the 'journal dream'. Basically, a journal gets sent all over the world and then back to its original place when it becomes full. Today, I purchased six beautiful journals at a store called 'Garden of Light' in Ottawa, Ontario CANADA - I intend to write an introduction and the first journal entry into each one and then send them to six different places. I'm hopeful that each will enter into the hands of people who will participate in filling the journals with their thoughts, wishes, dreams, feelings, favourite quotes, songs, etc... Anything goes - drawings, photos, diary entries, songs, poetry, scenes, monologues, letters, cd's w/ music, etc... The entries can be anonymous...or not. It's entirely up to the person holding the book. The point is to pass it on to another person, by hand or by mail or simply to leave it in a public place to be found by someone else. Once the journal is full, the final person will mail it back to the one who started it:
Claudia Jurt, 2 Daly Ave. Ottawa, Ontario CANADA K1N 6E2
Anyone, who is happy to have their entries published can email a message with contact info to cjurt@rogers.com and/or call 613.255.4796. Also, feel free to make comments on this blog if you have come upon one of the six journals. It will be interesting (to say the least) to see what ends up happening.

Thanks so much for reading (and writing).

All the very best,
Claudia :)