Diane Doyle still has that first journal she started when she was eight years old.

Her mom had given each of the children a school exercise book, cut in half horizontally (there were, after all, seven kids in her family) - and told them to write about their day.

Doyle, with a smile, reads out the first couple paragraphs from that treasured old orange notebook. It's about how everyone says they hate school, and she says it too - but how really, she likes it.

It was her first realization that you could be your real self in a journal in a way that you couldn't - or wouldn't - in real life.

"That's the thing about writing it down. You can be true to yourself, you don't have to worry about what other people say," she says.

The Queensborough resident is the author of a new book, How to Journal for Hope and Happiness, and the creator of the SketchaJournal - a journal that combines space for writing and drawing. She also offers workshops in journalling, and registration for her new courses is starting soon.

She's hoping that, through the book and the courses, she can help other people to understand just how profound the benefits of keeping a journal can be.

It's a mission that began for her about three years ago, when her father had a stroke. That triggered a few things for Doyle, she recalls.

First was a renewed interest in how the brain works and the difference between the right and left brain - the creative, emotional, big-picture functions of the right and the logical, analytical functions of the left.

Second was the whole issue of life transitions and how to cope with change, loss and grief. Her father did pull through, but, at the time, it looked he wouldn't make it. It brought up questions for Doyle of how she would cope with his loss, and it reminded her of the fact that journalling had helped her when, in 2006, she had miscarried a baby girl at four-and-a-half months.

Third was her sense of purpose. She had been working for the Association of Neighbourhood Houses of B.C. and had lost some of her enthusiasm for it.

Those three things coalesced for her into one new idea.

"I came home and told my husband I was going to write a blank book," she says with a laugh.

That "blank book" was the SketchaJournal. Unlike traditional journals, the SketchaJournal offers a combination of lined and blank pages - one part for drawing and sketching, the other for writing.

Doyle decided to take a one-year sabbatical from her job to focus on the SketchaJournal, her book and the associated workshops. During that time, she discovered she was pregnant - she and husband Don are now the happy parents of a three-month-old girl - and she found herself balancing parenthood with her new vocation.

She's just about to go back to her job while Don takes some parental leave, and she'll continue to focus on her journalling mission outside of work hours.

She's hoping that more people will come to understand the benefits of journalling - and, in particular, SketchaJournalling.

Doyle admits that many people find the whole idea of drawing and writing intimidating up front.

"People right away put a wall and say they're not artists," she says.

"The idea is to help people develop both sides of their brain," she adds, pointing out that everyone has a natural inclination towards one side or the other - and more often, people understand the left-brain functions better. "The school system really trains the left side of the brain."

Bringing both sides of the brain to play in daily life is a huge benefit, she says.

"In doing so they'll be stronger in their decision-making, wiser, more confident," she says.

Doyle notes that "journalling" doesn't mean keeping a diary. While a diary is usually a recounting of the day's events, a journal is a more practical tool that can be used to help guide decision-making, offer insight into your own thoughts and emotions and, in the process, create change in your life.

It can apply in just about any situation, Doyle says, but in her workshops she tends to focus on certain areas.

One of those is times of major change - a course she calls Transitions through Change, Loss and Grief.

"People go through loss all the time, people go through change all the time," she says.

Journalling can help those coping with a major loss or grief - the death of a loved one, for instance - by helping them to see how they have coped with loss and change in the past and by using those same coping skills to move forward.

Another of Doyle's workshops is Discover Your Life Purpose, designed to help people who are looking for a new meaning in their life - whether they are at a career crossroad, recently retired or otherwise questioning what they want out of life.

A third major focus for Doyle - and the subject of her new book - is the Journey to the Christian Heart, which she'll be offering as a mini-Lenten retreat at St. Peter's Church on March 25. Her program offers five steps - which she summarizes as meditate, contemplate, activate, liberate, celebrate - towards renewed faith and hope.

Doyle says journalling can benefit anyone, at any stage in life - helping to bring them clarity, to better understand their own thoughts and feelings, to make wise decisions, to heal past hurts, to move to the future in a positive way.

It's all those benefits of journalling that she wants to bring to people.

"It can be used for anything, personal or business," she says. "It's not just writing about your day, it's helping you move forward. ... It helps a person be authentic and true to themselves."

How to Journal for Hope and Happiness can be found at four Christian bookstores in the Lower Mainland: St. Andrew's, Blessing Christian Book Store, Joyful Noise Book Store and Holy Family Book Store.

SketchaJournals can be ordered online at www.SketchaJournal.com.

CHECK OUT THESE WORKSHOPS:

Diane Doyle has a number of workshops about journalling coming up. Among them:

- Journey to the Christian Heart in Five Simple Steps: A mini Lenten retreat offered on Friday, March 25 at St. Peter's Church, Fourth Street and Royal Avenue, New Westminster, 7 to 9:30 p.m. Cost: $29, includes refreshments and a copy of the SketchaJournal for the Christian Heart.

- Discover Your Life Purpose: Offered through New Westminster continuing education at New Westminster Secondary School, Monday, April 18, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., 604-517-6345.

- Transitions Through Change, Loss and Grief: Offered through New Westminster continuing education at NWSS, Thursdays, April 21 to May 12, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., 604-517-6345.

- The Power of Journalling: Offered at Vancouver Technical Secondary School, 2600 East Broadway, 6:30 to 9:30 p.m. Register at 604-713-4550.

See www.sketchajournal.com for more.