Purpose: Creativity is not always encouraged in graduate education. It is established that PhD students need to think critically, but the emotional hurdles doctoral students face can sometimes outweigh the cognitive ones. In the authors' work with doctoral students, the authors aimed to connect the emotional with the intellectual -- the affective with the cognitive domains of learning, to provide students with the opportunity to make these links and better facilitate their progress. The authors used a learning journal that incorporated creative and critical thinking in an eight-month research course. The purpose of this study was to guide PhD students to become holistically involved in their doctoral journeys. Design/methodology/approach: The authors conducted a self-study using a narrative methodology. Seven students kept learning journals throughout the course where they could write or draw to communicate their thoughts and feelings however they chose. The instructors provided written feedback to the students three times over the course. Afterword, students and instructors wrote narratives based on their experiences. The authors conducted a narrative analysis and produced a collective narrative. Findings: Student experiences were variable; some more positive than others and often undergoing transformation during the process, but all students felt there was value in keeping a learning journal. Originality/value: There are many studies on focusing on critical thinking for doctoral students but less on emphasizing the role of creative thinking.