The Benefits of Keeping a Journal

Do you keep any sort of journal or diary? If not, I highly recommend that you start. It doesn’t have to be any great literary masterpiece. Any given day could be nothing more than, “I felt a little under the weather today but went to work anyway. Had lunch at Applebee’s with Mike. Came home, watched a few hours of tv then went to bed.”

Hopefully, most days will offer up more than Applebee’s with Mike, but you get the idea.

As you may know, my mom died in March of 2006. I’ve enjoyed reading back over my own journals about things we did together - times that my husband, daughters and I took her to a baseball game and she flirted with the third baseman. And the shortstop. And the relief pitcher. And the catcher…..

There were LOTS of trips to Cracker Barrel and endless “girls day out”s - one entry detailed a search she was on for a couple of plum sofa pillows. After we painstakingly hunted through 8 different stores, she returned to store #1 for the first pillows she saw. And, of course they were green. I ended the day’s entry with, “I love that crazy little woman!”

Anyway, looking back over events that have happened isn’t only rewarding emotionally, it also serves as a reminder of how important the little moments in life are. They very often eclipse the bigger, louder moments.

Give it a try. A year from now, you’ll want to hug yourself for doing so.

Make each moment count double (and then write it down!),
~Joi