Why and How to Keep Journaling
- Knowledge
- 27th July 2020
Written by Aradhita Saraf (Weloquent)
“During these months lived much with Prof. Henslow, 1 often dining with him, & walking with. became slightly acquainted with several of the learned men in Cambridge. which much quickened the little zeal, which dinner parties & hunting had not destroyed. In the Spring, paid Mr Dawes a visit, with Ramsay, Kirby & Henslow [crossed] & talked over an excursion to Teneriffe.—
In the Spring, Henslow persuaded me to think of Geology & introduced me to Sedgwick.— During midsummer geologized a little in Shropshire.”
This is an excerpt from the journal diary of naturalist, geologist, and biologist, Charles Darwin. And even today, after almost 138 years, we are so very grateful to him for having penned his thoughts and notes on travel. Like him, it is said that most of the world’s successful people, for instance - Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Oprah Winfrey - maintain a journal. They help you keep in touch with yourself, set goals, achieve them, and are a means of holistic self-care.
Interestingly, if you were to ask a group of people how many of them keep a journal, you might see a small show of hands, however, if you tweak the question slightly, to - how many of them have ever tried keeping a journal - the number of hands raised will double up. To make the process of journal writing a tad bit easier, and even more interesting (so that once you start, you’ll never really stop) we’ve put together a list of diary entries that is sure to tempt you into journaling daily:-
Talk about Your Goals (Education, Fitness, Career, Spiritual, etc.)
As soon as you spell your goals out, you are one step closer to achieving them. Use your personal diary to build a monthly POA (plan of action) where you write down your goals concerning every aspect of your life. With every new day, talk about what you are doing to achieve your goals, and watch yourself grow. Remember, an unaccomplished goal is better than none at all.
Share Your Learnings
Learning never stops, and the best way to remind ourselves to keep learning is to force ourselves to write a short summary (a sentence or two) of our new discoveries every day. This way, you will be excited to explore a new place, acquire a new skill, read a new book, have an interesting discussion - just so that you can write about it in your diary the next day! Keeping a record of these learnings will allow you to reflect on all the knowledge you’ve assimilated as you grow older.
List Five Things that Make You Happy/Grateful
In current unprecedented times, it is easy to concentrate on the negative aspects of our day and overlook all the things we have to be grateful for. If we sit ourselves down and force ourselves to come up with five things that made us happy, we are bound to start looking for happiness everywhere - just so that we have enough to write about the next day! This sort of a journal entry works miracles for all - and is often powerful enough to pull people out of depression and chronic stress.
Describe Your Life Milestones
There are few things as pleasurable as looking back at your milestones and reliving the ecstasy you once perceived. Give your future-self this gift, by sharing every monumental moment with your diary and preserving each delightful emotion you perceive
- so that they are eternalized on paper and can be celebrated over and over again.
The day you entered your teens, the day you graduate from school/college, the day you baked your first cake, your first day at work - these small moments grow to be big memories that tell the story of your beautiful life.
Pen Your Fears
Write about what scares you, until it scares you no more. Talk to your diary about the challenges you face, and what steps you are taking to face them. Accepting your weaknesses, fears, and sore-points make you a more accepting and self-aware being. It helps you embrace yourself through thick and thin, and charts an improvement plan for you so that you awake a more fearless, strong, kind, and confident person every new morning.
Bucket List
Did you know that Steve Jobs would stand in front of the mirror each day and ask himself, “If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do?” and then act accordingly.
Acknowledging and recognizing our dreams, help us achieve them. Talk about the places you’d like to visit, things you’d like to do, people you’d like to meet, and work towards accomplishing them until each checkbox is ticked away, and you have lived the life of your dreams.
*Get Featured: Send us a photograph of yourself with your journal at [email protected] and tell us why you enjoy keeping a journal, or how it has benefited you. Chosen entries will be featured in a blog post.