Keeping a journal doesn’t have to be a chore, and it is a great way to check in with your life. Not only can it be a repository of the record of daily goings-on — from the mundane to the marvelous — but a journal can also be used to help you make decisions, work through dilemmas, and sort through your emotions. Getting thoughts down on paper can clear away the cobwebs.
Try these unique journal ideas from contributing editor Lucy M. Pritchett:
- Bullet Point Journal: If you don’t feel you want to write in complete sentences, record the events of your day using bullet points and short phrases. I have a small Moleskin book in which I make note of daily activities, accomplishments, and other events I want to record. This only takes a few minutes after dinner, and it is fun to look back and read what I was doing on a certain day a year or two ago.
- Seasonal Journal: This year I kept a journal I called my Winter Journal, and it ran only from November through February. By limiting my time of keeping a record of thoughts and musings to just a season, I didn’t feel overwhelmed that I was ‘doing this forever.’ By the beginning of spring, if I wanted to continue, I could. Or not.
- Nature Journal: One year I recorded what tricks Mother Nature was performing outside my window every day. I kept a note of the daily temperature, the phases of the moon, and wrote a sentence or two about any substantial ‘weather events’ that were happening. I also included photos of the first daffodil in March, the heat-wilted flowers in the middle of summer, the blazing fall colors of the maple tree across the street, and the icicles hanging from my front porch roof.
Read about more journal ideas here.
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