Journaling

[AndrewWiggin]

Anyone else enjoy keeping a journal? For the longest time I never could keep up with it, but have found a softcover Moleskine that I can carry in my pocket (though it takes up most of my pocket) and write down anything and everything in it.

If you do keep a journal, why do you keep it? What do you write in it? Has it been beneficial to keep a journal (this primarily depends on how long you've kept it)?

I find it particularly useful in recording conversations I've had and thoughts that have struck me during the day. Oddly enough, though I am obsessed with politics and news, I rarely mention it in my journal. I feel like recording your life somehow is important, makes it easier to track changes and problems, etc. I'm hoping that I can make this a habit.

 

[Austin]

I keep a journal for my children. I don't record daily but when I think there is something I need to record. This will help them understand who I am and what I was thinking when I have passed on. Besides it's a good excuse to use my Visconti fountain pen.

 

[rtaylor61]

I keep several journals. One is personal, one is for work, one is for my diabetes. I also use Moleskine journals. I now have volumes of them. I record my thoughts, triumphs, failures, and often my frustrations. I use them to record items that need careful thinking and planning.

Randy

 

[Nicks&Cuts]

I've journaled for years, on and off, sometimes every few days and sometimes only once a month. Helps to keep perspective on life, and remember all the great times you've had - and how far you've come in so many ways, all the lessons you've learnt from people and those daft / not so daft mistakes you make. I'll probably do it for a long time to come.

I only found moleskine recently. The one I use is small and cardboard - just simple. Would love a soft leather version but cant seem to pin small, simple lined paper ones down.

 

[thunderball]

I keep a journal for my children. I don't record daily but when I think there is something I need to record. This will help them understand who I am and what I was thinking when I have passed on. Besides it's a good excuse to use my Visconti fountain pen.

That's a great idea...I would have never thought of keeping a journal for my kids.

 

[Swampfox]

I do keep one. I don't keep up with like I should, or want to, but I do record observations, thoughts, and certain events in it. Things that I will never turn into any other form of writing for various reasons. Hopefully, someone coming behind me will care enough to know what I thought or why I am the way I am.

 

[SCWilson]

I've kept one for the past year. It is a personal/daily journal. I record the goings on of my day to day life as boring as it is. It alows me to vent about anything and everything in a way that I would not otherwise. It is amazing all that can happen in a year.

 

[Noebie]

i used to be fairly religious in keeping a journal - and it was very helpful in my spiritual development among other things - i read back over my entries for a couple of years at one point and could really feel the arc of my life

nowadays, it's mostly online for me - particularly on my weblog - but i do miss the sense of complete self disclosure i could achieve in the journal from time to time, knowing that nobody would ever read it

 

[toucanlamp]

Oh I like to write and I'll put something on paper if I have an experience during the day which really strikes me and might inspire a story. I don't have much interest though in keeping a detailed log of all the things that I do or have happen to me throughout my life. The important moments you remember, the banal day to day stuff is best forgotten, or at least don't make a special effort to remember it.