On Keeping A Journal

A journal, well kept, can be your most valuable possession.

We’re not made to be remembered. Our bodies are on this planet for a brief hint of time, and then our molecules are returned to the grand system to be reused in another manner. The “you” as matter may still exist, but the important parts -memories- will be lost.

There are few ways we can be remembered after we’re gone. Yes, our memory will live on in friends and family, but when they go, we go. An image of your form can live on in a photograph, but it says little about the kind of person you were. You could have a child; leave a portion of your genes behind to continually dwindle and become muddled through the generations. You could leave behind a great work of art; a building, a painting, a novel, a song. A bit of your creative essence will continue on. But the best way, the way to be remembered that has the highest resolution and density is through journaling.

A journal is a direct first hand account of your trials and triumphs. It is a record of your daily activities, dreams, hopes, and thoughts. Have you ever really considered that; a record of your thoughts. We speak our thoughts all day long and they are immediately lost the moment they’ve left our lips. Written down, a thought becomes tangible, it has been translated from the ether to the paper.

All the great men and women of history kept a journal. How else would we know of their great exploits? It is imperative to keep a record of your actions so that your great story is not reduced to legends and half truths, or simply lost and forgotten.

We’ve all started journals before with the best intentions and then given up before the habit had time to mature. Consider this, my plea to you, and please start again. It is not a difficult undertaking. Start small, write a few sentences each evening before turning out the light. Slowly, overtime, your journal will become a comforting place that you return to each day.