Journals: 9th Day of Christmas

Quote for the Week

Motivational Speaker Tony Robbins said: "A life worth living is a life worth recording."

Today, we have Sunday's Written Wisdom as well as the 9th Day of Christmas Gift Suggestion. I'm going to be daring and suggest something rather mundane: a journal.

Now don't get writer's block just thinking about writing in a journal because keeping a journal is designed to help you live life better, not add stress to your world.

Journal, Not Dear Diary

A journal is:

a. a goal planner
b. a memory book
c. a day schedule
d. a tool to vent emotions
e. all of the above

Of course, the correct answer is all of the above. You can use it to write goals and keep track of them, to record events in your life, to make a daily to-do list, and to vent your anger or record your hurt or your happiness.

What Not To Write

Don't obsess about the same old thing until you're so bored you don't want to look through your own thoughts. What's the point of writing about how miserable you are because you can't lose 10 pounds? Don't focus on the same old BS. Instead, write yourself out of a rut.

Anything You Want

A journal can be a tool of self-exploration as well as a way to record things you want to remember. For writers, journals are places we can put down those random thoughts that plague us while we're in the midst of writing something else.

Best Time

There is no best time to do this. Do it on your schedule. Bedtime is a great time to dump all that negativity in your head onto paper and then turn the page. A clean page for tomorrow is like a fresh start. Then finish with a positive thought written on the clean page to represent your fresh start.

Mornings are good for writing what you want to achieve as well as dreams you may have had the night before. After lunch is a good time to reflect. In other words, any time is a good time to write in a journal.

Price Range: Low to High.

You can find journals just about anywhere from office supply stores, stationers, discount stores, and online. You can even use a theme book. You know, the black kind without a spiral. The price depends on the journal.

Simple ones. like the one shown here, are less than 10 bucks when purchased at The WriteWay, my CafePress shop. You can select from 3 options for the pages inside this journal.

This journal with the funny cover is from Sweet But Sassy and also comes with the 3 options for the inside pages.

You can get leather bound journals or other hardback journals if you want something a little more elegant. The important thing is to get a journal and use it to explore inner space. You just may find it's as effective as yoga in reducing stress and anxiety and giving you inner peace.

Takeaway Truth

I believe what Tony Robbins said so I'll repeat it. A life worth living is a life worth recording.