Keep a Calendar Journal Part 1
So why would someone want to keep a journal on a calendar, writing a sentence a day for two, four, five or even seven days a week? Here are a few reasons:
1. At the end of the year, you will be able to read about what all you did. You will gradually own a collection of notes for your autobiography.
2. Reading the sentence will spark the memory and bring back the event and its feelings even more clearly. Funny how quickly a person can forget an event. “Gosh, what a lovely date we had. I’ll never forget this,” you will say, but then time passes and Whoosh!, the memory is gone.
3. Writing a sentence a day on a calendar is an easy way to start writing if you’re not already.
4. Writing, large amounts or small, benefits the writer in many ways. It is valuable, beneficial, healing.
5. Writing even a sentence a day or three a week gets (or keeps) the brain active, moving, and sharp.
Here are a few more ideas about writing the actual sentences:
* Be creative. Start by writing something like: Took a walk with my wife. Now, play around with the words a little. Find another word that means the same thing. Sauntered down the street with my spouse, for example.
*Write about feelings or thoughts. No need to limit yourself to activities. You could write things like: Finally learned the meaning of life, or Got in touch with my inner child, or possibly, I was filled with an amazing glee all morning.
*Quote someone else. From time to time, write down something you read that strikes you as profound or inspirational or funny. Even copying, though not writing something original, can be beneficial.
*Tweet what you write. In a way, this is nothing new. People are writing what they are doing on Facebook or Twitter or other such places all the time. The difference with the Calendar Journal is that I’m suggesting what you write be a little more thoughtful. That’s why I suggest first writing the sentence on a separate piece of paper or in a notebook to edit it and make it better.
It’s never too late to start. You don’t have to wait until New Years Day or early January when calendars are easy to find in stores. Start anytime in the year. Writing two or three or four sentences per week is an easy and satisfying way to do something that will yield benefits now as you write, and at the end of the year as you read over what all you’ve written.
