Sunday Journaling

           Journal writing has the potential to bless our own life, as well as the lives of those who come after us. I often find it very difficult to write a good journal entry though, especially because it seems that no one will care that I worked in the office again that day, picked up toys off the floor for the 1,972 time that month, or made it through another round of meetings for the day.
           In other words, I often view journal writing as a detail of my daily routine. When I view it this way, I rarely write in my journal, and rarely get anything out of it. I then feel somewhat guilty though when I hear a church leader speak about the importance of journal writing.
           To help myself better understand journaling, I have started looking through what actually makes a good journal entry. As I look at the lives of my ancestors, the things that really stand out to me are when something is recorded that gives me a glimpse of who the person was. As I have thought on this, I have realized that journaling is an amazing opportunity for us to learn about who we really are, as well as to leave a legacy for our posterity after us.
           Somehow, when we take the time to write down and record thoughts and feelings, we learn. Writing forces us to give structure to our thoughts and feelings. As our thoughts and feelings become structured, an identity forms within us. We began to understand and see more of why we feel as we do, why we think as we do, and why we act as we do. As we gain this identity, we also gain the ability to change as we see ourselves more clearly, and understand what is taking place inside.
           Additionally, as we begin to record our thoughts and feelings, we are beginning to record pieces of ourselves that can stay alive long after we go. These pieces of ourselves can bless our posterity. All of us are drawn to stories that truly reach and touch the emotions and feelings that take place inside of us. The more we are able to write about who we are inside, the more drawn to and connected others become to us.
           There is a lot of power in sharing our fears, our sadness, our joy, and our current understanding of life, of politics, religion, or the like. No matter how simple we are, we matter to those around us. Further, when we record these things, we gain the ability to see our progress.
           Without a journal, or external record of our internal feelings and thoughts, we can never see our progress or growth. If we want to understand if we have gained more spirituality, more patience, or similar intangible attributes, we have to actually record where we are at with those things. As we do, and as life continues on, we can look back on and actually see how far we have moved from where we were at earlier. The ability to see our progress or change is invaluable as we make course corrections in our lives, and as we recognize what is working and what is not for us.
           Recently, there has been a renewed focus in the Church on “making the Sabbath a delight.” During the week I am often so busy that I rarely write in a journal. However, I have decided to try and make “the Sabbath a delight” by trying to actually write a journal entry that would be meaningful for me and my family. As I have sat and tried to write, I still struggled coming up with a topic for that week, as my mind usually goes blank when I sit down to write.
           To remedy that problem, I made a list of topics I can use if nothing else comes to mind when I sit down to write. I share this list simply to help you come up with topics or to perhaps start a tradition of journal writing that will help shape you and your posterity. I know that we often fear describing many of these things, but these are the things that our kids and others find most interesting about us, the things that we usually don’t share with them.
           There are many ways, of course, to keep a journal, and so just pick what works best for you. For me, typing works best. I type all day for work, so it is a form of writing that I can do quickly. Also, you can keep journals for children, family, or other situations, and I am trying to maintain a journal I record things in occasionally that affect the entire family as well as my own personal journal.
           One day, I may actually get good enough at this to record things daily, but for now, my goal is just to make a meaningful entry once a week. Hopefully the following list is helpful to you as you consider ways to make the Sabbath a delight and as you take the time to record things that will be interesting and helpful to you in understanding who you are as well as to your posterity.

1. Describe yourself as if you were writing a letter of introduction to someone you had never met.
2. Describe your work you do each day, and describe how it affects you and why you do that work. (It’s a job, I enjoy it, it pays the bills, I really wish I had something else, it causes too much stress, etc.)
3. Tell about a person who is a hero to you, or about someone you look up to. Describe their qualities and how they have impacted you.
4. Record a conversation you had with a child during the week.
5. Write about your favorite holiday memory. Add in details about the things still alive in your memory.
6. Describe something you wish you could do and why.
7. Tell about a topic you have a hard time understanding. If the topic is one that comes up frequently, talk about how you deal with it when it comes up.
8. Describe your strengths and your weaknesses.
9. Describe some of the spiritual gifts or talents you’ve been given.
10. Tell about what you think your life’s mission may include.
11. Record a favorite scripture and explain why it is a favorite.
12. Describe some of your family traditions during your childhood.
13. Write about things you fear. Describe how often you have to deal with each thing.
14. Write down a goal and a timeframe to accomplish it in.
15. Tell about if you had to live in a different country, where the ideal place for you to live would be.
16. Describe your ideal job and the factors that would make it ideal.
17. Write your impressions of world events and other important happenings.
18. Think of a book you’ve read, and explain why it has made a difference in your life.
19. Describe your earliest memory.
20. Share your testimony in an honest way. Write down what you know is true, what you believe is true, what you hope is true, what you struggle with, and how you deal with things you don’t know.
21. Describe your busiest day from start to finish, giving details of everything you did and why.
22. Tell what makes you happy.
23. Tell how you deal with loneliness, sadness, or discouragement.
24. Describe the characteristics of your family members.
25. Write down experiences that made you smile as a child.
26. Record your opinions and thoughts on the proper role of government.
27. Take a guess as to what things will be like 10, 20 or 30 years from now based on your take on current events and where they are leading us.
28. Tell about some of the hot topic current events in society, or ones that you are concerned about.
29. Write down your ideal meal, the foods you love, and the foods you don’t like.
30. Describe what faith means to you, and how you use faith in your life.
31. Describe your relationship with God and things you think you could do to improve it.
32. Tell what you thought your life would be like when you were a child, and the differences now from what you expected or hoped for.
33. Record what you think could help the country improve.
34. Write down and describe a time when you had to do something that required pushing through fear, anxiety, or other internal blocks to complete the task.
35. Tell who your favorite religious leader is and why he/she is your favorite.
36. Share your thoughts and feelings on the Book of Mormon and its impact in your life.
37. Record a dream you have had that has stuck with you.
38. Write about your worst haircut or hairdo ever.
39. Record your most embarrassing moment, or a collection of the top embarrassing moments.
40. Write about the hard times that have shaped your life, for good or bad. Include things that helped you through them, or things you could use if you are currently in them.
41. Make a list of popular grocery stores, and tell which ones you like and why, and which ones you refuse to shop at and why.
42. Describe places or companies that you feel are too dishonest or unethical to do any type of business with or patronize in anyway.
43. Share about a time you lost something or had something stolen and the efforts you went through to try and get it back.
44. Tell about a time you didn’t follow the crowd, or about a time you did and wished you hadn’t.
45. Pick some long-term goals you can work towards and list them, along with things you will need to do to accomplish them (attend school, learn to wake up earlier, etc.).
46. Describe what it means to be a “[Insert your last name]”. Every family has an identity of some sort, something that makes them unique from other families, and you can write about that identity. If you can’t think of something, start with thinking of things you would never do that other families do. If, for example, you would never ride a roller coaster, then begin with recording “‘[Last name]’s’ don’t go to amusement parks.” You can write about how your family uses their time and things they generally don’t do.
47. Share about something in your past that you regret.
48. Write about something you would love to see made into a movie and why.
49. Tell about your favorite winter activity (even if that’s sitting inside wrapped in blankets watching a movie). Describe some of the times you can remember doing that activity.
50. Record your favorite vacations or vacation spots. Tell about some of your memories from those, and describe things that make them your favorite.
51. Share about whether you are a city or country person, and the ideal place for you to live based on that and other factors, such as weather, distance from other family, etc.
52. Describe what makes you you. Interests you have, things you don’t like, things you do like, ways you contribute to others, etc.
53. Write down something you wish your family or posterity could understand and internalize.

           I am sure there are plenty of things and topics to add to this list, so feel free to comment on things that should be included in this list. That way the list can be updated and stay a good resource for others as well.

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