Years ago I taught a course on Journaling.   I think it helped me more to teach it than I knew at the time.   It was called Diary of the Mind.   Our minds are like diaries that list data, record events for recall, and filter our thoughts.  To clean house and empty our minds of data can be done by writing things down.   We are able to purge the things that are unhealthy and hopefully keep some wisdom from our  experience.File Jun 10, 11 58 26 AM

A journal can help us to take charge of our own thinking.   By writing things down we find “ah-ha” moments.   Our feelings become noted and they don’t then take over by oozing out into bad behaviors. Some people only act on their impulsive thoughts; that can be dangerous indeed.  It is good to think things through and then call in the heart to react appropriately.

If you journal regularly, you have probably set up a template of sorts without even knowing it. One can create a series of stepping stones to help process otherwise intrusive thoughts.   The process removes confusion and replaces it with some order.

In school we may be taught to write.   Many times we take creative writing or specific English classes to teach punctuation and grammar.   How I wish more teenagers were taught to put things into lists and formats to help them create clear thinking .

When children are small they line up their tiny toys in rows.  They are encouraged to sort and stack things.   If we can transfer those physical behaviors into meaningful thought patterns, it would help.   Parallel thinking and replication helps us write.

My father left behind around 20 years of  journals with what he spend or what he did.  Often they only had an entry or two.  As he got older the entries became more feeling.   I have over the years reread certain parts of them.  What a great insight and closeness I have been given.

Hope you’ll jot down things for your children or family members as well.   Blessings for the day as you “Delight in Living”.