I’m over at Fast Company today, writing about “The One Easy Daily Habit That Makes Life More Awesome.” (I love the headline writers over there!) Last summer I started a short (1-2 sentence) daily micro-journal about why 2012 was my “best summer ever.” That was the name of the document. Being sure to write down and contemplate at least one quirky, fun, or memorable thing that happened each day did, indeed, make for a very good summer. Matt Lauer and a pie contest were both involved. So was Legoland in California and biking in Jim Thorpe. In the mosaic of life, we see what we choose, and writing the quirky, fun, and memorable down makes them stand out as brighter tesserae.
Do you keep a journal? If so, did you record anything awesome this week? I have something fun brewing, which I’ll share in a few weeks…
“I WANTED SPECIFIC EVIDENCE–EVIDENCE THAT WOULD CONJURE UP DETAILED MEMORIES–THAT I HAD AN AWESOME LIFE.”
I really love that line from your article!
So often a journal, mine anyway, becomes filled with venting and frustrations. It’s been helpful for stress relief, but not really something to look back on with fond memories.
Following your theme, I think, would bring more happiness overall – in the writing of it and reading it at some point in the future. I would add photos to my pages.
That line may even inspire me to look, or create, more special times to show my life’s awesomeness.
Thank you for that.
@Jenn – thanks! I, too, used my journal for a lot of venting, which makes it not particularly enjoyable to read back over. I feel like I get a lot of the venting time out by running now, esp with my running partner. The one-sentence journal is only about evidence of awesomeness. We can choose what we want to remember.
I heard about keeping a one sentence journal from Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project blog. It sounded like a great idea but I never did anything about it until last summer when I found in a bookstore a Happiness Project one sentence journal. It looks like those old 5 year diarys we had as kids. Each page is a day and has few lines to write on for each of 5 years. I started it last summer with the intention of writing moments of joy and gratitude. A few weeks ago after a very difficult day with my daughter, I picked up the journal and read that same day one year ago was one of my most joyful memories with my daughter last summer. It was nice to have that good memory to remind me.
I keep a one sentence journal too, after reading Rubin’s book. I got mine at a fancy paper store and it has entries for 5 years. I don’t do it consistently, but I know it will be awesome to go back over and reread it from year to year.
@Carrie – I hadn’t particularly thought about the year-to-year comparison, but I’m hearing from a lot of people who have these multi-year journals. It’s a cool concept.
I love the idea of year to year comparisons…especially with small children! I am going to hunt for a similar journal.
And I also love the idea of documenting “the good stuff”. I’ve looked over my old journals and oh the angst! And the idea of “gratitude journals” just didn’t do it for me. I’ve seen blogs where people document “3 good things” or something similar for each day, but one awesome thing sounds do-able and just about right for some days around here!
Funny how you posted that this week. I just ran across a blog post on a DIY version of this multiyear journal, and am totally planning to make one:
http://debbiehodge.com/2012/01/5-year-journal-01/
This is a great idea ! I started doing this in my agenda this week after I read this… today I will put — crying at swan lake ballet recital.. other days I put — driving by high corn drinking hot coffee !