• secretlife said on Mar 05, 2008....

  i did a gratitude journal for 2 years.
  not quite a diary, but a way to sit at the end of every day and find SOMETHING to be grateful for.  I have to say it helped me a great deal to find positives in my life, and not to concentrate on the negatives. 
   
  have you ever kept a real diary and not an online one?  you might find it easier because then nobody else is reading it.

• Fallyn said on Mar 05, 2008....

  yeah, i have.
  it's just not something i was able to keep up with well.
  i'd end up doodling in the margins instead of actually writing.
  
  a gratitude journal would be a good idea.....but not quite what i had in mind.
  
  have you ever heard of the movie the secret?
  that's where i've heard of the gratitude journal before.
  

• secretlife said on Mar 05, 2008....

  i've heard of the book...but haven't read it.
  about 10 years ago there was a book called Simple Abundance Journal of Gratitude by  Sarah Ban Brethnach.  Someone gave me the book as a gift and that's what started me on keeping the journal.
   

• Fallyn said on Mar 05, 2008....

  ah, interesting.
  a gratitude journal might be a good idea too.
  

• Fallen_from_Grace said on Mar 05, 2008....

  I use a Journaling software package to keep my thoughts organized, categorized, and cross-linked.  I decided to join a blog, and intend to copy/paste some of my entries that i feel ought to have feedback to make sure I'm not crazy or because it is cathartic to tell other people what i'm going through.
  
  i think there is no one right way...it's a personal thing about what works for you.  I'd think that several different posts on different aspects might be good for organizing and tracking trends...but a "forced" daily posting could be very cathartic.  In the end, I'm sure you'll find a way...as long as you keep trying.
  
  someone once told me that the secret to success was to stand up one time more than you fall.
  
  BTW - the gratitude journal is a great Idea.  I read about the gratitude thing in The Secret, but had forgotten to start a journal.  Thanks for reminding me.
  

• lfbno7 said on Mar 06, 2008....

  I have kept a diary all my adult life. I have dozens of annual books in the house. In more recent years I started summarizing months and years so I could see at a glance what was going on. But I never look into the old books and I don't know if they will ever be worth anything to anyone. I just stuff them in the attic crawl space. But I think they do have value. For one thing, they let your angels know what the hell your problem is, to give them something to work on.

• Fallyn said on Mar 06, 2008....

  i like that....standing up one more time than you fall.
  
  the gratitude thing is generally difficult for me....i'm not sure why.
  but i think i've been using the secret even for longer than i'd heard of it....i'm not sure that made sense.
  not well....but.....knowing it.
  
  

• moonriver said on Mar 06, 2008....

  in years past, i kept a daily journal, in the form of small notebook that fitted into my vest pocket. i carried it whenever i went, and updated it whenever i had a bit of free time... while on long-haul rides, while waiting for my next meeting, in idle moments...
  
  each daily entry was composed, not really of fleshed-out sentences (as one would expect in a true diary), but just meaningful phrases about stuff i did that day, lists of things to do, even a quick account of my daily expenses, doodles, notes about ideas i need to remember, phone numbers, email addresses, etc.
  
  this habit was disrupted in some periods, sometimes extending to months... then i'd resume the habit.
  
  result: a big plastic bin full of such notebooks. i havent revisited my past years' notebooks. they would certainly be interesting to re-read... ;-)
  
  

• Fallyn said on Mar 06, 2008....

  that would be an interesting read.
  i have a little notebook that i keep in my purse like that.
  but it's mostly appointments and grocery lists.
  
  

• vacantmind said on Mar 06, 2008....

  I have kept a daily journal since I was 11. So, about 23 years of journaling. I just keep them all in a spiral notebook. I think the act of physical writing to release emotions is a powerful thing. I see myself as releasing pain and self-doubt through my hands. Other than being organized by year thats all the organization I do. I tend to be able to reflect on those things without ever referring back to them, just because of the act of writing. But, I hear there is good software out there for tagging your pages. I just don't do it because I don't really use mine for reflection but for a release instead.

• moonriver said on Mar 06, 2008....

  fallyn -- i say, your type of notebook would still be better than nothing.
  
  sometimes my day's entry is just barely that... a checklist of things to do, things to buy. but from there i could reconstruct the thoughts and events i had for that day.
  
  and once you get into the habit of pulling out that little notebook and jotting down notes during those idle minutes that punctuate our busy day, it becomes, well, habitual and hard to break. :-)
  
  

• Fallyn said on Mar 06, 2008....

  vacant...i used to try that...but it never helped, but then i was stuck in the same horrible place for a very long time.....so now it might help.
  
  moon. *grin* that would likely be a very very good idea.
  keep me more organized.
  
  

• silverwhisper said on Mar 07, 2008....

  you know, fallyn, most people use a blog to do exactly that. :>
  
  ed

• Fallyn said on Mar 07, 2008....

  *grin* ....well....i'm not most people.
  so it takes an epiphany of sorts to get me to see the possibility.
  

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