Create a topic for daily journal writing

Think of something you’ve always regretted not doing. Think it through, and think how your life would have looked like now if you had done it. Would you be a better person? Worse? Different?

According to Gretchen Rubin of the Happiness Project, “What’s fun for other people may not be fun for you—and vice versa.” She lists it as one of her ‘secrets of adulthood’.

Do you know what’s fun for you? Do you know what’s fun for you that’s not fun for other people? Do you know that fun for other people that’s not fun for you?

Just sit down for 10 minutes and start writing about anything. Do not feel like you have to write complete sentences or spell things correctly or even stay on topic.

Just write and keep on writing for a set period of time. Allow yourself to vent, complain, explain, reflect….

ANYTHING>>> just keep writing for five to ten minutes. You can write longer as you feel more and more comfortable freewriting..

This topic was taken directly from the web site www.journalkeeping.com

I think my relationship with money is a good one. Bills and I get along well. We like to go places together, although I have been known to leave Bills on occasion at stores and restaurants. Sometimes I leave the house with Bills and come home without Bills. Frequently, when I think of things I want and know that Bills could give those things to me, I’ll decide not to get them after all. I’m really quite frugal and tend to keep Bills all to myself. But if there is something I really do want, I do not hesitate to let Bills get it for me. We work well together, I think.

Of all the relationships in our lives, the relationship with money is one that can make the path of life smooth or rocky, and it’s practically impossible to break up or get a divorce. How’s your relationship with money?

Think of a time in the recent past where you were moved emotionally. Perhaps you were giddy with joy. Or maybe you were moved to tears. Describe the feeling and write about what elicited your emotion.

If today came at me again and I could so something differently, I probably would get all my materials ready for laminating today instead of only half. ‘Course there was no way for me to know the machine at school would not be working, and that I would have to go to the district to laminate. But, it really was quick and easy and maybe even preferable to do it there. So, I may just get the rest of the envelopes ready and do them next Wednesday. I might have liked having just a little bit more time to tidy up the house before leaving and maybe just a bit more time to stretch before tennis, but all in all, I like the way this day has gone so far.

Not an easy topic. It’s so easy to think everything just went perfectly; but if the day was perfect, why don’t I think I’m perfect?

Two things came up:

1.) I would have taken the headache tablets much earlier. The neckache would have been gone much quicker, and the fuzziness caused by the tablets too.

2.) I would have extended the bit of charity that was within my reach. It would not have taken that long or cost that much, and would have meant a lot in terms of better human relations.

Suppose something like what happens in the movie Groundhog Day happens to you occasionally: you wake up in the morning and find yourself in yesterday again. But it only happens once in a while and you relive only one day at a time.

How would you change your day if today was such a day?

The favourite things I would take with me would start with my SANAE team photo, the one that was taken on 31 December 1999 on top of Lorentzenpiggen with the helicopter hovering in the background. I will always have it above my desk because it reminds me of working hard and working well.

I would also take my Concise Oxford Dictionary. It takes me back to the time it was given to me and reminds me of the people who gave it to me. It also helps me explore the richness of the English language, and gives me firmness underfoot when I get lost in its quagmires.