The value of the journal

by Richard L. Weaver II, Ph.D.

When I was typing into my computer the handwritten essays I wrote on our Southeast Asia cruise, the experience brought back all the wonderful memories of our trip.  To reinforce and accentuate the notes I took, my wife received hard copies of the 400 digital pictures she took, and combined with my notes, the brochures, and ship information, we have a fairly complete representation of our trip.
    
I haven’t always kept notes about my daily activities, but I have written in a diary for most of my life.  I don’t remember when, why, or how I received my first one, but I know it was the five-year kind, and it had little space to write much on each day, but I remember enjoying the process of keeping track of major events.  
    
Even though you may think a person may not keep a diary, I think it makes a great present because it opens the invitation.  It offers the recipient a choice to use it or not.  It makes it available whereas, otherwise, it would not be.  (A young person generally does not go out and buy a diary or journal on his or her own.)
    
Just an aside here: When I speak on “writing” before 5th-grade classes, I give each student in the class a journal.  I explain its value, give them topics to write about, and encourage them to begin writing at once.
    
What I have learned about keeping a diary or journal is the topic of this essay.  The benefits include more than simply going back to find out on which day a certain event took place, whether or not we saw a particular movie (I save the movie receipts in the journal), or the number of a campsite we liked in a park we plan to visit a second time.  If these were the only reasons — and I DO use my journal for these purposes — I probably wouldn’t continue the practice.
    
One of the most important benefits from keeping a journal is the reflecting and understanding it brings.  Not every day, but on many days!  It gives me time not just to go over a day’s events — which I write down — but time to reflect, evaluate, analyze, and judge the events and my reactions to them.  It is like a mental exercise — healthy, beneficial, and satisfying.
    
Reflection and understanding are healthy for these processes allow me to examine my behavior: how could I do “this” better?  How could I do this differently?  or, in many of my own cases, How could I do this more efficiently?  So often, for example, when I’m keeping score on my accomplishments, I think about how much more I could have done had I not stopped working so early, or had I found a solution to a problem much earlier, or had I known at the start of a day what I knew at the end of a day.
    
So much of life is repetitious, and I always hope that when I face the same situation a second or third time, I can improve or, to say it a bit differently, that I can bring to the event or situation, a better me.  That is what the “and then some” philosophy is all about: becoming a better me.  It’s not just a great thought, but it is, indeed, a cause for reflection and increased understanding.
    
The second major benefit of writing a journal (in addition to reflecting and understanding), is motivation.  Life, in addition to being repetitious, is about “doing,” or “getting things done.”  There are so many things to do and so little time; thus, life becomes a matter of making choices.
    
The chance to review my accomplishments in my journal is an opportunity to assess my energy level regarding the next day or the next week.  For me, any list of things accomplished is an expression of personal energy and motivation.  I don’t often think about it, but I become motivated by accomplishment.  And accomplishments, like catalysts, stimulate even more accomplishments.  They are like a sign post that points the way toward greater commitment and engagement.
    
A third reason why writing in a diary or journal is beneficial has to do with emotions.  I become emotionally tied to the accomplishments and choices I make.  For example, when I have completed a task (like writing this essay, for example), I love to go back and look at what I’ve done — to enjoy it, take pleasure in it, and derive some emotional satisfaction from it.  When I re-read and edit what I write, it is a truly gratifying and fulfilling time.
    
A fourth benefit I derive from keeping a journal has to do with tracking progress.  I am always interested in moving forward, striving to improve, seeking enlightenment, and positively pushing my creativity and innovation in new and rewarding directions.  I have always believed that that is what life should be about.  The “good life” is not for slackers!  Mine is a dynamic, bold, and ambitious attitude.  In the tenth edition of my textbook Communicating Effectively (McGraw-Hill, 2012), I incorporated a new section entitled “Active Open-Mindedness” (AOM) specifically designed to get readers to think more deeply, reflect on what they are reading, and make thoughtful choices.  These sections have been constructed with my goal in mind: getting readers to strive to improve, seek enlightenment, and positively push their creativity and innovation in new and rewarding directions.  (Whether these sections succeed in satisfying my intentions for including them, I will only know when the tenth edition is reviewed by users.)
    
There is a fifth benefit to keeping a journal that I suspect may satisfy anyone reading this essay.  It is a form of mental activity that keeps me fresh and active.  I like the vibrancy and newness of living every day, and I like to capture that new sense of energy on paper for it serves to replenish and revitalize my spirits.
    
The sixth and final benefit for keeping a journal is that it holds me responsible.  These are MY accomplishments, MY achievements, and MY efforts.  Because they are MY acts, I take responsibility for MY talent, MY ability, MY competence, and MY aptitude.  It makes it all specific and distinct.  It lays it out in black-and-white.  I can see it and respond to it.
    
Whether it is reflecting and understanding, motivation, an emotional outlet, tracking progress, a mental activity, responsibility, or all of these combined, I find writing a journal to be enormously satisfying — a major contribution to my health and well-being — and, for those who have never tried it, I highly recommend it.
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At Associated Content the essay there, “The Benefits of Journal Writing,” lists several benefits not mentioned in my essay: 1) Reducing Stress, 2) Increasing Cognitive Functioning, 3) Increasing Creativity and Writing Skills, and 4) Stimulating Self-growth.  The author adds 5) Telling Your Own Story.

Melissa Donovan, at the website Writing Forward, has an essay, The Benefits of Journal Writing,” in which she extolls the virtues of journal writing for writers and artists.  She begins her terrific essay saying, “Do all writers keep journals? Of course not. But most of us have kept journals at some point and for most of us, journal writing has been instrumental in generating ideas, developing a strong voice, and learning how to flesh thoughts out onto the page.”
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Copyright November, 2011, by And Then Some Publishing, L.L.C.