rediscovering: journaling

Remember this post??  As promised, I am here to share a little something every day this week that I am doing to make a happier me.  Perhaps it will be a good reminder to even just one of you that it is time to step back and evaluate your life - & for me it is worth it to share my journey with you.

Journaling has been a part of my life for a very long time.  As a little girl, just barely able to write, my mom bought a hardcover journal covered in white fabric with small purple flowers & gave it to me to write down my hearts desires.  I was 4.  My thoughts were focused on silly things my sisters & I did, cartoons I loved & friends I spent hours playing with.  Even then I knew my life was somewhat magical.   I felt like there was something special about me and I think we should all feel that way about ourselves.  We all have something amazing & special to offer the world, even if it is something only a few other people will notice & appreciate. 

My journaling continued all the way into my married life.  By then I had filled something like 5 or 6 journals.  Journaling had become a way for me to vent, write my deepest secrets & share my greatest joys.  As an adult, it became a way for me to vent - a way for me to release my anger.   I realized I had forgotten to record thoughts of gratitude. 

Children were born into our family & I had stopped making the time to journal.  I started scrapbooking instead.  I learned to be grateful for things in a much deeper way.  Then blogging was introduced to me by a dear friend and I, like many, became addicted.  Technology can be a wonderful thing :)  But I missed the art of handwritten journal entries & knew it was time to buy a new journal.  I didn't want to start where I had left off in my last journal.....so much has happened between then & now.  It was time to start fresh. 

I write even the smallest things down because I want to remember them when I'm old.  I want to remember that my life was full - full of successes & failures - because those moments will have determined who I will become. 

I picked up this cute journal from Borders.  I love that it's spiral bound and has an elastic band to hold it closed.  I tuck cards & other momentos in it for safe keeping.

Do you journal??  If not, you should.  It's an amazing, not to mention easy, way to rediscover yourself.  I'll be back tomorrow with another rediscovering post.
Happy Monday,
--Anna