In the diary you find proof that in situations which today would seem unbearable, you lived, looked around and wrote down observations…  and for that very reason have got to admit the courage of our earlier striving in which we persisted even in sheer ignorance. - Franz Kafka, The Diaries 1910-1923

I guess in my diary I’m not afraid to be boring. It’s not my job to entertain anyone in my diary. - David Sedaris

Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart. -A.A. Milne

Homework

  • Set a goal to write an entry every day for at least one month. If you miss a day, remember to at least write the day and date of the day you missed, leaving space to write. This allows the day to be accounted for and makes it easier for you to retroactively journal when you have the time.

  • Pay attention to when it’s easiest to journal and set a reminder to journal during that part of the day. (Evenings are great for reflecting on the day and clearing your head. Mornings are also great for reflecting on the day before while your head is clear and you have a bit of distance from it.)

  • Consider options for creating a space for you to be in when you’re journaling, preferably a place that you don’t associate with other productive activities (stairwell, sitting on the floor, sitting in your car, etc.)

  • As you become comfortable with the practice, have fun exploring different ways to do it.

Habit-building tips:

Write in your journal before, or while, doing something else you enjoy to reinforce the award association.

Print a calendar page, put it somewhere accessible and for the next month, draw a star on each day you write an entry, in present-time or retroactively.

Make what you’re using to journal accessible (next to your coffee pot, bed, place your journaling app in the first screen on your phone and move other apps that you don’t need to another screen)

Never forget that writing is as close as we get to keeping a hold on the thousand and one things — childhood, certainties, cities, doubts, dreams, instants, phrases, parents, loves — that go on slipping, like sand, through our fingers. - Salmun Rushdie

Your journal is one of the many things in life that don’t have to be perfect. The only wrong way to do is to not do it.

The seminar for The Sustainable Journaling Project is a free service, but donations to the project are gladly accepted through Venmo @johncaseynyc.