Good morning and Happy Labor Day!! I’m typing this entry from my iPhone today because I’m having some technical difficulties with my laptop. We have had an excellent Labor Day weekend, despite less than excellent weather. Friday night we drove to Herculaneum, MO to see Levi play his first ever full Friday Night football game (last week was a jamboree). That night, we drove and sat through some of the hardest, most consistent rain I have seen in my life. The game started at 7 and didn’t end until almost 11 due to lightning delays. It was a heartbreaking loss (16-14), but I’m very proud of how our boys played despite unfriendly circumstances.
We did not get home until about 1 oclock on Saturday morning from the football game. Neither Keri nor I wanted to get out of bed on Saturday to do our normal run. However, we both made a commitment and were able to get to St. James and meet some good friends of ours for an excellent run. I had plans of hauling hay on Saturday all week. However, due to rain (again!!) we had to put this off. So instead, Keri and I had an impromptu date to St. Louis for dinner. I think I’ll talk one day very soon about how important date nights are to our marriage. But I’ll say that since we have been going out of our way to have date nights, our marriage has thrived.
Sunday, we went to church per usual. However, I was asked to teach the Sunday school lesson. This was quite intimidating because our church has implemented a new curriculum and I had not yet taught a class using it. However, the lesson went very well. We discussed the middle chapters of 1 Corinthians. If anyone has read Paul’s letters to Corinth, you know that they are very loaded with spiritual information. Like a spiritual T-bone steak!! It was a very spiritual lesson and I was able to take away more from it than I brought to it, which is always nice.
Sunday afternoon, I did another thing that was out of my “familiar zone.” I recorded the first episode of my upcoming podcast “Ag State Of Mind.” I will reveal details of this later, but it was an excellent conversation with a golden mind. I’m so excited for this new endeavor of mine.
Ok, now to today’s topic… journaling.
Journaling is something that I have always wanted to do, but somehow never found the time to do so. I just never thought I had anything worth journaling about. That was before I saw how it could help me just get some thoughts out of my head that were making me cloudy.
I first started seriously journaling Christmas 2018. Keri bought me a beautiful hand made leather bound journal with recycled cotton paper. I just began writing my thoughts down on this paper. All the thoughts; good, bad, or indifferent. It was like it was my own personal therapist. The real value in stream of thought journaling is that you can see how logical (or illogical) your thoughts are when written down on paper.
After a few weeks of stream of thought journaling, I began practicing gratitude journaling. I write down 5 things every morning that I am thankful for. Just the first 5 things that come to mind. It can be as simple as “Thankful I get to have my morning caffeine.” Just 5 things that I’m thankful for. It seems simple, but when you start your day with gratitude, it helps set the tone for your day. You get to play offense for your day. When you have gratitude, then the things that inconvenience you on any level don’t seem so daunting.
I know that this seems like a simple, meaningless task. However, I can attest that it is very powerful. Journaling has helped me get out ahead of any struggles that come my way. Like I stated, I can play offense. Stream of thought journaling can help me figure out why I am feeling the way I am. Gratitude journaling helps me to see how fortunate I am so my problems don’t seem so bad. Plus, I just love to write in any capacity. For me, there is just something therapeutic about putting pen to paper.
What is your experience with journaling? Have you wanted to start journaling, but don’t know where to start? Let’s talk about the values of journaling and your successes and failures. Thanks for reading today. Remember to like this post on Social. Please share with others who may find some value.
Until next time,
Jason