There is a writer inside each of us. Some people can express themselves easily, while others have not developed their writing skills. Talents lie dormant until one day, they awaken.

During challenging times, a daybook or dairy can be useful. Writing helps us reflect upon emotions and thoughts. We can write whatever is in our hearts and on our minds. Write without interrupting your flow of thoughts. There should be no editing. Capture the bad times just as they are occurring. Include the details and dialogue, to paint the scene. It is amazing what we forget over time. Faint ink or pencil marks on a piece of paper will serve as the evidence we need to revisit those painful periods in our lives.

This personal journal may never be meant for anyone else to read. It is for personal healing, growth, and discovery.

A journal need not always be written, it can be oral and recorded on tapes. In either case, date each entry. If you are writing a personal history, it is better to use a notebook that is bound, instead of loose pages, so you can retrieve an entry later, from a better place in your life.

Here are some advantages of keeping a journal.

• Helps you to remember times in your life more clearly. After time passes, and you have moved beyond days of adversity, you will realize how far you have come. Likewise, a journal can capture the joys, victories, and celebrations in our lives, helping us to remember them when our memories fade.
  
• It is therapeutic to purge emotions. During a difficult time of your life, crying may help you to cope with your losses as you write. Writing can put you in a healing place, as it detaches you from the present situation. Since writing gives you something to do, it serves as a distraction. It may help you to see things differently. It is especially helpful if you read what you wrote out loud to yourself, a trusted friend, spouse, or family member. Reading aloud enables you to hear your voice and realize your deeper emotions that are behind the words.
  
• Helps you to learn from painful experiences. As you write, think about what this experience has taught you about life and highlight these lessons so they can help you in the future. See the experience as an opportunity to have a positive impact on your life. Look at adversity as an occurrence that will someday lead to an open door.
  
• What you write can help others someday. Your pain and suffering can have meaning in other peoples’ lives. Mistakes you have made can help others to avoid making the same ones. Your journal can be transformed into articles and books. I started keeping a written and audio journal in the hospital a few weeks after my spinal cord injury. I began writing a monthly inspirational column 1 ½ years after my injury. Now my book of inspirational articles will be coming out next month, and my memoir will be released next year.

There is no best time to start writing a journal. Pick up a spiral notebook and your favorite pen and see what is on your mind. Begin by writing a personal account of how your day has been up until now, and what you have been feeling and thinking. Let your heart dominate your hand as you write words on the page. You’ll thank yourself later for getting started on this process.