Ending Your Day With Journaling

by Bud Katter
Most daily devotional books and journaling teachers say that “morning” is the by far the best time to write in your spiritual journal. They maintain that by spending your just-awakening time with God, planning your day and writing down your observations from the previous day, you can focus better. Yes, you have to get up earlier for solitude in most households, and I would have to skip my reading of the early morning newspaper but you can have your morning coffee while you reflect and journal. My choice, though, is to journal in the evening as the day is ending.
I consider spending the ending of the day journaling to and about God as a special time:
• It is unhurried and relaxing; the morning seems more of a “hurry up and get this done” kind of situation for me.
• In the evening, I don’t have any thoughts jumping into my mind about forthcoming appointments, meetings, schedules, etc.
• It’s easier to remember and reflect on the day’s events and then plan tomorrow’s; by the next morning things have been forgotten if not jotted down during the day. (See my “2 Sentence Journaling” post for another possibility).
• A quiet time and place is easy to find since the household is getting ready for or are already in bed.

Now I realize that some people are night owls and some people are morning roosters so a lot depends upon when you are the most creative and productive. Interestingly, creativity guru Julia Cameron maintains that after free writing three pages in your journal, you really start generating ideas just like one of those stand-up popcorn makers has popcorn exploding out of the cooker all around the glass cage. So maybe the quantity of your journaling entry is as important as the time of day that you write in your journal.

If you have not found your regular time/place yet, it may take some experimentation to find the best one for you but this task should be one on your most important resolutions for the New Year. (I have settled on sitting in bed in the evening right before sleep time.) And add a contract to your resolutions:
I am inspired to journal during 2010 and contract with myself to write at least once per day, at _________ while sitting at ______________. Signed ______________________