Journaling
A journal can take many shapes and forms. It can be as simple as a daily to-do list and as complex as a detailed personal history. I used to feel like I needed to record every detail of every day -- and that if I missed a day, I needed to make sure I went back and documented it. Unfortunately, this resulted in feeling overwhelmed and a hopeless attitude toward writing anything down at all. However, many years after my grandfather passed away, he taught me that it is important to record something, no matter how short or meaningless it might seem at the time. My grandfather's journals mostly contained a one- or two-line entry to record a daily health and weather report, but over the course of a six-month period of time he also told the story of love and service to a family member that was hospitalized and nearly died after what we would now consider to be a routine surgery. I am so grateful that he recorded something so that I could learn from his example "to what source [I] may look for a remission of [my] sins." (2 Nephi 25:26)
Not only will journaling record your testimony for your posterity, but it also comes with many benefits to your life in the moments you write. Many scholarly studies have concluded that journaling can improve mental health and wellbeing by increasing coping skills; reducing stress, anxiety, and depression; and increasing gratitude.
Here are some of my favorite apps and ideas to help you get started with a journal of your own:
One-line-a-day/5-year journals (journals that have 5 entries per page, one entry for each year for 5 years -- these journals are great because you don't need to write very much and it's easy to reflect on past years)
Gratitude journal
Lists (movies/books you saw/read this year, cars you've owned, callings you've held, places you've lived or traveled to)
Calendars, planners, and daily to-do lists
Letters (sent or un-sent)
Dream journal (sometimes our dreams can tell us a lot about how our body is processing our daily lives)
Nature journaling (a way to help you become more in touch with your senses and the world around you)
Reflection (a way to process an event in your life by recording what took place along with your thoughts and feelings about it and what it meaning it had to you)
Reading journal (just the act of writing something down will help you remember things better -- a reading journal can be your record of inspiring quotes, insights and more technical info that you come across in your reading)
-Brother Folkman
Journaling apps:
