I learned several years ago that I needed to write down everything that happens – AS IT HAPPENS.

Instinctively I knew this because as an ER doc I’ve seen many people hem and haw when asked about when this symptom started or how long they’ve had something. They simply don’t know. And in medicine it gives us an idea of the seriousness of an issue or even helps with the diagnosis to know things like incubation periods etc.

In life it’s very helpful for you to journal what happens. You can see your progress and you can even see the obstacles in your way.

“But I’m so busy” you say. How to get around that? Most people use a calendar of some sort. I have an old faithful computer program that I simply love. I can put appointments (or events) in the calendar so that at a quick glance I can tell what’s coming up and what has happened.  I can also open that date and add notes to my heart’s content. There is also a section for journal entries. I can store my whole life there.  Even if I write down symptoms and never use them, that’s great. But if I have to talk to a doctor, then I know what’s going on and how long it’s been going on, etc. I can be more informed and take a greater part in my care.

Why do I care? Because at the end of the year at the very least (and usually I like to do it at least every six months if not quarterly) I can look at this calendar, see what’s happened to me and I can calculate how much progress I’ve made in my life and how the various Universal Laws have impacted my life. I can look to see if there are things I’ve done (and even emotions I’ve felt if I’ve recorded them – another good reason to use a journal) that I would have liked to do differently. I can see progress or lack thereof.

“But it’s the middle of the year and I haven’t done anything to this point. I guess I’ll just wait to start at the first of the year.” – WRONG! Start now. Get those engines going right this minute.

Use this simple process to start making changes in your life:

• Decide that it makes sense for you to record your life and be able to review what’s happened so that you can learn from it.
• Then decide what medium you’re going to use. Whether you’re going to use your calendar (so many people have Outlook and I think it’s even online now) or a journal or even a voice recording or anything else you want to use. Simply decide.
  • It should be something handy all the time.
  • It should be something you’re used to using and will continue to work with.
  • It should make you feel good when you are working with it.
• Start slowly. Put down weather or exercise or how you feel (that’s the easiest) at the end of the day or just start with what happened during the day – as mundane as you think it might be.  You can use bullet lists or prose or list things in any way you want. Example – you put down what happened today – “did segment intending before my drive to work and it worked mostly ok even though I did hit one red light.” “Segment intending for meeting this afternoon- everything worked wonderfully and just as I envisioned. It felt wonderful.” “Met with my boss – got my eval – it was pretty good.” “Started work to visualize a new car – here’s my list of characteristics”.
• Review it monthly or quarterly and see what changes you have made in your life. I think you’ll find that the simple act of recording things will make you more aware of what you are doing in your life.
• Record when you make changes in how you look at things and how you are going to make changes.
• Then record the results of those changes.

This last one is interesting. I would put the qualities I want in the car in my calendar/journal (red, prius, 2014 model, A/C, etc). There is power in writing things down and even more power in physically doing the writing not just typing on a keyboard but the important part is being specific about what you want.

If you never start, you’ll never be able to see the progress you’ve made. I can look back and see what brought my back pain on because I can see that I was feeling tremendous pressure at work (like the weight of the world on my back) and even more pressure to prepare for this race I’m doing. I can see how I worked with the Law of Attraction to bring me more of what I did NOT want instead of what I did want. Isn’t that cool.

Don’t rely on your memory. Write everything down. It only takes a few seconds and it will be the most valuable few seconds you spend today! If every day is too much (although it shouldn’t be since you probably look at your calendar every day), then commit to recording things at least weekly.

Once you start, I guarantee you’ll never stop. Leave a comment below.  I’m interested in hearing what you have to say on this.

Terrie