“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also”(Luke 12:34).

Faced with a blank notebook page, many of us cringe, recalling our school years when we were required to write essays on subjects that held no relevance for our lives. When those essays were returned, some of us were even more disheartened when we saw the bloody marks of the teacher’s red pen. While writing is a pleasure for me, others would rather take a beating than be forced to ink their thoughts on paper again. Being required to fill a page with words can be frightening. However, it can also be enlightening when it is a choice.     Why write?

• Journaling is more than writing. Keeping a journal helps us to capture memories. Even the best photographs can’t tell the whole story. Journals become keepers of our memories, not just the facts with descriptions of events, but the emotions related to that particular time in life.

• Journaling is more than writing. Keeping a journal can help us achieve goals. Writing can help us to define and plan the steps we must take to accomplish our dreams. It can also help us to discover our passion or even a new direction in life.

• Journaling is more than writing. Keeping a journal can harness our creativity. Even if you’re not a writer, being able to come up with creative ideas can help in other areas of life. For example, being creative applies to cooking a meal from scratch, making a discovery in science or medicine, finding a way to cut costs or developing a solution to a business problem.

• Journaling is more than writing. Keeping a journal can help bring clarity by identifying where you’ve been, where you’re at and where you want to be in life. This is more than just setting goals. It is reflecting on the past ~ not dwelling on it ~ but examining your past for clarity. Reviewing past journal entries can help you to identify patterns in your behavior, life choices and attitudes. Once identified, you can consciously decide to make the necessary changes.

• Journaling is more than writing. Keeping a journal can help us to make sense of life. Have you ever been in the middle of a painful experience or watched as a loved one went through a particularly tough time? If we can capture our emotions at the time, it helps us to write through the pain and uncover the lesson.

• Journaling is more than writing. Keeping a journal is good for your mental health. Are you angry with someone? Instead of getting in an altercation or letting the anger fester in your soul, use your journal to write a letter to the other person. Pour out your anger on the lined pages of your journal but don’t mail it. Instead, go back, reflect on your entry later, and reassess your emotions about the other person and the incident that led up to that point. Chances are your feelings have changed. If not, keep writing.