Three years ago I started a daily calendar on which I'd write down one thing that happened, every day. I know Facebook does the same thing with their "On This Day" feature, but I started this project before they offered that... and I like sitting down to intentionally think about my day and choose what specific things I will remember. Most of the items I write down are fun memories or positive things that happened. Sometimes they are silly things, like an inside joke with a family member or friend. Sometimes they are big accomplishments and projects I completed. And sometimes I write down hard or challenging things, or even failures. I want to remember the good and the hard. As I flip through the stack of 3x5 note cards, I can see most of them are exciting things because of how many "!!!" I use throughout the calendar. For someone who is often thinking of the negative first, this was really encouraging to see. I could easily find something negative about my day to write down...but is that what I want to remember when I look back on this day a year from now? Doing this exercise has helped me remember good things when I may have had a tough day, and am tempted to go all bad on myself. I get to read through the things I did that day, one, two, three years earlier and enjoy some great memories. I have grown in joy and gratitude for the big and small things in life. I'm a nostalgic person. I think one of the main reasons I started the calendar was that I could envision myself 5-10+ years down the road re-reading the snippets of my life. I love nostalgia and I love significant moments. Milestone moments marked on paper help me see how far I've come- or how much I've stayed the same- and turn into celebration or motivation to grow. Those with the significance strength will probably LOVE this exercise, as I've found I can often more easily find meaning or importance in the mundane of every day life. The best outcome of starting this daily calendar was completely unintentional; it has challenged me to be intentional with thinking through my day and choosing what I will remember. As I sit, pen in hand, this daily calendar has turned into a theological reflection exercise similar to one I learn about last summer in NMB. I am challenged to think through my day, remember the good, learned from the negative, not beat myself up, and let things go. I love Facebook's "on this day" feature, but I am so inundated with photos and text online that it is surprisingly refreshing to pull out a box of index cards and a pen, sit and contemplate, and select one thing to remember moving forward. We remember things better when we write them down. Putting pen to paper is oddly calming. There are no auto-corrects to annoy me. There are no notifications to interrupt me mid-thought. I write purposefully in pen so I can't erase, which forces me to think before I write. Maybe a daily calendar isn't for you, but I challenge you to take out a pen and piece of paper and see what happens.
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Amy WellnerEncouraging others to intentionally live out their God-given identity. Archives
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