The Benefits of Re-Reading Your Journal

Keeping a journal can be helpful in so many ways. It is a great way to express your emotions and your thoughts. But one of the most valuable keys of keeping a journal is actually re-reading your journal over time.

Re-reading your journal can show you where you have been. It can help you gain perspective. It will show you what was important in your life last year, last month, last week. Are you complaining about the same problems or have you moved on? Your friends may not tell you, but your journal will. Reading your journal will help you gain some perspective on where you have been and what you have done so far.

Re-reading your journal will show you how you have reached your goals. It will show you what still needs to be done. It will show you what has been done. It will show you how you did it. It will offer suggestions to you, in the form of your own thoughts, of the best way for you to accomplish what needs to get done for the future. If you are having trouble accomplishing goals your journal will point out the trouble spots by what you have said - and sometimes even more important, by what you have not said.

Re-reading your journal will help you with your relationships. Sometimes you feel that a friendship has changed overnight. Well reading your journal you can see those subtle shifts. Or perhaps you have been feeling that this person has changed for a long time, but you just haven't wanted to do anything to disrupt the relationship. Your journal will show you how you feel about your relationships and how you connect with people. It will show the challenges in your relationships and if you have any relationship goals. It will also show what you want from your relationships for the future, sometimes through other things that you have written.

Re-reading your journal will help you with your career. You can see if you should go back to school or if you should stay in this career. You will see if you have been anxious or unhappy in your current position. You will see the progress you have made in your career. You will see the daily, weekly and monthly interactions at work - and those small interactions can have a great affect on the large decisions that you and your employer make for your future. Re-reading your journal can help you make decisions about your career.

Re-reading your journal can open you to change. Change is difficult. Change is scary. We all go through changes. Sometimes we want to and sometimes we don't. But change is always coming. Change is coming right now. Re-reading your journal will help you anticipate what changes are coming to you and how you can prepare for them. It will help you to make the changes proactively instead of having life make changes in your life.