I recently bought a new program for my computer. It’s a journal program; one that I’ve been writing in for the last month but also one that I’ve been transferring old journal entries to.

I don’t write much when I sit down to write about my day, just the key points. At times I’m as descriptive as I’d be when writing my novel; use of metaphors, analogies, and such. But for the most part, my journal is almost like a list of those things and activities that stood out throughout the year.

Transferring daily entries from an older journal to a new one is a tedious business, but there is one thing that I enjoy most about it. I enjoy looking back at the things I was doing a year ago, six months ago, last week. Where was I? What was doing? What was my frame of mind? These entries bring pause to the present moment and give me reason to reflect on how I’ve changed, or how I haven’t.

One sentence can set off a cascade of memory for me. Take the following entry. This one occurred one year ago from today:

The most interesting thing about the event was that it felt awkward. Conversation was minimal and [she] did not eat more than a forkful of food.

From these two sentences, blossomed an entire day. We were saying goodbye to a friend. She was moving to New York. I could remember the table, the people, even part of the conversations that took place. I remembered how salty the food was. I remembered giving her a hug and being thankful that I had the opportunity to work with her.

There has been a lot of talk about gratitude journals lately. The idea behind them is to remind yourself of the good things life has given to you. It’s an exercise in appreciation but one that brings with it an abundance of remembrance and good feelings. There are many variations of this exercise.

Last week, I decided to add one gratitude to my journal each day for one hundred days. I have only five, but they are growing and they have raised my way of looking at the list of things I write about each day. When I sit down today to reflect upon yesterday, I will note the key points and how appreciation relates to them, good or bad.