Home » Mind & Soul » Mormon (LDS) Literature » Writing Your Life: Keeping A Journal for You and Yours

Writing Your Life: Keeping A Journal for You and Yours

© Susan Jensen

When I was a young girl, I loved visiting my paternal grandparents at their cozy house in Canada. Their home overflowed with treasures–mounds of family photographs, trinkets from their travels around the globe, a dignified grandfather clock, a small organ–that I loved to explore. Among all of these precious pieces, one large gem stood out: a bookshelf full of small, matching volumes, each filled with the records my grandmother has kept for the majority of her life. Each of her relatives hopes to inherit the priceless journals, knowing how valuable they are. Every time I gaze at my grandmother’s prized volumes, I feel an overwhelming sense of guilt, knowing that I have been less than diligent in my own journal-keeping. When I reach her age, what will I have to give my posterity?

Members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been instructed to keep journals not only for the benefit of future generations but also for their own profit. President Spencer W. Kimball said, “Every person should keep a journal and every person can keep a journal.” One might be tempted to ask, “Why? Why should I take the time to record my ordinary day-to-day experiences?” First, there are the practical reasons: (1) A journal serves as a family record of births, deaths, anniversaries and other important happenings as well as a historical document about life during the years of your life, (2) It becomes an information bank, a resource for finding the names of old acquaintances, forgotten locations, and significant dates, and (3) A well-kept journal will provide all of the data necessary for compiling personal and family histories. Then, there are the emotional benefits: (1) A journal can help alleviate loneliness by providing a “listening” ear, (2) Recording our feelings, especially strong emotions, helps us deal with anger, frustration, depression, etc., (3) Periodic reviews of past journal entries can serve as a valuable tool for self-evaluation and improvement, and (4) A journal gives us space to think and dream in a safe, risk-free environment. Finally, come the spiritual advantages: (1) Keeping a journal of our daily lives helps us to count our blessings, (2) Describing sacred experiences in our journals helps give validity to what we have felt and allows us to return to those spiritual highs at any time, (3) Maintaining a personal record helps us to “turn the hearts of the children to the father” by giving us a means of passing ourselves and our experiences on to our posterity. For all these reasons and more, LDS people need to keep journals.

The copyright of the article Writing Your Life: Keeping A Journal for You and Yours in Mormon (LDS) Literature is owned by Susan Jensen. Permission to republish Writing Your Life: Keeping A Journal for You and Yours in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.