Uncovering Your Joy: Using a Personal Journal to Discover a Life Filled with Happiness

Author Tristine Rainer wrote "Happiness within a diary has less to do with the events you encounter in life than with the way you experience the process of living." Because a diary mirrors how you perceive and deal with events, it can be used for developing the capacity to more fully experience joy.

Do you use your journal only for problem-solving, dark days, sorrowful feelings, or depressive thoughts? If so, why not start recording the happiness's as well. In fact, why not keep a special Joy Journal? That way, when you're having a bad day, just pull out your Joy Journal and re-experience the small happiness's.

Will keeping a journal actually bring you joy? No. However, many diarists have used their journals to alter their perceptions and in the process achieve a joy filled life. For example, Rainer cites one woman's first attempt at writing positive emotions, after years of negative entries:

"As we walked to the fruit stand at twilight, I was overcome with ecstasy. Each house had a new charm and a story to tell. Colors seemed to have been applied with a brush. At the stand each orange demanded a caress. . . "

Do you see how an everyday walk to the store became a sensory delight? All because the writer began to alter her perception of the experience.

To begin your Joy Journal, we suggest a Rainer-inspired technique called a List of Joys. Use this technique to collect the joyful moments of your life. You can list things that make you happy on a routine basis (like watching a sunset), or extraordinary events that put a smile on your face. Your list might look something like this:

1. I really, really, really felt the grass between my toes and it made me feel like one living creature (me) was intimately communicating with another (the grass).

2. Listening to of Lorena McKinnett's Dante's Prayer filled my body with an intense rush of love. How could anyone write something so unearthly beautiful?

3. I rode my bicycle today and the feeling of the breeze rushing through my hair made me feel like I was 10 years old. What joy!

Help balance those serious, difficult days by re-reading your Joy Journal, and remembering that life IS filled with moments of pure happiness.

Journal Genie, The Website That Talks Back
http://www.journalgenie.com

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About The Author

Patti Testerman is content manager at JournalGenie.com, the only online site that analyzes your writing and then gives you instant feedback. Discover self-defeating patterns, find better ways to communicate in relationships. Contact her at mailto:patti@journalgenie.com

MORE RESOURCES:

Separate happiness from want - Economic Times

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Prosperity may not be happiness key - NEWS.com.au

Midnight Happiness - WMBB-TV

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-0fd=Rurl=http://www.panhandleparade.com/index.php/mbb/article/midnight_happiness/mbb7710759/cid=1255229701ei=2SjsSOynEp-EyQTH75z-CAusg=AFQjCNGnIHmhxVxOJPBwKQN-io0zOeYKHwMidnight bHappiness/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fWMBB-TV,nbsp;FLnbsp;-/font nobrOct 6, 2008/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1b.../b in the November 4th, the Bay County Supervisor of Elections office stayed open until midnight on Monday hosting what they called Midnight bHappiness/b. b.../b/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-1fd=Rurl=http://www.wjhg.com/news/headlines/30492799.htmlcid=1255229701ei=2SjsSOynEp-EyQTH75z-CAusg=AFQjCNECGcWmYXv0j9ddoqWYOLsrzSTeOgMidnight bHappiness/b/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWJHG-TV/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-2fd=Rurl=http://www.newsherald.com/news/hundreds_68653___article.html/bay_lynn.htmlcid=1255229701ei=2SjsSOynEp-EyQTH75z-CAusg=AFQjCNGA-Hq31W-9GFUPKF9-FEFx2c009gHundreds of Bay voters play beat the clock at registration drive/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrThe News Herald/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1a href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-3fd=Rurl=http://www.panhandleparade.com/index.php/mbb/article/voter_registration_deadline_monday_night/mbb7710732/cid=1255229701ei=2SjsSOynEp-EyQTH75z-CAusg=AFQjCNE8Tz1l_X_IkNRanyNaBho1OjpyTgVoter Registration Deadline Monday Night/a font size=-1 color=#6f6f6fnobrWMBB-TV/nobr/font/fontbrfont size=-1 class=pa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/2-4fd=Rurl=http://www.wjhg.com/home/headlines/30463834.htmlcid=1255229701ei=2SjsSOynEp-EyQTH75z-CAusg=AFQjCNEivpsULe3VoKMUCva8HVbSV6MNCQnobrWJHG-TV/nobr/a/fontbr/font class=p size=-1a class=p href=http://news.google.com/news?sourceid=navclientie=ISO-8859-1rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-22,GGLG:enncl=1255229701hl=ennobrall 5 news articles/nobr/a/font/div/font/td/tr/table

COLUMN: Planning and preparation is the key to happiness - Michigan Journal (subscription)

Life, liberty amp; pursuit of happiness - YourHub.com

Cupping it hot and sweet for health and happiness - Shanghai Daily

table border=0 width= valign=top cellpadding=2 cellspacing=7trtd width=80 align=center valign=topfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifa href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5i-0fd=Rurl=http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/%3Fid%3D375792%26type%3DFeaturecid=0ei=2SjsSOynEp-EyQTH75z-CAusg=AFQjCNHnKO-Y1BKZ6poh105eoP-86yzBhgimg src=http://news.google.com/news?imgefp=UykNu7XQnyUJimgurl=www.shanghaidaily.com/NewsImage/2008/2008-10/2008-10-07/20081007_375792_01.jpg width=80 height=60 alt= border=1brfont size=-2Shanghai Daily/font/a/font/tdtd valign=top class=jfont style=font-size:85%;font-family:arial,sans-serifbrdiv style=padding-top:0.8em;img alt= height=1 width=1/divdiv class=lha href=http://news.google.com/news/url?sa=Tct=us/5-0fd=Rurl=http://www.shanghaidaily.com/article/%3Fid%3D375792%26type%3DFeaturecid=0ei=2SjsSOynEp-EyQTH75z-CAusg=AFQjCNHnKO-Y1BKZ6poh105eoP-86yzBhgCupping it hot and sweet for health and bhappiness/b/abrfont size=-1font color=#6f6f6fShanghai Daily,nbsp;Chinanbsp;-/font nobr6 hours ago/nobr/fontbrfont size=-1By Zhang Qian | 2008-10-7 | NEWSPAPER EDITION THIS won#39;t hurt, much. This is just a love bruise from a session of TCM quot;fire cuppingquot; and it will help drive b.../b/font/div/font/td/tr/table

Shanghai seniors #39;generally#39; happy: Survey - China Daily

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Why money can#39;t necessarily buy happiness... - Sify

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Childrens#39; happiness and health are hit by inequality - Irish Independent

Call for Happiness: Website Seeks Images of Joy - PR.com (press release)

Happiness - Google News

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