Spo-reflections on readying to read a journal.

Between Christmas and New Year’s eve I review my journal’s contents to recall“what happened” and to help form a better year ahead.  I’ve kept a hand-written journal since 1978. They are useful to recall what year we went where and who came to visit when. Last week my journal was handy to planThe Other Michael’s meals in order to avoid redundancies from previous visits.

 

I wish I had the memory for such things but I don’t. I rely on these timely tomes to keep alive my memories of trips, deaths, births, and daily-doings.

Some of the review is data collection to answer questions such as:

Did I achieve my resolutions?

How many days did I actually exercise?  

How was my health in matters of colds/flu, weight, and cholesterol?

Over the years the entries have become less lengthy and introspective for I reserve that sort of stuff for the blog.

As a consequence my journals are growing thinner with fewer entries, and what they convey are mundane matters. They are not unlike a captain’s log from a rather long but uneventful voyage.

For whimsy I like to see if the events correlate with each month’s tarot card. Had I read them right?  However since the ‘negative cards’  act as warnings to yaw to starboard rather than steer straight ahead that month’s bromidic contents may be the result of missing the iceberg portended in the card.*

At the end of my study, I will make a little summary of ‘highlights’ for later reference. I write a final more contemplative entry on 31 December. In it I will meditate on the year that has gone before. Just about every 12/31 entry has to it an element  of quiet satisfaction of making it through another year and the great angsts of the calendar were of no importance. Again. This year’s motto was

Practice equanimity

I think I did overall pretty good at it.

 

* Overall the cards said it was to be a rather quiet and non-tumultuous year. Even before initiating the read I sense this is right. 2015 may be an overall dull time.