As we step into January, I want to share with you a down-to-earth practice I enjoy that reflects the essence of new beginnings, independence, and self-confidence. Join me in this daily journaling journey — a powerful tool to stay mindful, appreciate life, and embrace the unfolding moments in your story.
Daily Reflection: Capturing Everyday Moments
Years ago, I started a practice of recording the little moments from throughout the day, using categories to help me really take notice of and remember the special parts of each day. This became the central place where I recorded everything from the funny things my son said to new things we tried to who we spent time with. Having specific categories helped me think back through and pinpoint what made that day special and unique.
Over the years, I continued to add or edit categories according to what I wanted to pay more attention to or track. For example, I added “animal sightings” and “synchronicities.” These are specific ways I experience my spiritual connection, so it helped me to have a record that truly showed me how often and in what ways I was receiving signs, symbols, and love from a higher power.
How to Set Up Your Daily Reflection Journal
There are so many possibilities for how to set up your daily reflection journal. You can do it traditional-style if you’d like. I keep mine as a Word document beause it’s so quick and easy, and I can add things into categories without having to worry about space or messiness.
I create a Word document for each month of the year. January has its own document, February has its own, and so on. I keep them all in a folder on my laptop. I title each document “####-## January Monthly Check-In” where the numbers at the beginning are the year, and after the dash is the month’s number (01 for January). Even though I write “January” in the title, I still have that 01 in there because it sorts the documents in chronological order that way. To clarify, here is what the titles of my documents are:
2024-01 January Monthly Check-In
2024-02 February Monthly Check-In
2024-03 March Monthly Check-In
2024-04 April Monthly Check-In
and so on.
You can title them in whatever way feels right to you!
The Categories I Use for Reflection and Journaling
The categories I use are below. Use whatever categories make sense for you and are what you’d truly like to include!
- Essence Cards for the Year and Month and How They Played Out
- Best Day
- Worst Day
- Births
- Deaths
- Momentous Events and Exciting Things
- Political / News Events
- Vacations / Breaks
- Events / Places Visited
- People / Friends Spent Time With
- Got to Know More or Connected With
- I Inspired
- Who / What Inspired Me
- Kind Things I Said
- Kind Things Said to Me
- Gifts Received
- Gifts Given
- Special Mail Sent
- Special Mail Received
- Other Giving Deeds
- Restaurants
- Favorite Foods, Drinks, and Meals
- Books Read (with 1-5 star ratings)
- Movies (with 1-5 star ratings) Music
- TV Shows / Series
- Games Played
- New Things Tried
- Creations / Made
- Favorite Outfit
- Scary
- Worries
- Regrets
- Annoyances
- Happiness
- Gratitude
- Health and Healthy Choices
- Great Quotes and Inside Jokes
- Money Miracles
- Fun Purchases & Big Ticket Expenses
- Trainings / Webinars / Classes
- Home Projects
- Animal Sightings
- Synchronicities, Angel Numbers, and the Like
- Things Learned
- Other Accomplishments
- Other Favorite Things
- Other Thoughts or Note-worthy Things
- Notes About Child
- Notes About Partner
- Notes About Pet 1
- Notes About Pet 2
Daily Tracker: Building Positive Habits
This year I also decided to add on a daily tracker to the bottom of my document to keep on track with daily goals I wanted to make sure I am meeting. I added a little table with all of the dates of the month, and the things I wanted to track, such as “Water,” “Read,” “No Soda,” etc. When I’ve accomplished that goal for the day, I color the box in the table green. By the end of the month, I’ll have a visual of how many days out of the month I met my goals.
What daily goals do you want to stay on top of? You can add your own table to your journal too!
My tracker looks like this:
Using the Information from Your Journal
One of my favorite traditions at the end of the year is to read back through my journal documents. It’s a fun way to remember all of the little moments and little things that made this year unique and special.
I also use tidbits from throughout the year to include in our family Christmas letter (another of my favorite end-of-year traditions).
Additionally, sometimes I use clues from what I wrote for gift-giving ideas! One year, we created “Our Favorite Things From This Year” gift boxes for our parents. We included things we’d used or tried and loved, such as cherry pitters (fresh cherries were a family favorite that year), little flower pot picks from “Sticks,” a very cute and popular artsy home decor shop here in Des Moines, and BLK & Bold coffee (my husband’s favorite coffee that year, and a local, black-owned business which we are happy to support). I might not have remembered these things without looking back at my journals!
Looking back at what you’ve written throughout the year can inform you about goals you might want to set, projects you want to finish, people you might want to spend more time with, and how you can set yourself up better for fewer regrets and annoyances that come up in your journal next year!
Start Today: Your January Journaling Challenge
This January, dive into the power of daily reflection. Illuminate the path to self-discovery, independence, and the confidence to shape your narrative.
Celebrate the beauty in the ordinary, find joy in the details, and let your journal be a testament to the richness of your existence. May this new beginning be the kickstart for a year filled with self-awareness, growth, and the confidence to shape your story.
Embrace the power of daily reflection and welcome the dawn of a bright new year!