As of today, I’ve journaled in Roam Research every day for 427 days. Most of those while we were traveling. Initially, my journal entries were little more than logs - where we went, what we saw, who we visited, etc. But I started to get bored with this and wanted to add more flavor and texture to my daily entries.
The Google search results are not terrible. There is just so much information. You have to sift through a hundred websites to find even a few ideas that *might* be useful.
Then it hit me one day: there are dozens of classic books that fall into the category of journal, diary, or memoir. Why not learn from them? So I started reading them (or reading about them), and I compiled a collection of great prompts.
I read Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations and noticed that he would often begin entries by stating a challenge he anticipated for the day. Then, he would examine it through the lens of his philosophical principles. This pattern (DIALOGUE WITH PRINCIPLES) helped me identify challenges and prepare for them by viewing them through the lens of Scripture.
I (re)read Augustine’s Confessions and noticed that he typically focused on past events. He would grab hold of a memory, consider his motives/feelings at the time, reinterpret that event in light of Scripture, and end with prayer and worship. This pattern (REFLECTIVE NARRATION) reminded me to reflect on the past (looking back weeks, months, or even years), not just the present moment.
I read portions of Montaigne’s journals and noticed that he would often begin with a seemingly trivial personal observation or habit. Then, he would expand to examine that social context before eventually considering what it revealed about human nature. This pattern (PERSONAL TO UNIVERSAL) prompted me to notice the little things (e.g. how people greeted each other, how they viewed meals together, how they treated children, etc.) and place them in the context of God’s design for human beings.
These are just a few examples that I used in my journaling. There are a dozen others that I experimented with and others that are on my list to get to at some point.