Starting A Writing Practice

Over the holidays just passed, my wife and daughter and I pulled out the photo album from our 2000 cross-country driving trip. Those pictures - and the wonderful captions my wife added to the album - came vividly alive after I located a joint journal we kept during that five week journey. If any of you has used a technique like this to help preserve precious moments from your family life, please share it with me and others. Reading the words of my (then) twelve year old daughter and my (then) fourteen year old niece was priceless, truly. What a treasure.

How often have your own words helped you discover something about yourself? In my experience, writing is an optimal way to more clearly recollect events and the most reliable route to discovery. Though I'm not advocating any sane person attempt to maintain the number of writing vessels I do, I believe the benefits to be gained by the practice of writing can be as significant as those that flow from meditation or yoga. And it doesn't matter what form your writing takes. Begin writing and I promise you, past events will be sharper and you'll begin discovering.

The solipsistic irony of this suggestion coming from a blogger doesn't escape me. But when one of my writing vessels alerted me to the fact that publishing a blog post today would mean I'd done so on January 23 for seven consecutive years, only one subject seemed appropriate for such a milestone. If you decide to begin a writing practice of any kind, promise you'll share your first discovery with me.