A guest blogger

I was asked a month ago by Melanie if she could present a piece on my blog. I was more than happy to let her so here it is. Its very fitting for the way I believe one should live their life. Enjoy her piece. Its very inspiring!


Journal Writing as Personal Inspiration
By Melanie Bowen

For many people, writing a personal journal is a way to explore their thoughts and feelings about their daily activities or simply a way to keep track of past memorable events that have occurred within their life. However, a journal can also be a place to write about your dreams, ambitions or goals for your future as well.  If you watched the move, “The Bucket List,” you have an idea of what can be accomplished if you allow yourself to dream into the future.

Your Personal Bucket List

Your personal journal is a great place to come up with your own personal bucket list.  This does not need to be a list you share with anyone else, so it can be as silly, elaborate or simple as you like.  A personal bucket list is a list of things that you want to accomplish.  You can make your list of things you want to achieve within in the next year, the next five years or over the entire course of your life.  It does not really matter what those things are, as long as you write them down and they have meaning to you.

Writing down your personal bucket list is important because somehow psychologically, writing something down gives weight and importance to your aspirations.  As humans, we value what we write down; writing down your bucket list also gives you the ability to go back and look at it from time to time for inspiration.  You may decide that you want to add things to your list as your life changes.  You may also have a profound sense of satisfaction as you cross things off your list because you have accomplished them.  In fact, accomplishing one thing on your bucket list may inspire you to add related things to accomplish in the future.

The Need to Look Forward

Writing down your personal bucket list can serve many purposes.  For many people, it is a place they can turn to when they get frustrated with life.  It gives them something to look forward to and think about for the future. If one of the things on your bucket list is to see Venice and ride in a gondola, when you get frustrated or depressed, you can mentally visit Venice in your mind and think of the things you need to do to make your dream trip a reality.

Having a list of things to accomplish can also be a wonderful motivator to actually accomplish those things. This can be especially true if you are looking for things to keep you motivated to keep moving forward.  There are times in life when it is simply hard to keep going.  For instance, if you are facing a challenging illness like mesothelioma or you have lost a spouse or someone you love, it can be tempting to just sit down and give up.  But if you have a list of things you want to accomplish, then it gives you a reason to keep going and moving forward. Even if your prognosis seems grim, you can write down hopes for the future to give you drive to keep moving on to defeat your illness and live a happy life.