How to Keep a Memory Journal—Preserving Memories Through Journaling

One of the ways journaling can benefit and change your life is by preserving your memories. Every time you write about your life, from small moments to big events, it becomes something you can cherish and look back on in the future. Here are some ways to preserve your memories with your journal.

Use Journaling Prompts About Memories

There are many journal prompts available to help you get started writing your memories and moments from your life. They can jog your memory of the past and bring up those memories that were all but forgotten. Here are some examples of prompts that can help you start thinking about your memories:

• What is your favorite memory from grade school?
• Who was your first friend and how did you meet them?
• What is a holiday tradition you remember from your childhood?
• Who was your first crush?
• Do you remember learning how to ride a bike?
• What is a moment you wish you could relive?

But if you want a deeper dive into remembering those memories, a good resource is Memory List Question Book 101: 100s of Not-a-Prompt Questions by Denis Ledoux. In his book, he shows how to use meaningful questions, topics, and ideas to stimulate your memory recall and write your memoir, if you wish.

Write About Your Childhood and Adolescence

Preserving memories through journaling often begins with the past. You can do this by writing about different phases of your childhood. This can be different ages, grades in school, time spent with your friends, going trick-or-treating, favorite movies you watched with your parents, your first dog, fighting with your siblings, or anything else you can think of from these years.

Use photos from your albums to jog memories, really studying all the details in the photos. Talk to family members for memories they remember of you, look through school yearbooks, old newspaper clippings, etc. There are lots of ways to jog your memory.

Write About Current Memorable Experiences

Journals can be used to preserve memories you are creating right now. You already do this with your daily journaling routine, but you can also try daily journal entries where you just write about your day and how you spend your time.

You can write about your day, someone you talked to for the first time (like the clerk at the store), where you went throughout the day, or just anything about your current life. Write about each experience you have and be as detailed as you can. Add locations, dates, times, and who you were with so you can look back on it.

Even small moments can carry a precious weight for a memory to look back on. I still remember that small moment of watching my first Great Blue Heron, which sparked an idea for a pen name for my other books. Or when the anole lizard crawled on the window screen and peered in at me, and we watched each other for several minutes.

These moments can be anything that is meaningful to you—a small moment of sunshine glinting off the corner of your desk bringing a moment of happiness or peace, to even sad moments. I journaled the passing of my little dog this year because I want to remember every moment I had with her, even the details of her last days. It was important to me as part of my grieving process. It will go in her keepsake box with her ashes as well as the condolence cards I received from the place that cremated her for me.

I’ve enjoyed reading Laura Pashby’s book Little Stories of Your Life. She combined mindfulness, creativity, and daily photography to capture small moments in her life to journal about.

Another book for journaling inspiration is Secret Voices: A Year of Women’s Diaries by Sarah Gristwood. These diary entries range from the 1700s to the present. I love reading a few of these entries a day for inspiration, a glimpse into another era, and relatable experiences with other women, that were as relevant then as they are now.

Some of these might seem like frivolous things right now, but one day you will remember these and suddenly be in a place where you are glad you documented these moments.

So get out your pen and start preserving memories through journaling!