One Hundred!

As of today, if you have completed every one of the journal assignments, you will have completed 100 journal entries. This serves as a record of your thoughts and feelings about the topics that were covered in this course over the entire academic year (even if you delete your blog, I have saved it all). Whether you realized it at the time or not, this journal writing was one of the most important elements of this class. It was intended to encourage you to think on your own terms about the topics we covered in class, and to express those thoughts in writing. Looking back at the experience of keeping this journal, write about how you feel about the practice of writing daily about your life, whether related to school or not. Do you think it is a valuable habit? Why or why not? Explain.

I think writing daily about our lives is in fact a valuable habit. The act of actually writing down our thoughts and emotions regarding specific topics, events, or even day-by-day occurrences, allows us to process our thoughts, filter them, think them thoroughly, and print them legibly on paper. This is great practice for future writing, where ideas must be quickly processed in order to write quick essays, and is also good for our mental selves, keeping us mentally alert, thoughtful, and keeps the rust off our minds.

For me, journal writing can also be a form of spirituality; I sometimes think about religious thoughts and my spiritual self, and it's a wild jumble of emotions, fears and confidences. As a result one method I've learned to process these thoughts is to write them down, and through this even worship God.

I think the journal writes this year were valuable in that they helped my writing skills, and generally this year journals are one of the few opportunities in this class to practice.