Writing in a Diary and why it helps my mind, health, and memory...

I have been writing in my diary about a month, consistently jotting down at least a series of chronological daily events, for a month now, sometimes expanding creatively.

I started the diary back up, when I tried to create an audio book, of my 2000 travel memoir, Moody Tourist in Costa Rica, which you can find on Kindle. https://www.amazon.com/Moody-Tourist-Costa-Rica-2001-ebook/dp/B00BH2QIR4

There is something about returning to a piece of writing from so long ago, this diary I wrote 17 years prior, that heals wounds and encourages the synapses of my mind to go in the right directions.

Where that took me, recording audio files that ultimately were rejected by audible due to background noise and low quality equipment, was actually to a place of clarity and knowing I must come back to the good things in me of 2000, with writing a diary first in the agenda.

Usually I write my diary in the exact same place, nested with pets and a flashlight, just before bed, and I write until my energy runs out or the story is told.

Reaching mentally back into a day with a mind full of so many ideas and experiences and feelings, is an event that is very useful for memory and mental health. I am not a neuroscientist. I am barely a scientist, but I am confident this is true.

Imagine the past 24 hours. Do you know you ate nearest to that time, 24 hours prior? Do you remember any sensations of touch or smell you had in the past day that stood out to you as distinctive or important? For me I touched the small of my back with my hand this morning, as I stood outside, and it conjured a certain emotional connotation that meant a lot to me.

We are all given a chance to try to improve ourself before our mind fades, if that is where it is going, and I don't think it ever is too late to try jotting the quotidian notes of your experiences, and if it will improve your life, and it will, I cannot think of a single reason not to write in a diary before bed.