Remember the “Gratitude Rock” story from the Secret? It comes from Lee Brower, and a couple of weeks ago my wife and I attended an event called “The Secret In Words And Music” and were able to meet Mr. Brower, who was gracious enough to spend a few minutes with us during the break.

It was a great experience, the highlight of which was when he gave us both one of his rocks! He also wrote a nice inscription in the cover of his book that I bought there, “The Brower Quadrant,” which by the way, is a really great book.

If you aren’t familiar with the Gratitude Rock, check out the post I did on my business blog about a year ago, it has the whole story, well worth the read.

Have you seen the movie Invictus? If not, it’s a great one, well worth watching. Since I saw it I wrote out the poem in my journal and am working on memorizing it.

Check it out:

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.

-William Ernest Henley. 1849–1903

A couple of weeks ago I went to a Seth Godin luncheon in Salt Lake City. He’s an amazing guy, author of Tribes, All Marketers Are Liars, Purple Cow, and his new one Linchpin.

In this picture I’m on the left, Seth Godin in the middle, and on the right is Dan Fellars, President and CEO of Inhealthcare.com

If you aren’t familiar with Seth Godin, take a look at his blog, which he has posted to every day for 5 years without missing a day!

http://sethgodin.typepad.com/

I love books. I especially love good books. The challenge is, how do you know which ones are good? There’s nothing worse than getting a few pages into a book and realizing it’s rubbish.

So one day I was walking through the bookstore looking for a good book, and I had an epiphany. “Good books survive the test of time.” I thought to myself. That’s it. Bad books don’t get reprinted. Only the best ones do. So if a book was written a hundred years ago, and it’s still being reprinted and sold today, there’s a dang good chance it’s a good book.

So I went to the classics. And Barnes and Noble has a cool classics section with some inexpensive hardcover classics, all branded and colored to look like a set. So I bought my first book, “A Tale Of Two Cities,” by Charles Dickens. At first it was kind of rough, a little hard to read. But then it got better and better, and for the last 50 pages it was absolutely impossible to put down! And when I got to the end, wow! It was incredible!

So I went back and got another one. Then another one. Once, I was tempted to buy two at a time, but I resisted the urge. Better to take one home, savor it, and put it away on the shelf before getting the next one, I thought.

Since then, I’ve read about 20 of them, and loved it. It’s been a first class education, for less than the price of a single college class. So next time you’re looking for a “good book,” head on over to the classics, you won’t be disappointed!

The picture above shows my two shelves of classic books, including all the Barnes And Nobles versions, along with a variety of others that have wandered into my collection from various places.

Got a great book suggestion for me? Leave a comment!

I meditate. And I’m proud of it. I know I don’t do it right, but I don’t care. Have you heard of “The Gap” by Wayne Dyer? It’s a great book, about how we all have too many thoughts cluttering up our busy brains, and need to “Get into the gap” by quieting our minds and getting into that gap where there are no thoughts.

I like to think of it as a really cool nap. True meditating types don’t like that. If you fall asleep you’re a rookie. Well, I think a naps as good as a gap.

But I do try to meditate. The best way for me is with my iPod. I have some meditations by Steven Halpern. They’re great. Just plug in, turn on, and you feel like an instant Zen master! One of my meditations is called “10 minute deep relaxation break.” It’s really amazing. If I ever start to get that drowsy feeling in the afternoon, but don’t have time for a real nap, I just put on the headphones, sit down, and literally in 10 minutes this recording takes me into a deep, hypnotic state, and back up again, and I’m good to go for the rest of the day.

So while I wish I was more of a Chi kind of guy, who could actually meditate without falling asleep, the iPod cheating that I do works well for me. If you haven’t tried it, go to iTunes and search for meditations. It’s a great way to re-set your batteries half way through the day, without having to find a tree by a river and sit in the lotus position.

Jim Rohn says, “A life worth living is worth recording.” I think it’s the most powerful quote on journal keeping that’s ever been said. Of course, it’s impossible for me to know that, as I haven’t read every quote on journal keeping, but I’ll stick to my guns until I see something better.

I have been a sporadic and undisciplined “journaler” (is that a word?) but in 43 years I have managed to fill the 11 volumes you see in the picture above.

I often only write once a week. At the end of each year I usually do a recap, writing about all the highs and lows, accomplishments and misses, and whatever else I feel like. I also set yearly goals, then, between Christmas and New Years, I review my old journals and see how well I did on my goals. This has become a valuable experience. Sometimes I laugh as I look back on what seemed so important, and now isn’t. Or goals I set that I totally missed, or even forgot about. Other times I have a great feeling of satisfaction as I review goals I hit, especially if they were hard.

In the picture above, the journals are piled in order of age, from oldest on the bottom, to newest on top. Unfortunately, some of the older journals are of low quality construction, so I don’t know how well they’ll keep over the years. The top 3 are high quality leather bound journals with archive quality paper. I expect them to last several generations. Whether my posterity can read my writing or not is another question! But I will continue to buy that same type of journal from now on and forever.

Here are the most valuable lessons I have learned about journaling:

-Buy a high quality journal that’s built to last. $25 may see like a lot of money for a book with no writing in it, but if it captures two years of your life and lasts forever, it’s worth it.

-Choose a size that’s convenient to take with you. If you don’t have it with you, you don’t write in it.

-Thoughts, impressions, and relationships are much more valuable than chronological details. Some of my old journals are flat out boring.

-Important names, places, and details are easier to find later if written in ALL CAPS.

-Be yourself. If you can’t be who you are in your own journal, get professional help.

-Write legibly!

-Once a year, interview your kids, and write notes in your journal. Here’s the questions I ask:
1. Who are your friends?
2. What do you like to do?
3. What are your favorite things? (possessions)
4. How much money do you have in your savings account?
5. What do you like most about our family?
6. How are things spiritually?
7. How is school going?
8. What else is going on in your life?

I have all of these discussions recorded in my journals. They love to hear about last years interview, and are often surprised at things they said, who their friends were, etc.

So there you have it. Thoughts and ideas on journal keeping. Hopefully you’ll pick up a nugget or two that will inspire you to do a better job of recording your life!

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