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From Rae Duke, Religion and Ethics teacher and broadcaster. 
I’ve never been able to keep a diary. It’s one of those things I wish I’d committed to years ago, so I could now have that joy of looking back and remembering every detail of say, teenage dramas or memorable trips away – (I’m hoping, by the way, that flashbacks from the Brits last night aren’t yet too hazy for the team here!) The only excuses I can come up with are the classics: other pressures on my time or just enjoying being in the moment. But last year, I received a gift that appears to have solved my problem. 
It’s one of those a-line-a-day journals. All it requires is a few seconds of note taking – a highlight of the day, a conversation, a thought – anything that’ll spark a memory of that moment in time. I’ve got to say, I’m loving the ritual of writing it. And of, already - at just under a year in, flicking back to see what’s happened and any progress that’s been made. And that’s where I get a real sense of the therapy in diarising (what a word that is.) It’s a way of monitoring progress. This doesn’t have to be anything monumental – a no-phones-at-the-table policy is my latest triumph - but just something to reaffirm that I’m constantly evolving and things are in flow. 
Because progress is happiness, (I’ve started to believe,) happiness is progress. It doesn’t matter how fast the progress, where the starting point is or whether it affects our personal, professional or spiritual lives – what’s important is that there’s motion. The mighty Dr Martin Luther King put this powerfully when preaching at a college rally; ‘If you can’t fly then run, if you can’t run then walk, if you can’t walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.’ 
Our context may be somewhat different today, but the essence of striving as being key to our own, and others’ happiness, is ever true. So I’ll be using that diary of mine to log all of life’s unfolding, and to immortalise the funniest, silliest stories in smudged ink one-liners. If you fancy joining me, why not run, walk or crawl (!) to a stationary shop and get started today - your future self will thank you!