Samara O’Shea has written THE BOOK on journaling. She shows us how journaling fits into our life and gives us a hand with the slings and arrows of getting a life.

She deals with the “reasons” we give for not journal writing like: I'm not a writer. Her response: “If you are a thinker, you are a writer. Writing is simply thoughts making their way to paper…if a thought is begging to breathe the fresh air then it's best to open the door and let it out.”

She shows us there is only one right way to journal -- our way. It's our choice as to whether we write every day, alternate Tuesdays, once in a blue moon or whenever. She says she “writes what she wants when she wants.” 

In NOTE TO SELF, we learn from journals of Tennessee Williams, Lewis Carroll and John Wilkes Booth (yes, Virginia , journaling is a guy thing!).

I loved all the honest and insightful chapters and my favorite today is Chapter 5 -Sense of Self, which opens with a William Shakespeare quote, “Self-love is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting”. That's why I love Journaling: I discover more and more and more about myself, experience my true/real self and build a healthy, compassionate, forgiving relationship with my self. The more I journal, the smarter I become about Me, Myself and I.

Journaling does what Samara says it does--it helps me with everything from achieving goals to sorting out my sexuality.

I recommend NOTE TO SELF to all my clients and subscribers and have stolen some of Samara's suggestions for my own journaling and for my workshops.

Well done indeed, Samara!