Both before and after Muir’s time, many thoughtful people have extolled the benefits of keeping a journal. Whether to record new ideas and knowledge, to reflect on one’s own life, or to help you measure your progress as a human being over time, a journal is a practice that enhances your life. Above all, keeping a journal helps you become more mindful. There are many kinds of journals. Some just one for doodling, brainstorming, or meditation. Some keep a journal of books read with personal commentary, or a “life list” of birds observed. Many advocate simply keeping a travel journal at the least, but also point to the value of keeping a journal of your daily musings, experiences, or observations, or one focused on gratitude or dreams.

A journal is more than a “diary.” A diary just identifies things done in a day. But a journal goes further – to really observe or reflect on life. A journal is a “fundamental thinking tool” that helps you observe more carefully and remember more effectively. As John Muir Laws (no relation to John Muir) says, “You see so much more when observing through the journal. The ability to hold things in our head is really limited. Journaling gets us past the limits of our brain’s capacity of how much information it can store and hold and manipulate at one time. The journal frees up our brain, once you’ve got all of this down on paper, your brain is freed up to operate at more sophisticated levels.”

One way to get started with writing a journal is to at first write a diary entry, but then reflect on how you are feeling at the moment. Then consider how you would like to feel, and copy down a writing from someone who inspires you. Although this is a starting point, the danger is you will become too self-absorbed. John Muir’s kind of journal writing goes much further, to engage with the universe.

And as John Muir devotee Stephen Hatch writes, “Journaling is a wonderful spiritual practice. When I’m outdoors in an especially beautiful place, I experience an altered state of consciousness that gives birth to fresh insight. I then record the insight in my journal, which becomes a sort of “bible” of the epiphanies I’ve been given by the Spirit. Then when consciousness returns to normal and I’ve forgotten the insight, I can return to my journal as often as I want and reawaken it.”

In our world today, restoring gratitude for our own natural surroundings – that which makes life possible both physically and psychically – is our greatest need. Accordingly a “Nature Journal” may be the best kind of journal to maintain. Keeping a nature journal is one way to help restore the kind of connection with the natural world that John Muir felt was so necessary. As John Muir Laws says, “Journaling is an invitation to dive into the world and rediscover beauty, and awe — a way to turn sustained, compassionate attention toward seemingly everyday moments and find reason to celebrate and give thanks.”

Keeping a nature journal on a regular basis awakens our senses and helps us become better observers. Think of it as your own research book or field guide. When you sketch something you’ve seen or find words to describe it, it forces you to slow down, to look closer, and to notice more. You can jot down things that surprised or interested you, along with questions that you can research later. It is a way to integrate art and science.

Nature observations may include writing, sketching plants and animals, making tree rubbings, pressing flowers, collecting seeds, or taking photographs of a nature walk. If you see a berry, you might make a smear of its color on your journal. Instead of “collecting” you will put down what you noticed, what you wonder about, and remarking on what it reminds you of. To keep your journal alive, make at least two to three entries in your journal per week.

We can learn a lot about keeping a personal or nature journal from John Muir. On the flyleaf of his first extant journal, beginning in 1867, John Muir wrote his cosmic address : “John Muir, Earth-Planet, Universe.” He kept a journal of his experiences for the rest of his life. He always put the date and location at the top; often a note on the weather, and his observations of species he witnessed, sometimes with insect tracks surrounding what he wrote, or a sketch of a flower or a tree, drawn not to make a pretty picture, but to help embed its defining characteristics in his memory.

John Muir was likely inspired by his admiration for the journal keeping practices of Transcendentalists like Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. In particular, Thoreau followed a process we can see in Muir’s own journaling:

• Whenever out walking, both men wrote notes in a field notebook.
• Frequently, they would enter their entries into their journal.
• Both recorded carefully what they saw, smelled, tasted, or did.
• Both recorded their observations of plants, animal behavior, the weather, and other happenings.
• Both made very simple sketches and maps to illustrate an observation or an event.
• Their journals are filled with simple nature essays, character sketches, stories, quotations and snatches of conversations along with their social commentary on human society.
• They later used all this raw information to write essays and lectures.

By following the lead of John Muir and the Transcendentalists, we can enrich our own lives.