In the October 2008 issue of Trail Runner magazine, an editorial note by Elinor Fish discusses "writing about running" such as in a logbook or journal. As she attributes to sports psychologist Robin S. Vealey, when analyzing an experience such as a major race it's important to be:

• purposeful: why did things happen in a particular way?
• productive: what can I do to improve on my performance?
• possible: what can I really achieve?

To these alliterative guidelines, one might add:

• personal: how did this affect me?
• positive: what happy, good things do I want to remember from it?

And of course these are all quite applicable to other areas of self-awareness and self-improvement ...

^z - 2009-01-05