Review Your Day Every Night

In the hustle and bustle of our daily lives, sometimes the moments and the hours fly by in a blur every day, and before you know it, it’s time to fall into bed so you can get some sleep and then get up to do it all again. Many people, if they stop to think about it, find that their lives have gotten mundane and even meaningless because they have become mired in their everyday chores, stresses at work, family issues, paying bills, managing household activities, and other burdens life has to offer. But the real meaning of life is more important than any of those things.

To help keep your life in perspective, take a few moments at the end of the day to review all the things that happened that day. Before you go to sleep, spend some quiet time thinking, beginning with the first thing you remember from the day. Then continue working your way through your day as though you were watching a movie with yourself as the star. For example, you may recall the alarm going off beside the bed, reaching over to hit the snooze or turn it off, then pulling back the covers and sitting up on the edge of the bed to wake yourself up. Maybe you stretched and yawned before standing up and heading to the bathroom, where you washed your face and brushed your teeth. Remember how you looked when you glanced at yourself in the mirror.

Try to remember every single moment in as much detail as possible. Don’t simply go through every motion as part of a daily routine; instead, try to remember even the slightest nuance of an activity. For instance, maybe you dropped your toothpaste in the sink when you getting ready to brush your teeth; maybe you heard something funny or alarming on the radio as you were driving to work; maybe a delivery person greeted you on the sidewalk as you walked to your building. Try to remember how you reacted mentally, emotionally, and physically to each event that took place during the day.

The first time you try reviewing your day, you might be shocked by how little you are able to recall. Obviously you will be able to remember very emotional events such as arguments you had or sad news you heard, but you might not be able to remember the details about your trip to the office. If you had an accident or ran out of gas on your way to work, you’d remember that, but without a strong emotional response to something, the details of your trip to the office might have gotten lost amid the jumble of other thoughts in your mind. And if something emotional did happen, then whatever happened the rest of the day might be a blur.

When you take the time to review your day, you’ll probably be startled by how many things you didn’t even notice as your day went by. You’ll also probably be startled by how many things you can’t remember, because you were too busy to pay attention. You’ll quickly see that doing this "review" each night before you go to bed is a fantastic way to keep your life in perspective and learn to pay attention to the little things.

You know how a child is so fascinated and filled with wonder about the world around him? A child lives in the moment. He doesn’t think about what happened last month or last year, and he doesn’t have to plan for what might happen next month or next year. Everything that happens now is new, exciting, and interesting. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could return to that sense of wonder you had as a child, when there was an exquisite response to every moment, because each was unique and intriguing?

Everyone has a tendency to give only a little bit of attention to the small things that are happening in the here and now, while spending a great deal of time rehashing and regretting the past, and fantasizing about what the future may hold. But by losing your focus on the present, life will pass you by while you aren’t paying attention. You can work toward paying attention to life with the same intensity you had as a child by spending a few minutes at the end of the day reviewing what happened. Before long you will realize that reviewing your day every night will help you to focus on living your life to the fullest every day.