One of the most popular enrichment tools for a spiritual journey is the journal. It aids in self-introspection and enables individuals to monitor their behavior and responses to the wider world. Journal Keeping is the first volume in a new series by Sorin Books called "Exploring a Great Spiritual Practice." The editor is John Kirvan, and the aim of this series is to provide "easily understood practice tools with comprehensive, credible information about the origin, theory, and contemporary relevance of the practice." The author of the volume on journaling is Carl J. Koch, adjunct professor at the Graduate School of Saint Mary's University in Minnesota, who has written and edited many books on prayer and spirituality.

"Journal writing is a perennial practice because it is such a helpful way of honoring, pondering, and learning from life's journey," writes Koch. It puts us in touch with the ongoing story of our life, celebrates our encounters with the Spirit, and serves as a healing and freeing force in our experiences. Journaling is one of the best ways of staying in the present or as Sister Corita Kent once put it: "Love the moment, and the energy of the moment will spread beyond all boundaries."

Koch outlines some of the tried and true practices which have served journal keepers well: flow or free writing, lists, unsent letters, and spiral or dialogue writing. An excellent chapter on "Encountering the Holy" examines how people have used their journals for prayers of gratitude, confession, petition, and praise. He notes that these written prayers are best done after a period of sitting in awareness. Others use their journals for dialogues with God or reflections on sacred texts.

Throughout the paperback, the author uses lively quotations from many spiritual writers. One of our favorites comes from Frederick Buechner in A Room Called Remember:

"Every once in a while, life can be very eloquent. You can go along day to day not noticing very much, not seeing or hearing very much, and then all of a sudden, when you least expect it very often, something speaks to you with such power that it catches you off guard, makes you listen whether you want to or not. Something speaks to you out of your own life with such directness that it is as if it calls you by name and forces you to look where you have not had the heart to look before, to hear something that maybe for years you have not had the wit or the courage to hear."

At the back of the book, Koch presents his ten favorite guides to journal and memoir writing: they include works by Christina Baldwin, Annie Dillard, Ira Progoff and Dan Wakefield. This is a fine start to a series that is scheduled to release volumes on meditation, pilgrimage, and fasting.