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Point #1 “Get yourself a nice journal” has proven to be vital for me. The cost of purchasing it and the beauty of well crafted blank pages provides that wee bit of extra incentive to actually keep up with the journal.

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Makes sense to me!

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"Home" reminds me of the song "Beulah Land."

"I'm kind of homesick for a country,

to which I've never been before."

Funny, it was only just last night that I came across an introduction to these Cardinal and Theological Virtues in the book "Mere Christianity." I think Jane Austen is queen when it comes to showcasing the distinction between Virtue and Vice.

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Sense and sensibility is amazing for thinking about the virtue of Temperance in particular! I love Jane Austen.

You should read Josef Pieper’s Virtues of the Human Heart if you want to think more about this topic. Priceless and very quickly read.

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I will definitely grab that title, thanks for the recommendation. Yes, S&S is a good study on Temperance, and on vice I noticed a great deal of egocentric tendencies in the characters of Northanger Abbey.

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Austen is a master of character study. Absolutely brilliant. Her and Dickens both.

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In the second row of the table of virtues and vices, I think the vices should be reversed. The virtue is temperance and moderation, so a deficiency in this virtue would lead to indulgence, while an excess of this virtue would lead to deprivation.

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You know, that's a good point.

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What’s everyone’s favorite journal for a common place notebook?

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I’ve always gotten these fairly inexpensive hardback notebooks with an elastic strap from Walmart. I’ve toyed with getting a more expensive fancy one sometime.

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Great idea Jacob! Piqued my interest. Will give this a go.

I just told my wife about your article on

Commonplace Journaling. She creates custom made journals for people to bless them. Literally see people cry when she gives them out to people as gifts (Nourish to Flourish)

Thank you for sharing your thoughts.

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That’s a really cool gift to give/receive!

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Thank you! That is a very useful list of subject matter, and I'm passing it on to Celeste Green, Academic Dean of Axiom Christian Classical School in Albuquerque.

When I taught in a classical school, I encouraged commonplacing by requiring that middle school students have such a journal as you described, and I would provide occasional "silent reading" sessions where students would interact with assigned literature in their commonplace journals. I would play Enya music very softly and they loved that.

In a book I authored, I also encouraged commonplacing and interaction with the text of the book, by introducing the subject of commonplacing and providing blank pages within the book for that purpose.

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Thanks for your kind words. You might also enjoy this one on a related topic: https://stgb.substack.com/p/on-the-marking-of-books

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I did like it!

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Nice lists. Subscribed. Thanks for sharing, Jacob!

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The heart, broken, betrays the soul.

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What is lacking cannot be counted.

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