End of the day Quote by Robert Olen Butler
““Most journals are repositories of great swatches of abstraction and generalization and self-analysis and interpretation and all that bad stuff. Don’t do that. But here’s a certain kind of journal that might be useful to you: at the end of the day or beginning of the next day, return to some event of the day that evoked an emotion in you. Record that event in the journal. But do this only—only—moment to moment through the senses. Absolutely never name an emotion; never start explaining or analyzing or interpreting an emotion. Record only through those five ways I mentioned that we feel emotions—signals inside the body, signals outside the body, flashes of the past, flashes of the future, sensual selectivity—which are therefore the best ways to express emotions.””
About This Quote
Source Interview: The New Yorker, 2015
A practical journaling method focusing on raw sensory experience of emotions without labeling or analysis.
In simple terms: Record emotions through senses, not words.
Key Takeaway
Capture feelings directly, avoid over‑thinking.
Themes
mindfulness
emotional awareness
journaling
Mood
reflective
calm
Type
instructional
practical
When to use this quote
- daily reflection
- therapy
- creative writing
- stress reduction
Key Concepts
sensory perception
non‑analysis
embodiment
Questions to Reflect On
- How does sensing emotions change your self‑knowledge?
- What sensations do you notice most often?
A Different Perspective
May miss deeper insight that analysis can reveal.
![“We may express them [emotions] physically slightly differently, and it's of course graded depending on the circumstance, but the essence of the process is going to be the same, unless one of us is not quite well put together and is missing something, otherwise it's going to be the same.” quote by Antonio Damasio](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/img-quotes/461/antonio-damasio-9144_circumstances_we-may-express-them-emotions-physically_245207.jpg)
