The first of the two blog posts in this sequence can be reached by clicking on "Using a wisdom diary - background".  In this second post I give the nuts & bolts recording form:

This wisdom diary exercise is adapted from the work of the Canadian researcher Igor Grossmann. 

Please think of a social interaction that you were involved in over the last 24 hours or so - examples could include a conflict or argument with another person, an annoying or irritating social interaction, sad/bad news in a social setting, or maybe just a sense of interpersonal distance.  If you were involved in several of these kinds of interactions, please choose one of the more difficult ones as this is likely to teach wisdom more helpfully. 

If you didn't experience any of these sorts of social situations in the last day or so, then report instead on how you were feeling in yourself - again please choose any somewhat tricky part of the day where you experienced more difficult emotional states.  Once you're more familiar with this exercise it is possible to adapt it usefully to thinking & feeling about a challenging event you would like to respond to wisely in the future.

Usually aim to spend less than 10 minutes on this exercise (to make it more likely that you'll be prepared to make it a daily practice for a while).  Please take a moment to recall the situation and see it in your mind's eye.  Who was involved, what happened and what did you think and feel?  After considering all this, please respond to the following questions:

1. Day & date of form completion:                     2. Day & date of described event:

3. Approximate time of day:                              4. Event location:

5. Please write a factual description of who was involved and what happened:

6. What emotions did you feel?  Please also rate their approximate intensity using a scale from 0 (none) to 10 (extreme):

7. Reflecting on the situation now, write down your thoughts about it - using yur first name and/or the relevant 'he' or 'she' personal pronouns (do not write your thoughts from an 'I' or 'me' perspective).  If you can, please also write from a place of goodwill for all those involved, considering - if it's relevant - whether it's possible to reach some kind of compromise, and whether there is helpful learning, understanding or other developments that could emerge:

(Thank you - remember practising responding more wisely can improve your wellbeing and also the wellbeing of your relationships and of the other people involved.  Everybody can benefit!).

(This 'Wisdom diary record form' can be downloaded as a PDF or Word doc).