One Page A Day - A Gentle Memory Workbook

100 pages · 8.5 × 11 in · coil bound, lays flat · cream uncoated paper · large print throughout

A 90-day guided memory journal for older adults, and for the families who love them. Most "brain training" books quietly test people and leave them feeling caught out. This one does not.

Created from my experience as the director of a respite program, and my work in engagement for those with cognitive challenges associated with brain changes. This book has been created with connection, meaning and legacy in mind. 

Every page is built around a question that can always be answered, because it draws on long-term memory which usually stays strong even when recent recall starts to slip. Each day takes about ten minutes and follows the same four parts, in the same order, so there is never a new page to learn:

Today, the date, the weather to circle, one thing happening Remember, one warm question about their own life

A Small Thing, a light word or sorting task, never scored

Before I Close the Book, one good thing, one thing to look forward to

The ninety questions move through a life in order: childhood and the house they grew up in, then working years, courting and family, then the skills, places and people they carry with them.

Every thirty days there is a Look Back page.

Seven kinds of small task rotate on a fixed cycle, so each day of the week always looks the same, the familiarity is the point.

It opens with a short note for family, how to sit with someone while they write, why not to correct the dates, why the silence after a question is thinking time, and a page on doing it together.

Use the book alone, alongside a family member or a caregiver, or as a weekly group where everyone keeps their own copy and reads one page aloud.

It runs like a book club, except the book is your own life. Senior centers and libraries can run the ninety days as a season of meetings. Designed for older eyes and hands, large print, generous writing lines, high contrast, no clutter, and a binding that lays flat. What you are left with is not a finished exercise book. It is a record of a life, in their own handwriting.

Autumn is the first of four seasonal editions.

Made by hand on Whidbey Island. ❤️