There’s no doubt that a good night’s sleep is vital to overall health and well-being. And one fine way to prompt your body that it’s time to slow down and head to dreamland is to create a bedtime ritual.

Every parent knows this is vital to signaling kids that it’s time for bed. The same ritual, performed nightly, seems to train their minds that it’s now sleepytime.

But it works great for us older kids, too.

First, turn off the TV! Then slip into some comfy pajamas like today’s VPOD.

These 1930s pink silk pajamas feature men’s tailoring and wide legs that’ll make you feel oh-so-sophisticated and luxurious.

Then cuddle up with your One Line a Day – Five Year Memory Book.

I’m a huge fan of journaling and suggest it to women all the time, even though many of them look at me like I have ten heads.

“Do you really think I have time to journal at the end of the day!” they seem to say.

Hey, I get it.

My journaling began when I was going through an emotional crisis.

There I was, lamenting the end of my marriage by spewing every emotion known to womanhood onto the blank pages of my journal.

Many pages were tear-stained. Others were practically shredded as I expressed my anger in words that literally tore through the paper. Some days, a page wasn’t enough to contain my wild mind and I’d draw arrows and scribble in the margins of pages two or three days back to complete my crazy ramblings.

But those days didn’t last forever.

I eventually re-entered the Land of the Living and while I tried to continue my new habit of journaling before bed, I’d often discover gaps of empty pages.

Funny how seeing those empty pages always seemed to disappoint me and leave me feeling unsatisfied. It was as if my life didn’t exist on those days when I didn’t taken a moment to memorialize them.

That’s why I love this ingenious journal.

It only has a smidgen of space per day — just enough to jot down that crazy question your kid asked, or the piece of wisdom the old lady on the train imparted to you, or the kind favor your neighbor did, or how proud you are that you finally did ten perfect push-ups.

There’s no pressure to fill up an entire page with words.

And trust me. No matter how exhausted you are at the end of the day you can find the energy to write one or two lines. And that’s all you’ll have room for.

Heck, write just one WORD that sums up your day, if that’s all you have left in you.

Frustrating, awesome, remarkable, grateful.

What’s really nifty is that this little journal cycles around for five years.

So three years from today, when you arrive on the page for August 1, for example, you’ll be able to see at a glance just what you were doing, thinking, or feeling on this same day in your past.

And it’s quite insightful to see your consciousness progressing right before your eyes!

So Silky PJ’s + a private little journal.

They make a great bedtime combo for a vintage fashionista!

Available at Dollhouse Bettie and Barnes and Noble.

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