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Journaling for me is an essential tool for emotional regulation and self-knowledge. This wasn't always the case because I learned in school to write for someone

Journaling for me is an essential tool for emotional regulation and self-knowledge. This wasn't always the case because I learned in school to write for someone else. If I'm not writing for someone else then who am I writing for? I'm writing for my future self, but who is that? My future self is determined by the thoughts and experiences I am having now, so if I can understand through writing where I am now in the world then I can make better decisions about where I am going. In effect, writing is a way of programming myself. If I am to be captain of my own ship then I need to keep a log to better learn from past experiences. I've found writing is the best way to collaborate with other parts of myself as Huxley says If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place. - Lao Tzu It doesn't need to be imagined, it needs to be written down - Philip Glass I like the feeling of words doing as they want to do and as they have to do - Gertrude Stein My fate cannot be mastered; it can only be collaborated with and thereby, to some extent, directed. Nor am I the captain of my soul; I am only it's noisiest passenger - Aldous Huxley Good composition is like a suspension bridge; each line adds strength and takes none away... Making lines run into each other is not composition. There must be motive for the connection. Get the art of controlling the observer – that is composition - Robert Henri Memory is the major element in cognition, in everything that we call the humanities. If you cannot remember, then you can't think and you can't imagine, and you can't write, and you can hardly read - Harold Bloom The characters in my novel are my own possibilities that were not realized - Milan Kundera

cadr 4y ago
Thank you for those! They are fantastic!
- mwattsun 4y ago
  Thanks. Part of my journaling is collecting quotes I come across if they are particularly thought provoking or mysterious. I forgot one of the best. I know it's the best because Eastern and Western thought both start here: Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom - Aristotle
3-cheese-sundae 4y ago
How do you deal with the privacy implications of noting your deepest thoughts, insecurities, actions, desires, etc. in a presumably single place?
- reidjs 4y ago
  Keep it offline or realize that probably nobody cares about reading your journal anyways
- tarmon 4y ago
  It's not perfect but encryption should keep most people honest assuming you practice good opsec.
- oskhib 4y ago
  I had that concern when I first started journalling, and invented a secret script (neography). I stuck to it a week or two before I realised nobody really even cares about most of the stuff I write about, so why make the effort. Mind you, I'm young and don't live with a partner, so I don't have to worry about them finding my journal.
  - coastflow 4y ago
    A partner who is an ethical person typically would respect boundaries, and avoid snooping (e.g. reading journals and going through unattended laptops/phones). However, as a failsafe (e.g. the person has a lapse in judgement, they're drunk, or is typically great to be with but struggles with snooping), just don't commit anything offensive or relationship-ending to long-term storage. For example, if you're having doubts about a relationship or feel concern about a sensitive subject to the other person, you can write your thoughts to work it out on a separate piece of paper to securely dispose of after, or (similar to a suggestion elsewhere in the comments) a text file that isn't saved or gets deleted after. Some may argue for great openness about thoughts in a relationship, but I think it's often useful to work things out on your own to clarify your thoughts and position, before a crucial discussion.
    - 4y ago
galaktus 4y ago
The emotional regulation part looks promising to me. How does that kind of journaling look like to help with that?
- nh23423fefe 4y ago
  not op but, I consider the journaling I do to be complementary to the mediation i do. mediation trains the regulation and journaling gives the vocabulary and memory for the present experience
- atoav 4y ago
  In the qorst situations of my life.when I felt alone, devastated, forgotten, hurt I always started to write a letter to someone, either my partner, the person who hurt me, a good friend, whatever. Where I nwed ro explain the whole mess I am in, why I feel the way I feel, what got me to that point how I imagine it will go from here, what I actually want — this kind of stuff. I never sent one of those letters. The writing alone made me feel so much better or gave me a resolve to act that the letter would have been outdated by the point I sent it.
  - asdfqwertzxcv 4y ago
    President Truman did this, as well. Apparently, some of them were absolutely scathing and full of language that he never would utter in public.
- mwattsun 4y ago
  I've taken a course in Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) so part of my writing is to practice it
- jimkleiber 4y ago
  Many different ways to go about it. I preferred the short-form, almost structured tweeting to myself (how do I feel and what's happening) that I built in an app called iFeelio[0] (now defunct). However, some prefer longform, written or typed, different apps and such. What I found helped me was trying to focus more on how I was feeling and less on what was happening, as I think it's easy for me to rationalize and become more and more distant from how I'm feeling. Darn, now I want to revamp the app. [0]: www.ifeelio.com
stryan 4y ago
>If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place. > - Lao Tzu FYI, I hate to be that guy, but I don't believe that's a Laozi quote. It doesn't really sound like anything in the Dao De Jing, and google seems to link it to a English translation of a supposed oral tradition of the Huahujing, that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the actual pieces of the Huahujing we've found.
- rufus_foreman 4y ago
  I think the historically correct quote is: "Free your mind and your ass will follow"
- coastflow 4y ago
  To question the premise of the quote as well, an approach that I've found to be helpful to address procrastination/negative moods is to start with action if I can, rather than trying to motivate myself or change my thoughts. Psychiatrist David Burns summarized this [1]: "Most procrastinators think that motivation comes first, followed by productive action, but this is an illusion, because you’ll probably NEVER feel motivated to do some awful task you’ve been putting off. If you’re waiting for motivation, you’ll be waiting forever! [...] highly productive people know that ACTION comes first, followed by motivation. In other words, you have to get started on some task before you’ll feel motivated." A more liberal and charitable interpretation of the quote could be to classify starting with action as a way to correct the mind, though I figured it could be helpful to provide a less thoughts-centred approach to living a better life. [1] https://feelinggood.com/2018/02/12/075-the-second-simple-way-to-boost-your-happiness-do-something-youve-been-putting-off/ https://feelinggood.com/2018/02/12/075-the-second-simple-way...
  - tiahura 4y ago
    This aligns with prof. pychyl's "motivation follows action" and "just get started" https://www.procrastination.ca/ https://www.procrastination.ca/
  - throwawayarnty 4y ago
    An interesting corollary is that passion does not precede action. Action (and seeing positive results) leads to passion.

cadr 4y ago

Thank you for those! They are fantastic!

mwattsun 4y ago
Thanks. Part of my journaling is collecting quotes I come across if they are particularly thought provoking or mysterious. I forgot one of the best. I know it's the best because Eastern and Western thought both start here: Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom - Aristotle

3-cheese-sundae 4y ago

How do you deal with the privacy implications of noting your deepest thoughts, insecurities, actions, desires, etc. in a presumably single place?

reidjs 4y ago
Keep it offline or realize that probably nobody cares about reading your journal anyways
tarmon 4y ago
It's not perfect but encryption should keep most people honest assuming you practice good opsec.
oskhib 4y ago
I had that concern when I first started journalling, and invented a secret script (neography). I stuck to it a week or two before I realised nobody really even cares about most of the stuff I write about, so why make the effort. Mind you, I'm young and don't live with a partner, so I don't have to worry about them finding my journal.
- coastflow 4y ago
  A partner who is an ethical person typically would respect boundaries, and avoid snooping (e.g. reading journals and going through unattended laptops/phones). However, as a failsafe (e.g. the person has a lapse in judgement, they're drunk, or is typically great to be with but struggles with snooping), just don't commit anything offensive or relationship-ending to long-term storage. For example, if you're having doubts about a relationship or feel concern about a sensitive subject to the other person, you can write your thoughts to work it out on a separate piece of paper to securely dispose of after, or (similar to a suggestion elsewhere in the comments) a text file that isn't saved or gets deleted after. Some may argue for great openness about thoughts in a relationship, but I think it's often useful to work things out on your own to clarify your thoughts and position, before a crucial discussion.
  - 4y ago

galaktus 4y ago

The emotional regulation part looks promising to me. How does that kind of journaling look like to help with that?

nh23423fefe 4y ago
not op but, I consider the journaling I do to be complementary to the mediation i do. mediation trains the regulation and journaling gives the vocabulary and memory for the present experience
atoav 4y ago
In the qorst situations of my life.when I felt alone, devastated, forgotten, hurt I always started to write a letter to someone, either my partner, the person who hurt me, a good friend, whatever. Where I nwed ro explain the whole mess I am in, why I feel the way I feel, what got me to that point how I imagine it will go from here, what I actually want — this kind of stuff. I never sent one of those letters. The writing alone made me feel so much better or gave me a resolve to act that the letter would have been outdated by the point I sent it.
- asdfqwertzxcv 4y ago
  President Truman did this, as well. Apparently, some of them were absolutely scathing and full of language that he never would utter in public.
mwattsun 4y ago
I've taken a course in Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) so part of my writing is to practice it
jimkleiber 4y ago
Many different ways to go about it. I preferred the short-form, almost structured tweeting to myself (how do I feel and what's happening) that I built in an app called iFeelio[0] (now defunct). However, some prefer longform, written or typed, different apps and such. What I found helped me was trying to focus more on how I was feeling and less on what was happening, as I think it's easy for me to rationalize and become more and more distant from how I'm feeling. Darn, now I want to revamp the app. [0]: www.ifeelio.com

stryan 4y ago

>If you correct your mind, the rest of your life will fall into place. > - Lao Tzu FYI, I hate to be that guy, but I don't believe that's a Laozi quote. It doesn't really sound like anything in the Dao De Jing, and google seems to link it to a English translation of a supposed oral tradition of the Huahujing, that doesn't seem to have anything to do with the actual pieces of the Huahujing we've found.

rufus_foreman 4y ago
I think the historically correct quote is: "Free your mind and your ass will follow"
coastflow 4y ago
To question the premise of the quote as well, an approach that I've found to be helpful to address procrastination/negative moods is to start with action if I can, rather than trying to motivate myself or change my thoughts. Psychiatrist David Burns summarized this [1]: "Most procrastinators think that motivation comes first, followed by productive action, but this is an illusion, because you’ll probably NEVER feel motivated to do some awful task you’ve been putting off. If you’re waiting for motivation, you’ll be waiting forever! [...] highly productive people know that ACTION comes first, followed by motivation. In other words, you have to get started on some task before you’ll feel motivated." A more liberal and charitable interpretation of the quote could be to classify starting with action as a way to correct the mind, though I figured it could be helpful to provide a less thoughts-centred approach to living a better life. [1] https://feelinggood.com/2018/02/12/075-the-second-simple-way-to-boost-your-happiness-do-something-youve-been-putting-off/ https://feelinggood.com/2018/02/12/075-the-second-simple-way...
- tiahura 4y ago
  This aligns with prof. pychyl's "motivation follows action" and "just get started" https://www.procrastination.ca/ https://www.procrastination.ca/
- throwawayarnty 4y ago
  An interesting corollary is that passion does not precede action. Action (and seeing positive results) leads to passion.