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Always Be Journaling (2018)

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Re: Always Be Journaling (2018)

#41

Post by amp108 »

complianceowl wrote: post #14

Has anyone here ever refrained from being too honest in your journaling, out of fear someone read it some day?

It's prevented me from keeping one at all. Years ago, my mother broke into my then 12-year-old sister's diary for no better reason than to find out what was going on when she wasn't home, which was often. I later wrote some really shitty teen-angst poetry and buried it under a stack of books and papers in a corner of my bedroom closet, and she found that. Decades later, I still feel like I can't write something emotionally honest because it will be exposed and used against me somehow.

Re: Always Be Journaling (2018)

#42

Post by jkmcf »

UI_at_80x24 wrote: post #24

Dear diary, why? I have nothing to say. I've tried on & off to keep a diary (journalling sounds so hip) and never found a thing to talk about. I've found my great-grandfathers diary. As a farmer he noted things like weather temperatures, precipitation, etc. How the crops were doing, and what broke on the farm. It was interesting, but dry and factual. So I tried and never found anything substantial to write. What was…

Been there, still can go there. I remember in 8th grade we had to do journaling in class and I might have been ok with it had it been a different teacher or just that no one would have read it.

Years later I learn that it actually helps your brain make sense of the day. Look at your day and the emotions that form, and look for cause and effect. Look to change the causes, or how you interpret them. You have a lot of life left and a head start on me age wise. Shit didn’t start coming together for me until 40, and it’s still an uphill battle, but worth it.

Try using the weather as a writing prompt to get the juices flowing.

Re: Always Be Journaling (2018)

#43

Post by Naac »

jsilence wrote: post #15

On my I3 window manager I start emacs in a hidden floating window that I can bring to front with a one handed hotkey (Super- Then I use org-modes org-capture to either capture into journal.org multiple times daily or notes.org when having interesting ideas. I use org-rifle to search through the journal and notes. The files are synced between devices via owncloud.

Can you explain more about your setup?

What if you're in a different workspace? Does the floating hidden emacs window follow you across workspaces?

Re: Always Be Journaling (2018)

#44

Post by words_hurt »

Yeah, gee! Great idea, if all your private thoughts are just so squeaky clean.

If you carry even the slightest amount of negativity in your heart, do not ever put pen to paper in a way that seems to reveal your inner self.

Kind advice from a person who has experienced at least one horrendous debacle from a regrettably misplaced notebook.

Also, my parent's 25+ year marriage was undone by a similarly stunning incident. A dropped love note in the driveway, not a diary.

Re: Always Be Journaling (2018)

#45

Post by jackschultz »

OnACoffeeBreak wrote: post #40
jackschultz wrote: post #2

I did that for a good 3 years, writing every day. Started out as a few sentences, and then turned in to bigger depending on how I was feeling that day. I absolutely love(d) being able to look back and read what I wrote and what happened on those days. It did get difficult at times to force myself to write. Many times I hated having to open up the computer and use that to type. On the other hand, typing was much bette…

> I absolutely love(d) being able to look back and read what I wrote and what happened on those days. Did you actually look back or just liked the idea that you could? If you did what sorts of things prompted you to do so? I am asking because I have journaled on an off but never had the impulse to go back and read what I wrote.

I did read back and look more than a few times. One was what I wrote when a person, wondering what I said then. Other times trying to see the first mention of an experience.

I definitely didn't go back and read sequentially though, because mostly I didn't do anything interesting day to day. But I've found that sometimes things stick out that I didn't realize when I was writing it. By the end of that stretch when I did write daily, I got very in depth because I was curious what would be of interest later.

Re: Always Be Journaling (2018)

#46

Post by idoh »

shoes_for_thee wrote: post #37

I kept rigorous journals from 1999 until about 2017. I stopped because I felt it was necessary to make a break with my past self. I don't know if journaling was useful for my personal growth or not. I do know that reading old entries resulted in a cringe more often than not, which I took to be a good sign. If the old-you isn't a little embarrassing, are you growing? There are a few books left, but I destroyed about 9…

If you like journaling, but want to make a break from the past, then why not journal but then periodically destroy the journals?

Re: Always Be Journaling (2018)

#47

Post by proee »

UI_at_80x24 wrote: post #24

Dear diary, why? I have nothing to say. I've tried on & off to keep a diary (journalling sounds so hip) and never found a thing to talk about. I've found my great-grandfathers diary. As a farmer he noted things like weather temperatures, precipitation, etc. How the crops were doing, and what broke on the farm. It was interesting, but dry and factual. So I tried and never found anything substantial to write. What was…

A journal is just a tool - like a shovel or hammer. Perhaps you can use a journal to expand on creative ideas and ambitions, instead of reflecting on deep hurtful feelings. I hope you can find a way to love yourself and your life. Maybe consider a radical change in your current lifestyle/location to give yourself a fresh reset on life.

Re: Always Be Journaling (2018)

#48

Post by jvanderbot »

Ive been writing almost every day for many years. My secret was to use Bash and write a few scripts to make it very easy to jot down thoughts.

I also added a vim command to push it to github while editing. These just remove barriers to opening and syncing the file, but the concept is the same.

You can see the result here: https://github.com/jodavaho/bashlog

The result is a treasure trove of greppable data. Someday I was to apply some sentiment analysis ...

Re: Always Be Journaling (2018)

#50

Post by shoes_for_thee »

idoh wrote: post #46
shoes_for_thee wrote: post #37

I kept rigorous journals from 1999 until about 2017. I stopped because I felt it was necessary to make a break with my past self. I don't know if journaling was useful for my personal growth or not. I do know that reading old entries resulted in a cringe more often than not, which I took to be a good sign. If the old-you isn't a little embarrassing, are you growing? There are a few books left, but I destroyed about 9…

If you like journaling, but want to make a break from the past, then why not journal but then periodically destroy the journals?

It's a good idea. I get attached to the artifact, though. I think I'd need to make it an annual or bi-annual _event_. Build a fire, smoke a cigar, burn the past. Sounds nice.
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