The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection
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The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection
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Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection
#2I have been journaling for 9 years now. Actually closer to 12 but we'll discount the first 3 years because it was done haphazardly handwritten in notebooks in fits and bursts. Repeatedly throughout the journals I wrote about how circular it felt whenever I was examining the deeper self. It felt like I had written this or that before and then I came to the realisation that the deepest sense of self or sense of consciousness never really changes throughout life. You are who you are. What surprised me was the regularity that predictions or goals written in the past would come true in the future. Seemingly impossible (within a realm of reason) things would always come true given enough time, enough persistence and enough continuous progression. And if it hasn't come true yet, have you moved along the scale of making it happen?
That's where journaling becomes powerful. It lets you hold yourself accountable, lets you measure your current self against your past self. It lets you document those little life victories, those turning points to judge whether a past decision was good or not. Life is a combinatorially explosive decision tree (borrowed from John Vervaeke), journaling helps you to better guess the best future path and keep you on it.
Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection
#3I have been journaling for 9 years now. Actually closer to 12 but we'll discount the first 3 years because it was done haphazardly handwritten in notebooks in fits and bursts. Repeatedly throughout the journals I wrote about how circular it felt whenever I was examining the deeper self. It felt like I had written this or that before and then I came to the realisation that the deepest sense of self or sense of conscio…
> Life is a combinatorially explosive decision tree (borrowed from John Vervaeke), journaling helps you to better guess the best future path and keep you on it
Beautiful turn of phrase.
Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection
#4I started journaling 4 years ago. I have not missed one day in 4 years (except for a couple of days after a mild bicycle accident where I was sleeping in bed). I built myself a system that sends me an email every day, and the replies get stored in an sqlite db. The system accepts answers up to five days after the date (meaning, if the replies is sent more than five days after the initial email was sent, it's not filed). I did this to force myself to never reply too late.
The funny thing is, five days is waaay too long a time to remember what you have done. When I describe my day at the end of it, or the morning after, I usually remember incredible little details and thoughts. But after a day, only a rough outline remains. After two days, I usually remember nothing (save for exceptional circumstances).
That's why I started journaling: to be able to tell what happened in the past. Not just the big milestones, but all the little steps.
Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection
#5Just never read the past, problem solved. That shit also takes way too long, 400 words per day = 146k words = 300ish pages
The value of writing to me is to refine thoughts and then take action upon them. That is the here and now rather than introspection.
Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection
#6I have been journaling for 9 years now. Actually closer to 12 but we'll discount the first 3 years because it was done haphazardly handwritten in notebooks in fits and bursts. Repeatedly throughout the journals I wrote about how circular it felt whenever I was examining the deeper self. It felt like I had written this or that before and then I came to the realisation that the deepest sense of self or sense of conscio…
Does re-reading previous entries add value?
Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection
#7I'm left wondering if this was a disappointment for you or you were expecting something else..
I started writing about 10 years ago, whenever I felt the need, coming to around 10-15 entries per year. Looking back through the entries, I can't say I'm a different person from the one I was 10 years ago, more like the opposite. The external circumstances have changed ofc, I've reached some goals, etc, but how I feel about myself and my reactions to life seem to have mostly stayed the same. Regardless of the apparent lack of progress, I am still writing occasionally, whenever I feel like it.
Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection
#8[deleted]
Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection
#9I have been journaling for 9 years now. Actually closer to 12 but we'll discount the first 3 years because it was done haphazardly handwritten in notebooks in fits and bursts. Repeatedly throughout the journals I wrote about how circular it felt whenever I was examining the deeper self. It felt like I had written this or that before and then I came to the realisation that the deepest sense of self or sense of conscio…
Does re-reading previous entries add value?
Yes it does. I don't journal every day, I keep each year to about 40-50 A4 pages and I won't write down all the banal stuff. The value lies in the fact that I will usually look at what life was like a year ago, 3 years ago, 5 years, 10 years ago and past-self is there telling me without the rose-tinted glasses. It makes me grateful for what I have today. If I need motivation today, the struggles that were written down serve as a reminder of what needed to be done to get to the present and that effort is required now to get to a higher plane tomorrow, next year, 5 years from now.
Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection
#10I started journaling 4 years ago. I have not missed one day in 4 years (except for a couple of days after a mild bicycle accident where I was sleeping in bed). I built myself a system that sends me an email every day, and the replies get stored in an sqlite db. The system accepts answers up to five days after the date (meaning, if the replies is sent more than five days after the initial email was sent, it's not file…
> That's why I started journaling: to be able to tell what happened in the past. Not just the big milestones, but all the little steps.
This tracks for me, especially with little kids. I feel more peaceful knowing that these days won’t just completely disappear into the past. Just knowing I can look back later gives me solace now.