The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection • Hacker News Board

Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection

#11

Post by pedrolins » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 12:01 PM UTC

I have been journaling for 2 years on and off. In the beginning it had extremely positive effects on my development as a person.

After a while the sense of effectiveness that came from writing constantly started to fizzle out and I'd feel like going in circles in my writing.For a while, I wouldn't write and I'd feel guilt and would attribute negative aspects of my life to my lack of writing, which led me back to daily writing. This was a recurring thing in my life.

After a while I just concluded that the valuable thing journaling teaches you is the importance of exploring your ideas and thoughts. Doing it religiously or with harsh constraints is no good. There must be time to explore and to just do things for a bit - that until some sort of critical mass is reached or some idea shows up that you want to discuss.

I think what confuses a lot of people is what one means with "journaling". If it's just writing about your day, I don't see that much utility in it. Effective journaling ends up being an alternative name for writing and reflecting without objective in my experience.

Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection

#12

Post by gala8y » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 12:12 PM UTC

Few days ago I found a very interesting, short blog about journaling (I've just posted it seperately [0]). It's very interesting for me as it combines themes of journaling per se and self-dialogue.

0. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32237190

Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection

#13

Post by civilized » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 12:45 PM UTC

My wife set up an app that shows us a carousel of kid pics all day. It's sitting on top of my microwave. This is my journal.

Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection

#14

Post by grigri907 » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 12:55 PM UTC

hackerlight wrote: post #6

eddy_chan wrote: post #2

I 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?

Reading old journals used to be tedious and embarrassing. It was frustrating to see how many times I had profound, "life changing" realizations, only to discover I've had the same realization over and over again in the years preceding - seemingly never retaining the lessons and ideas.

One thing that helped was building in space for dialogue with myself. Now, I only write original journal entries on the left side of a notebook and leave the right side for future responses. I make a habit of revisiting journal entries from a week, a month, and a year prior, etc, and expounding on the right side of the page with lessons learned later, counter points, and context from an "outside" perspective.

Naturally, this forms a sort of distillation of ideas, refining the concepts most relevant to me at any given moment, and keeping them present in my mind. It promotes a sense of continuity of self, and self-compassion as I'm frequently reminded of my growth and ability to change.

Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection

#15

Post by criddell » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 1:13 PM UTC

civilized wrote: post #13

My wife set up an app that shows us a carousel of kid pics all day. It's sitting on top of my microwave. This is my journal.

I don't mean this to sound negative, but you are more than a parent.

Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection

#16

Post by jimkleiber » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 1:13 PM UTC

I built an app for micro journaling but then mostly stopped maintaining it because I was very afraid of the danger of other people hacking into it, especially if it became mainstream and high-value state targets used it.

For those of you who keep journals, how much do you worry someone will gain access to it?

Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection

#17

Post by wikfwikf » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 1:25 PM UTC

jimkleiber wrote: post #16

I built an app for micro journaling but then mostly stopped maintaining it because I was very afraid of the danger of other people hacking into it, especially if it became mainstream and high-value state targets used it. For those of you who keep journals, how much do you worry someone will gain access to it?

I do worry about this, but I also have two counterpoints when I think about it:

1. There are things which I write which are private, but if they were forcibly revealed then I would stand by my truth, including mistakes and things I'm ashamed of.

2. It's better to act as though you are in a free and decent society than to become your own policeman!

Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection

#18

Post by civilized » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 1:28 PM UTC

criddell wrote: post #15

civilized wrote: post #13

My wife set up an app that shows us a carousel of kid pics all day. It's sitting on top of my microwave. This is my journal.

I don't mean this to sound negative, but you are more than a parent.

Don't knock it till you've tried it! It makes me feel great about my life and requires no additional work on my part.

Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection

#19

Post by rr888 » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 1:30 PM UTC

I often wonder if too much introspection via therapy or yourself is a bad thing. When you are young you are filled with ideas and drive and confidence. After introspection you realize you aren't special, you aren't as good as you think you are and most people are indifferent to you or often dont really like you.

Re: The Danger of Journaling Is Introspection

#20

Post by mxuribe » Tue, Jul 26, 2022, 1:41 PM UTC

grigri907 wrote: post #14

hackerlight wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Does re-reading previous entries add value?

Reading old journals used to be tedious and embarrassing. It was frustrating to see how many times I had profound, "life changing" realizations, only to discover I've had the same realization over and over again in the years preceding - seemingly never retaining the lessons and ideas. One thing that helped was building in space for dialogue with myself. Now, I only write original journal entries on the left side of a…

> ...Now, I only write original journal entries on the left side of a notebook and leave the right side for future responses. I make a habit of revisiting journal entries from a week, a month, and a year prior, etc, and expounding on the right side of the page with lessons learned later, counter points, and context from an "outside" perspective...

This is the sort of thing that if one was a famous person...then after their death, historians would consider a gold mine to discover! For example, when the journal of Nikola Tesla waas found and in addition he had entries years l;ater of his thoughts about aid original entries, that would be doubly-amazing. This is no less amazing of an idea for us mere mortals! Thank you for sharing this seemingly simple but awesomely wonderfuly idea!!!