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Writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge

scientificamerican.com

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Re: Writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge

#71

Post by hollerith »

javawizard wrote: post #16

I have a pretty strong natural filter. Years of therapy and three different therapists have yet to get me to a place where I can truly open up, even when writing on a page I know no-one else will see. Two days ago I did weed for the first time. I accidentally took a much larger hit than I meant to. For the first 15 minutes I had a complete out-of-body experience; nothing seemed real, I felt like I was floating throug…

I, too, have had the experience that cannabis 'removes repression'. In my case, it caused me to consider a pretty-good plan to try to improve my life that I was previously unwilling to entertain because of shame or embarrassment or painful memories.

I'm still intending to avoid cannabis though.

Re: Writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge

#72

Post by iamjason89 »

Reading this article and the comments here make me want to journal again. After reading a book on taking smart notes and finally successfully implementing the zettelkasten technique into my daily life, I feel like I've drifted away from the traditional journal method. Where I now utilize a system of index cards to capture dreams, thought out ideas, task list and concepts, I previously held notebooks that I would attempt to write daily on all various types of things. Reading back on these is an amazing to relive and stir up new feelings.

I found that when I wrote and read things back later, I would have trouble remembering them fully. When I was using a "journal" daily, I started to capture a few key details with every entry to help with recall:

  1) Current date and exact time (ex. 10/9/23 @ 9:33am)
  2) Music / auditory ambiance (ex. X song was playing in background)
  3) Where I was while writing (ex. on couch in living room at X house)
  4) A trigger memory (ex. travelled back from X destination yesterday)
When I read the entries that include this metadata, it helps me re-live these times and further spark memories around them.

I'm curious if anyone else has key details like this they include with their journaling that help them. I have a mission to start journaling again and would be fitting to add anything else others might be doing.

Re: Writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge

#73

Post by iammjm »

anon-3988 wrote: post #66
iammjm wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watching Netflix or getting stoned is clearly not doing nothing. If you take it literally then it becomes clear what is meant: just being, without indulging in anything, not even our thoughts. I agree this requires focus, but i don't think it requires technique but rather practice. As for discipline, i don't even know what that is

> I agree this requires focus, but i don't think it requires technique but rather practice. Tell me how you would do this without a technique. Your mind wanders and a random thought appears, what do you do? Whatever you are going to say next is by definition a technique. The fact that there a multiple answers to this questions means that the problem is open to a variety of techniques that have a range of effectivenes…

I guess I agree with you when you put it like this. I think I don't like the term "technique" here because it makes it sound as if there's something you need prior to starting meditating; as if there are some requirements to meditating; whereas I would argue meditation is not that different from the non-meditative state. Sure there are techniques like counting your breaths or body-scanning but I think this is all secondary to just sitting still and noticing whatever appears.

Re: Writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge

#74

Post by broscillator »

mcmoor wrote: post #37
zeroCalories wrote: post #12

I like writing because it forces you to turn vague feelings into concrete ideas. You can barf your thoughts onto paper and then read it with a critical eye, allowing you to evaluate your own thoughts. It helps me to find the gaps in my knowledge, notice sloppy arguments, etc. Sometimes that leads to a better understanding of the topic, but most of the time I realize that I have no understanding of the topic, which is…

I don't like it because I feel my vague ideas "disappear" when becoming concrete. It feels like trying to project a multidimensional creature into 2D; you inevitably lose some of it. In contrast, in my brain I can rotate or pinch the idea anyway I like and even turn it into further ideas.

Well that's the gist of it, and that what makes artists admirable. It sounds like you have a preference for fantasy over reality, and ultimately it's up to you if you feel your ideas are worthy of the friction of bringing them to life satisfactorily.

An idea is like a seed, you need to care for it in order to bring it to fruition, and you might have to face many frustrated attempts before you're successful. But if you don't then they're worth pretty much nothing.

Re: Writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge

#75

Post by broscillator »

iamjason89 wrote: post #72

Reading this article and the comments here make me want to journal again. After reading a book on taking smart notes and finally successfully implementing the zettelkasten technique into my daily life, I feel like I've drifted away from the traditional journal method. Where I now utilize a system of index cards to capture dreams, thought out ideas, task list and concepts, I previously held notebooks that I would atte…

A few things: around once a month I log what I've been reading, listening to, watching, playing, and hanging out with.

For the daily journaling I try to focus on a quality of feelings and events, which we could call significance. It is pretty difficult to measure the significance that a thought or event will have in the future, but this process itself is helpful for journaling in the moment, and its most helpful for my future reader self.

That means that when I sit down to journal I no longer focus on the "material" conditions, when I do that it feels like I'm grasping at straws to capture some inner snapshot that by nature is not contained in any of those material factors.

Rather I try to focus on fragments of my inner narrative while being on the lookout for my own biases and mental patterns. It's almost like trying to guess which events for the day will resurface in your dreams, which stick to your subconscious rather than what you think is relevant in the moment that you sit down to write.

Re: Writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge

#76

Post by vonjuice »

anon-3988 wrote: post #42
NalNezumi wrote: post #28

I think a lot of people put too much pressure on themselves when it comes to the advice "writing your thoughts down". Perfectionism, or the memories of being forced to take notes in school, kicks in and you start to look for how-to:s, format and guides. Very similar to meditation. The best meditation advice I got was to just sit down, focus on doing nothing and be OK with being bored. Not some breathing techniques, h…

> Very similar to meditation. The best meditation advice I got was to just sit down, focus on doing nothing and be OK with being bored. Not some breathing techniques, how to focus your mind, posture etc. That comes later, very naturally, after you get curious about improvements. Chilling != meditation. Like I get that chilling is helpful for you but words have meaning and that is not meditation.

There is no one true meaning to the word meditation.

We can say there's real meditation, and we can discuss what that means to no end.

But simply the word meditation means different things depending on which stage you're at. The trick is not to be contrarian like you're coming off despite your probably best intentions, but rather to accurately assess what each meditator needs at their stage of the practice, and see how your words can propel them like the wind on a sail.

Re: Writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge

#77

Post by mtalantikite »

rramadass wrote: post #54
mtalantikite wrote: post #39

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Very similar to meditation. The best meditation advice I got was to just sit down, focus on doing nothing and be OK with being bored. Similarly, no matter how much instruction I've gotten in meditation over the years, I still go back to Tilopa's advice all the time [1]. Just rest. [1] https://unfetteredmind.org/tilopas-advice/

Nice! In case you didn't know of them already, you might find the following books interesting; 1) Mind Training: The Great Collection translated by Thupten Jinpa . 2) Essential Mind Training translated by Thupten Jinpa - This is a subset from the above collection.

Oh awesome! I have Atisha's lojong, and also Chogyam Trungpa's mind training (which is more of a commentary), but these look great. I'll definitely pick it up, thanks again!

Re: Writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge

#78

Post by iamjason89 »

broscillator wrote: post #75
iamjason89 wrote: post #72

Reading this article and the comments here make me want to journal again. After reading a book on taking smart notes and finally successfully implementing the zettelkasten technique into my daily life, I feel like I've drifted away from the traditional journal method. Where I now utilize a system of index cards to capture dreams, thought out ideas, task list and concepts, I previously held notebooks that I would atte…

A few things: around once a month I log what I've been reading, listening to, watching, playing, and hanging out with. For the daily journaling I try to focus on a quality of feelings and events, which we could call significance. It is pretty difficult to measure the significance that a thought or event will have in the future, but this process itself is helpful for journaling in the moment, and its most helpful for…

I appreciate your input and I like the monthly check-in items. Those are certainly relevant and would be useful looking back.

I'm often trying to influence my dreams and make things stick to my subconscious so they will surface up during them. I find your approach interesting.

Re: Writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge

#79

Post by kortilla »

anon-3988 wrote: post #66
iammjm wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Watching Netflix or getting stoned is clearly not doing nothing. If you take it literally then it becomes clear what is meant: just being, without indulging in anything, not even our thoughts. I agree this requires focus, but i don't think it requires technique but rather practice. As for discipline, i don't even know what that is

> I agree this requires focus, but i don't think it requires technique but rather practice. Tell me how you would do this without a technique. Your mind wanders and a random thought appears, what do you do? Whatever you are going to say next is by definition a technique. The fact that there a multiple answers to this questions means that the problem is open to a variety of techniques that have a range of effectivenes…

None of that is related to calling it “chilling”. It’s still not chilling even if you don’t have good techniques.

Re: Writing down unfiltered thoughts enhances self-knowledge

#80

Post by swah »

iammjm wrote: post #61
extasia wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Fill-in in what sense? Like a physical journal but digital?

I imagine a survey-like questionnaire: 1. Today as i woke up ... 2. In the course of the day i ... 3. One thing that particularly occupied me today was ...

Templates, Notion and Obsidian folks love them...
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