Re: Diaries (was: Re: The Pause that Refreshes)

From: Amara Graps (amara@amara.com)
Date: Tue Jun 13 2000 - 16:28:34 MDT


From: Martin Ling <martin@nodezero.org.uk>, Sun, 11 Jun 2000

>> It's a way to see our own tracks through our own life-forest.
>> Looking at one's life-tracks can be enlightening. It also
>> shows how the sum of every experience makes us who we are today.
>
>This is the exact reason I keep a diary. For those who do not, I cannot
>recommend anything more highly. A month of life in which you have recorded
>your thoughts and the things which have concerned and affected you can
>be worth an entire year which you went through without, in my opinion.

Question: Do your different moods affect the frequency or depth
that you write in your journal? And if you write the same amount, and
in the same way, what helps you do that?

I'm trying to write with the same frequency/depth in my journals
no matter what mood I'm in, but I'm generally not successful.
My writing is irregular- I write a ton of stuff in my journal
when I'm working through something complicated or difficult, and
I don't write much in it when my mood is neutral or feeling upbeat-
those are the times that I feel more like writing email to friends
and family.

My relationship with poetry works in a similar way- I write a
lot of dark poetry when I am working through something difficult,
and then when I'm upbeat, I like to read alot of poetry that
resonates with me at that time. I have a friend who does exactly
the opposite- when he's feeling blue, he finds other people's
poetry that expresses his blue mood,and then when he's feeling
neutral or upbeat, he writes alot of poetry.

Perhaps this just shows that creativity and the the art
of expression may be expressed more easily when a person's mood
is a particular way, but it's different for everyone.

I like very much this book for ideas of ways of expressing oneself
creatively. It's not so much about journaling, but it shows
the different and important ways that we reveal ourselves (to
ourselves) when we write:

Deena Metzger, _Writing for your Life_ (A Guide and Companion
to the Inner Worlds)

This book also helps to connect our "little" stories into "bigger"
stories, to see the flow and patterns of our lives. I tend to look
for and use symbols from mythology and the several-thousand year-old
stories of different cultures when I connect my little stories.

>Coupled with meditation (the two usually overlapping), it has brought me
>an incredible insight into not just myself, but others also. I'm
>surprised it didn't occur to me to mention here earlier, in fact.

Thanks for the tip! I never before thought of the two methods working
together, but it makes a lot of sense to me.

Amara

********************************************************************
Amara Graps email: amara@amara.com
Computational Physics vita: finger agraps@shell5.ba.best.com
Multiplex Answers URL: http://www.amara.com/
********************************************************************
"If you gaze for long into the abyss, the abyss also gazes into
you." - -Nietzsche



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