I've come up with a new method of long form journalling. It's called "Burn After Writing", so let me explain.
I used to write and write, and fill up volume after volume of explicit journals. I kept these fairly safe and private but recently I decided to burn them all. I posted it on Steemit when I was burning them all, over a decades worth of thoughts. I read them all before destroying them, and it was useful, though it reenforced the notion that it was time for them to go.
I've been keeping a one paragraph a day diary now instead, and I don't get deep into introspection as a result, and keep it fairly light, though not dishonest. However lately I've been having a tougher time of it some days and feel the need to vent. I don't have a lot of friends around me right now, and therapy is too expensive and I don't know how I'd fit it in.
Since I used to get a lot out of venting I considered that I could still do that sometimes and instead of waiting year, just burn it straight away, without reading it.
This evening, that's what I did.
I used to meditate and I hope to get back into it soon. The concept of impermanence is very important in the vispassana form of meditation I do (or did), and this feels quite similar. The thoughts I expressed this evening I don't know if I can say I'm proud of them, but they were there in my mind, like it or not.
Getting them out and burning them is symbolic in a few ways. One is to recognise that they are there by writing them in the first place. Another is to not read them, which is similar to the meditation practice of observing and letting go. Completely letting go then is burning them. This is obviously also a practical matter to allow for the complete unaltered mental stream.
Does anyone out there do anything like this? Or do you have a thought on my approach? Let me know in the comments.