Post No. 006 : Arthur's Email : 5775.03.26 : Analysis

Arthur writes: "While there may be some inspiration in the writing, the true inspiration comes from reading in our future what we wrote in the past."

I write in a journal most days throughout the day. I go back and read what I wrote. I am often shocked by who I was even a few days ago. And then I realize I didn't change from a few days ago. I am that same person. That is what is so shocking.

By way of analogy, I will give two hypothetical "concrete" examples of how I can become motivated through journaling. Imagine I go out in my yard in the morning and discover a poisonous snake there. I make a note of it, but I do nothing about it. I do nothing about it because I don't know how to deal with the threat. I don't allow myself to feel the real danger I'm in because if I did feel the danger, I'd be immobilized and unable to escape the danger. And because I downplay the danger, I put it in the back recesses of my mind. But the note I put in my journal remains fresh and vivid.

Later on in the morning, I review my notes in the safety of the house. I come across the note about the snake. Now I feel all the emotion: the close call I had. I am motivated to go online. I learn how to deal with the snake. I resolve to carry around a sharp knife to protect myself in the future.

Call this Antidote Journaling.

Or say I discover a gold nugget in the yard. Similar to the above, I note it, but the overwhelming knowledge I have a goldmine in my yard is more than I can deal with. Only later, reviewing my notes do I act on the knowledge.

Call this Treasure Map Journaling.

Here is an example of Antidote Journaling: 

At times, I reach a low point in my life. Discouragement envelopes me, and all seems lost. At that moment the only light in the darkness is the point of my pen, writing bewildered and wild thoughts, like a prisoner cowering on the cold, stone floor of of a massive pit, scratching last words into the soft rock of the unscalable wall.

Later, when the mist of misery has abated, I realize where I was when I wrote those words. More importantly, there's a part of me still stuck in the dungeon, lost and forgotten. I am motivated to rescue that part of my being.

Here is an example of Treasure Map Journaling:

And sometimes I have a business idea. It just occurs to me, I write it down, I move on. It's only later reviewing the idea that I realize its ramifications, where it fits in the scheme of things, and how it can lead to making money.

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