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Originally Posted by Toaster126
I've noticed a common theme in real life journal writing as oftentimes having to do with self-therapy. I wonder how true that is for TFP journals as well.
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Toaster, you're on to something there, but I think what a person can get out of a journal like this is bigger than that. This thread reminds me of something I read in a cheesy little book I bought on a whim:
It's Not How Good You Are, It's How Good You Want To Be, by Paul Arden (he's an advertising guy).
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Originally Posted by Paul Arden
DO NOT COVET YOUR IDEAS.
Give away everything you know, and more will come back to you.
You will remember from school other students preventing you from seeing their answers by placing their arm around their exercise book or exam paper.
It is the same at work, people are secretive with ideas. 'Don't tell them that, they'll take the credit for it.'
The problem with hoarding is you end up living off your reserves. Eventually you'll become stale.
If you give away everything you have, you are left with nothing. This forces you to look, to be aware, to replenish.
Somehow the more you give away the more comes back to you.
Ideas are open knowledge. Don't claim ownership.
They're not youre ideas anyway, they're someone else's. They are out there floating by on the ether.
You just have to put yourself in a frame of mind to pick them up.
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Now, I find a lot of the things he says to be problematic--particularly the example of a kid not wanting other kids to cheat off of her exam--but I dig the main idea of giving of yourself and then getting more in return through the process of "replenishing" your ideas.
I'm all for discretion and keeping things secure in a world of identity theft and stalkers, but my experience tells me that if I spend a lot more energy trying to keep things to myself than I do expressing myself, then I'm living each day with a net loss rather than a net gain.