Skip to main content

Me and My Diary

My habit of recording thoughts began years ago, not as a structured daily commitment, but as an intermittent practice—capturing ideas as they occurred. Returning to these small notebooks months or even years later yielded an astonishing discovery: they provided a clear, documented map of my mind's evolution. They revealed precisely how my thinking operated in the past and how dramatically my perspectives had shifted, often leading to stark realizations like, "How could I have been that stupid?" or, conversely, "At least I could think way back then."

To clarify terminology: a diary is typically a consistent, regular record of events, feelings, and indications. My intermittent record is more akin to a journal, defined as a less frequent account focused on events, thoughts, or ideas. Though many professionals, particularly politicians, maintain journals for operational or even legal purposes, my own goal was always strictly private.

The foremost realization from this practice is that I was unknowingly conversing with my future self. This written past becomes essential because memory is notoriously unreliable, being a constantly edited and changing archive. The journal preserves the authentic, unvarnished state of mind from a specific moment. Without this written record, one can only look into the past through the murky lens of an ever-changing memory. You cannot imagine how informative such a journal becomes. When reading it I sometimes wonder, “How ever could I have been that stupid?”

Even more so in talking to my future is my diary, where I express on a regular basis my feelings, events, and family matters. This is even more personal (i.e. private) than my journal, and I share it only with myself. A leather-bound, vellum-paged volume is not needed; for years, I wrote comments in pocket, spiral-bound notebooks. Scribbles, diagrams, and pictures are all included within these.

The Modern Paradox of Public Articulation

This desire to say something has exploded into the digital age with blogs and online journals, estimated to number between 500 million and one billion worldwide. This massive volume demonstrates a powerful, universal urge to articulate one's thoughts. Yet, the sheer number of abandoned or near-empty sites, like the countless blogs based on a single word and little else, presents a profound paradox. Millions want to start a conversation, perhaps giving a good introduction, but ultimately fail to follow through. The collective reason for this abandonment includes a lack of time, a lack of substance, or simply not knowing how to articulate the intended message. It has become and remains a fascinating, unwritten chapter of digital sociology.

 

2025 G Donald Allen

 


Comments

Post a Comment

Please Comment.

Popular posts from this blog

Behavioral Science and Problem-Solving

I.                                       I.                 Introduction.                Concerning our general behavior, it’s high about time we all had some understanding of how we operate on ourselves, and it is just as important how we are operated on by others. This is the wheelhouse of behavioral sciences. It is a vast subject. It touches our lives constantly. It’s influence is pervasive and can be so subtle we never notice it. Behavioral sciences profoundly affect our ability and success at problem-solving, from the elementary level to highly complex wicked problems. This is discussed in Section IV. We begin with the basics of behavioral sciences, Section II, and then through the lens of multiple categories and examples, Section III. II.     ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Principles of Insufficiency and Sufficiency

   The principles we use but don't know it.  1.      Introduction . Every field, scientific or otherwise, rests on foundational principles—think buoyancy, behavior, or democracy. Here, we explore a unique subset: principles modified by "insufficiency" and "sufficiency." While you may never have heard of them, you use them often. These terms frame principles that blend theory, practicality, and aspiration, by offering distinct perspectives. Insufficiency often implies inaction unless justified, while sufficiency suggests something exists or must be done. We’ll examine key examples and introduce a new principle with potential significance. As a principle of principles of these is that something or some action is not done enough while others may be done too much. The first six (§2-6) of our principles are in the literature, and you can easily search them online. The others are relatively new, but fit the concepts in the real world. At times, these pri...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Lemming Instinct

  In certain vital domains, a pervasive mediocrity among practitioners can stifle genuine advancement. When the intellectual output of a field is predominantly average, it inevitably produces research of corresponding quality. Nevertheless, some of these ideas, by sheer chance or perhaps through effective dissemination, will inevitably gain traction. A significant number of scholars and researchers will gravitate towards these trends, contributing to and propagating further work along these established lines. Such a trajectory allows an initially flawed concept to ascend to the status of mainstream orthodoxy. However, over an extended period, these prevailing ideas invariably fail to withstand rigorous scrutiny; they are ultimately and conclusively disproven. The disheartening pattern then reveals itself: rather than genuine progress, an equally unvalidated or incorrect idea often supplants the discredited one, swiftly establishing its own dominance. This cycle perpetuates, ensurin...
Post a Comment
Read more