what would you do?

[willow]

I know no one is really going to tell me what to DO ( I mean you can I would love advice!!)

but I figure hey I will throw it out

I have a huge garbage bag filled to the brim with years of journals. I open it here and there and it brings me sadness. I really am at a point where I want more visual and physical space in my home but I feel what if I can't remember the past when I am older ?

As well as when I did open at random while there was sooooooo much pain there were also good times that I did not remember.

I have been trying to get insight for half a year on this

 

[Brett Chitty]

Are these journals a record of what happened in your past?

There are lots of people who can't remember their past and still have a happy experience today. There are people who have a negative past and do not let it contaminate their experience today. There are also people who have a positive past, and also do not let it affect their experience today.

The past isn't a factor in any experience you have today, or in the future. Take away time, and you have all the wisdom of the ages you need in the present moment. It's as if everything is condensed into one moment, the present moment.

 

[willow]

Are these journals a record of what happened in your past?

There are lots of people who can't remember their past and still have a happy experience today. There are people who have a negative past and do not let it contaminate their experience today. There are also people who have a positive past, and also do not let it affect their experience today.

The past isn't a factor in any experience you have today, or in the future. Take away time, and you have all the wisdom of the ages you need in the present moment. It's as if everything is condensed into one moment, the present moment.

kinda a record still not clear on the time thing you talk about

 

[Sebastian]

Hi,

I think I might be in a somewhat similar situation.

I've got a few journals here and I am not all too sure what to do with them. At the moment, I don't have a need to throw them away, as they don't take too much space. But I keep them, also, because I do wonder to myself, 'What if I want to flip through one or five of them sometime in the future?'

I have this notion, that I'll feel most-alright in the 'act of throwing away' a journal or another once I've re-read it – as if there were still something that needs to be done, before there can be some sense of completion – something like that, I think.

Also, I'm not sure the content is really important, a lot of it is just... well, I can see how a lot of what I was trying to do in the past wasn't very helpful for myself.
The last time I was flipping through one journal, though, I did find something I had completely forgotten about, and it was interesting to be reminded of that.

It's probably interesting to look into the direction of what it is, that makes you want to keep your journals or not keep them.

Of course, if the visual and physical space and the contents of the journals are really important, you could digitally save them all (that's a sort of joke , though)

Oh and the last thing, it should be fine to keep a record of things, right? But, if you're holding on to something, whether pain or pleasure in times past, then why that might be might be something to ponder upon.

edit: but after reviewing Video 5, maybe it'd be more interesting to look into the direction of the Three Principles.

 

[Brett Chitty]

but after reviewing Video 5, maybe it'd be more interesting to look into the direction of the Three Principles.

Big point!

 

[Henk Kok]

Hi Willow,
Should I do it, or not? That's the question isn't it?
There's some value in seeing the principle that will make this far far easier to answer.

For what its worth, I documented my entire journey of learning to draw, with numbered volumes of books, perfectly chronological. These books mean immensely much to me. Every drawing is almost a memory and it clearly documents my own growth in understanding of human anatomy, perspective, vorm, shape, depth, etc etc. These books take a lot of space and I rarely look at them. So when I moved, I had documented their contents in some photographs and then threw all of them away.


Now comes the interesting part:
I might regret that! Or I might not.
Will I be ok with regret? Absolutely.
Will I be ok with some other experience? Absolutely.
Would I do it again, perhaps not, or parhaps I will.

So I'm free to make the decision, and have whatever experience I'll have.
Because even the deepest darkest regret is an experience we can have and be ok.

 

[willow]

kinda a record still not clear on the time thing you talk about

Brett what do you mean take away time

 

[willow]

Hi Willow,
Should I do it, or not? That's the question isn't it?
There's some value in seeing the principle that will make this far far easier to answer.

For what its worth, I documented my entire journey of learning to draw, with numbered volumes of books, perfectly chronological. These books mean immensely much to me. Every drawing is almost a memory and it clearly documents my own growth in understanding of human anatomy, perspective, vorm, shape, depth, etc etc. These books take a lot of space and I rarely look at them. So when I moved, I had documented their contents in some photographs and then threw all of them away.


Now comes the interesting part:
I might regret that! Or I might not.
Will I be ok with regret? Absolutely.
Will I be ok with some other experience? Absolutely.
Would I do it again, perhaps not, or parhaps I will.

So I'm free to make the decision, and have whatever experience I'll have.
Because even the deepest darkest regret is an experience we can have and be ok.

just as an aside I would love to see your art!
I totally resonate with what you wrote:
"I might regret that! Or I might not.
Will I be ok with regret? Absolutely.
Will I be ok with some other experience? Absolutely.
Would I do it again, perhaps not, or parhaps I will.

So I'm free to make the decision, and have whatever experience I'll have.
Because even the deepest darkest regret is an experience we can have and be ok."

And yet :).... I just don't want to make a mistake once I throw them out there is no getting them or the memories back. And the what if ..... keeps coming up. What if I am old and want to remember or write a memoir or or or

 

[willow]

Hi,

I think I might be in a somewhat similar situation.

I've got a few journals here and I am not all too sure what to do with them. At the moment, I don't have a need to throw them away, as they don't take too much space. But I keep them, also, because I do wonder to myself, 'What if I want to flip through one or five of them sometime in the future?'

I have this notion, that I'll feel most-alright in the 'act of throwing away' a journal or another once I've re-read it – as if there were still something that needs to be done, before there can be some sense of completion – something like that, I think.

Also, I'm not sure the content is really important, a lot of it is just... well, I can see how a lot of what I was trying to do in the past wasn't very helpful for myself.
The last time I was flipping through one journal, though, I did find something I had completely forgotten about, and it was interesting to be reminded of that.

It's probably interesting to look into the direction of what it is, that makes you want to keep your journals or not keep them.

Of course, if the visual and physical space and the contents of the journals are really important, you could digitally save them all (that's a sort of joke , though)

Oh and the last thing, it should be fine to keep a record of things, right? But, if you're holding on to something, whether pain or pleasure in times past, then why that might be might be something to ponder upon.

edit: but after reviewing Video 5, maybe it'd be more interesting to look into the direction of the Three Principles.

To keep to have the memories to reflect to maybe write a memoir of my journey.
To throw out: I am not who I was then.... there way a lot of pain....You need to thorw out the old to make space for somthing new both in form and formless
I feel I am ready to throw out a lot f old habits and maybe this is one of them Have not journaled properly ( I used to journal every single day for yrs and yrs) since the 3 p's now I have gratitude journals
I will rewatch video 5

 

[Sebastian]

Hi Willow,
Should I do it, or not? That's the question isn't it?
There's some value in seeing the principle that will make this far far easier to answer.

For what its worth, I documented my entire journey of learning to draw, with numbered volumes of books, perfectly chronological. These books mean immensely much to me. Every drawing is almost a memory and it clearly documents my own growth in understanding of human anatomy, perspective, vorm, shape, depth, etc etc. These books take a lot of space and I rarely look at them. So when I moved, I had documented their contents in some photographs and then threw all of them away.


Now comes the interesting part:
I might regret that! Or I might not.
Will I be ok with regret? Absolutely.
Will I be ok with some other experience? Absolutely.
Would I do it again, perhaps not, or parhaps I will.

So I'm free to make the decision, and have whatever experience I'll have.
Because even the deepest darkest regret is an experience we can have and be ok.

Yeah, I think this is it!

 

[Brett Chitty]

Brett what do you mean take away time

You are having time-based thinking as if what happens in the future or the past has an effect on what is happening in this moment, right now. But it probably looks like to you, that your future-based thinking will have an effect on how you will feel in the future.
Take away "psychological time," all there is left is this moment. So your thinking AND feeling about the future are happening at this moment, right now, and not at any other moment.
Willow, have you read Keith and Valda's implication, "The Future is an Incomplete Equation?" That can be very insightful for those who think about the future. I can ask Keith if he would allow me to share it here.

 

[willow]

You are having time-based thinking as if what happens in the future or the past has an effect on what is happening in this moment, right now. But it probably looks like to you, that your future-based thinking will have an effect on how you will feel in the future.
Take away "psychological time," all there is left is this moment. So your thinking AND feeling about the future are happening at this moment, right now, and not at any other moment.
Willow, have you read Keith and Valda's implication, "The Future is an Incomplete Equation?" That can be very insightful for those who think about the future. I can ask Keith if he would allow me to share it here.

I have not seen it thank you

 

[Brett Chitty]

I received permission from Keith to share the implication, "The Future is an Incomplete Equation" here.

The Future is an Incomplete Equation.

Inside-Out:
In thinking about the future, we know we do not have a complete equation. We know we do not know what thinking will come to us in the moment. We spend less time imagining future scenarios.
This is not saying, “Don’t think about the future.” It is saying that when we do think about the future, we know thinking in the moment will always be missing.
This being reality, we are surprisingly unburdened.

Outside-In:
We think we have a complete equation when we think about the future. We imagine scenarios, create expectations and spend time thinking about them as if they were true. This detaches us from reality.
We also try to talk others into believing them too.
We get disappointed, afraid and upset when our imagined scenarios do not come true.

 

[willow]

I received permission from Keith to share the implication, "The Future is an Incomplete Equation" here.

thank you