Every time I revisit a great work of literature, new meanings pop up to greet me. For me, these are the truest of writings – grounded in ever evolving truth.
I am writing such a tome – and so are you, each and every one of you 🙂
Is your journal a good read?
Invest some time, reflect and let the words of your life speak to you.
See, perceive, relish. A decade later, re read – let your passages surprise you.
Herein a related link > The Book of
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Revisiting stories with fresh eyes or thoughts helps us appreciate what we may have missed. Again, there is always a lesson to be learnt.
Always lessons waiting to be learnt – so very true, my friend.
Hope you are feeling much better now.
Peace and blessings,
Eric
I never really keep journals.. Once in a while I will start one , write a little , read it back and then toss them in the trash again. 🙂 Great poem and interesting thought, Eric. And yes we cannot re-write our life…just add new stories to it.
have a wonderful Friday!
groetjes, Francina
Yes, Francina – the journal does grow heavy with life.
All good wishes to you too,
Eric 🙂
Deep thoughts. I like rereading the journals I wrote when I was very young. Isn’t it interesting how things that we worried about so much don’t look like a big deal later in life? Oh, the time I spent worrying about BOYS! :-p
When we re read, we get different perspectives.
In late 2011, I attended a Class of 71 gathering – the first in several decades. Met some of the girls, I once had the hots for – glad those didn’t work out 🙂 They probably felt the same way about moi 🙂
An interesting way of looking at our life…I like it very much. I think you’re quite right in saying that we can’t rewrite our story…but the rereading is very interesting indeed, and so much to reflect upon and be greatful for. Thanks for sharing this and hope your laptop gets “well” quickly! Peace…Georgia.
Bingo!
Georgia,
We certainly can’t rewrite past chapters – but future pages beckon. Re reading past chapters help us in writing these future pages, I reckon.
My computer problems continue to plague me and my apologies if I don’t visit/comment on your blogs until I first fix this 🙁
Well, it can only get better – hopefully,
Eric
Not to worry Eric about visiting, though I did notice your absense ;-( … yes indeed, if we are good at re reading and picking up on the lessons, we might end up wrting that bestseller after all!
Here’s to things getting better! Georgial
You are so right in this Eric. I cannot say my journal is a ‘good’ read. It is a sometimes painful journey. It is though, my story in very raw terms and worthwhile a revisit now and then for the lessons it still holds.
Dear Val,
I think you caught my meaning when I said ‘journal’ – yes you are so very right. I’ve read snippets of your life in your blog and some of it is quite raw. Also read some lovely and joyful posts such as the recent trip to the Bahamas.
All good blessings,
Eric
I honestly have never kept a journal, but have been thinking about starting one a great deal lately. It sure would be nice to have kept one to look back upon, but I guess I can’t rewrite the past, we can only write the future. Great post as always Eric.
Hello and thank you, Dom.
I believe many of us do not keep a journal, in the true sense. I do have my diaries – several dozen – but these all pertain to business, corporate matters and travels, and not snippets of my personal life. But for me, these provide insightful glimpses of one aspect of my life.
See also my reply to “troysherdahl” – all of us have our journals.
All good wishes,
Eric
Blimey,the comment box wouldn’t let me click on it, then it changed it’s mind. I live in hope I shall be released from worrying about being made invisible by Akismet, BUT saying that, my poems are a sort of journal I’ve always been able to post. Thoughts and ideas which come to mind. Enjoyed reading your words Eric, for we’re always learning from our past, trying not to make the same mistakes, and ‘becoming’ better human beings as time passes, our journal/journey continues, day by day . Hope you’ve had a good day. PennyG xx
Hello PennyG,
I’m still having some problems posting comments in some blogs, but it is improving. Hopefully, WP is getting their heads around this problem that is also discussed in their forum pages.
Yes, all writings are part of our journal – and our blog posts too. See also my reply to “troysherdahl” here.
Very true – we are always learning. I believe when we cease to learn and progress – we cease meaningful life.
My dau could have been better but thank you for the thought 🙂
Eric
P/s Still swamped with serious computer glitches.
I’m trying to post a comment now, Eric and getting ‘this comment cannot be posted’ error? Sigh!! I won ‘t give up but it certainly makes you feel flipping frustrated sometimes. 😉
Oh dear – I wonder if you contact WP Support they might be able to help. I know the frustration 🙁
was just a glitch Eric, posting is ok now. Phew!! 🙂
That is so true…:-) I can relate for I keep going back and reading some old pages of my journal every now and then. Sometimes it brings in tears, sometimes wonder, sometimes joy, sometimes feel embarrassed for having written such a piece. But I feel every word is worth it. 🙂
Very true, Rekha,
Whether good, bad, joy or sorrow is evoked – every word is worth it.
Peace 🙂
Eric
Yes, it’s quite interesting to go back and read the past. To marvel at our insights or, perhaps, cringe at our experiences and expressions. Hopefully, if we were honest, the authenticity of our writings give us the clarity that we wrote our lives with some knowledge that it was a life we were creating. The bad and the sad put down in a cathartic tumble. The good and joyous as a sweet stream. Our evolution, and our crafts evolution, in the layers that Jane talks about.
Great food for thought, Eric! I think I might go back and have a look again…
You are so very right and as you probably guessed, there is more:
My post alludes to ‘journal’ in a very broad sense and inlcudes all the keepsakes of one’s life – pictures, letters, cards, trinkets, gifts and of course diaries and so forth. It also includes anything that triggers memories – places, people, occasions, etc. And all these in the literal sense of that broad interpretation.
There are also the figurative/metaphorical/allegorical takes —
Peace,
Eric
We create our own lives with our thoughts, words and actions…layer upon layer. Wisdom comes with hindsight and humour is a vital ingredient….much love to you my lovely buddy, spot on with this post, as usual. 🙂 Xx
That’s a good one, Jane buddy – a great need to temper our hindsight with humour.
Luv and hugz to a dear friend,
Eric 🙂
I’ve always been afraid to keep a journal. I’ve worried that it could hurt the feelings of some if it were read. Is that silly?
I suppose we need to decide on the readership before embarking on writing a journal. Perhaps that explains why, many write and hide – to be discovered after their time. A childish perchant for having the last word?
More than any hand written journal – the Journal of Life writes as we live. We may be the main characters – but certainly do not enjoye authorial control.
Peace,
Eric
Hope you’re back on line soon, Eric.
I’ve enjoyed reading the comments inspired by your thoughts. As long as we remember we are part of a continuum, the product of our history, and that what we create does not come soley from our individual genius but is a joint effort of thousands of forebears, we should be okay. A bit of humility and recognition of our debt does none of us any harm.
I do have access, Jane, but it is painfully slow for now.
That is very true – it is collective as in nature and nurture, and more – certainly not individual genius.
Humility is always in short supply, I reckon.
Peace,
Eric
Too bad, we can’t erase the embarrassing moments and just save the proud ones. At least we can review and try not to repeat hopefully. Occasionally we surprise ourselves that we had done quite a good job back then, could be a piece of writing, artwork or any long hidden interest. Yap…that’s life.
Once written, it moves on. Not all thy tears, not all thy piety will entice it back to erase one typo – Yup, that’s life.
Luv and hugz,
Eric
We have these moments of life to relish before we turn to dust….the meanings we draw from the moments lived grow deeper as we consider the reality of our mortality. And I love your slogan … “written words never die” — when we write our life experiences in ink, whether physical or electronically through cyberspace, we immortalize our thoughts and descriptions of our life journey, and the meanings we glean from our life and the world around us, these few decades that we have…
Thank you, Eric, for bringing home this truth.
Peace and blessings,
Dee
Hello Dee,
Yes, my blog’s slugline took some thinking before I settled on it and thank you for mentioning it.
Your observations are spot-on. Thanks to the internet, the realms of autobiographical writing – even if only in bits and pieces – is open to all. We can all leave behind imprints in cyberspace.
All good blessings coming your way, my dear,
Eric 🙂
Hello everyone – my laptop is playing up and I have to bring it to the service centre. Great, considering I’ve a Talk scheduled for tomorrow. Oh well —
Please bear with me if I’m not on line for much of the next few days – but I do have limited access via a second older machine that takes forever – yawn – to upload.
Be good 🙂
Hope you get it up and running quickly. I’ve just had to junk one of my desktops after wasting much time trying to resurrect it. They build them sophisticated but to self destruct every two years these days. LOL. Fortunately our computers and IPads are linked so if one goes under we can still get online with another.
Hello Ian,
Returned from the service centre. It will be about 10 working days 🙁 before I get my laptop back. I’m now trying to download and back up all my files before turning it in for the repairs. Fortunately, it is menchanical and not some virus.
You’re right – they build it to last for 2/3 years – my laptop is on life support 🙂
Oh, well. We’ll see if we can life-extend it.
Cheers,
Eric
I think the stories of courage and hardship that your family through several generations has overcome are truly inspiring. The best part is we are hopefully passing the baton to our next generation.
I’m with you, Bill,
Family history that all of us inherit gives much to rejoice, reflect and treasure.
Peace,
Eric
Good counsel and absolutely true – a good way to live (and write) although we have so little time that we must avoid too much retrospection to allow time to focus on progression.
Jane
Too much of anything might not be good, I agree. Problem arises when people are so caught up in the daily race of life and they miss all retrospection.
Peace,
Eric
Each time you learn new lessons, the humor becomes clearer to you and you keep learning things that you have overlooked in the first read. so true..
Yes, Padmini – I think you caught the gist of this post.
Peace,
Eric
Can the same be said of music or a song too..
Yes, most certainly, I would think – its all one’s creation and part of heritage/legacy.
That is a fantastic thought, Eric. Vaccums are not vaccums after all. 🙂
Someone once said that even a vacuum must have something in it to make it a vacuum – a tad deep perhaps, but worth a discussion or two 🙂
Of course. 🙂
Totally agree with the statement Eric.
Thank you, Ian – I knew we would be on the same wave length. All good wishes, Eric