I threw all my journals out 10 years ago. I deeply regret it. Journals from high school college elementary school. And now I collect journals but fail to write in them. There is shame attached which goes back to my mother finding my journal hidden in my bed and reading it and Shaming me. Then a boyfriend of mine in college while I was gone in class took it upon himself to find my journal and read it ( which revealed nothing he thought would reveal) and later his guilt got to him and he confessed to me he read my journal. So, I know I should either a.) Go to therapy to dig deep into this so I can deeply write again or b.) Just do it. Just journal. I have beautiful journals. Beautiful Pens. I yearn to join the groups here. But the internal shame if stickiness stops me. Just writing this is cathartic. And now you know my deep shame. But perhaps the shame no longer belongs to me but to the people who stole my privacy and used it against my younger more open more tender writing self. Thank you Suleika. And I love your bright pink pretty skirt you are wearing!
It always breaks my heart a little when I hear stories like this—but 100% it’s their shame for violating your privacy. Wishing you a sense of peace and a very tight lockbox!! ❤️❤️
Thank you Suleika! You know, just writing this and having it acknowledged as not my shame is truly wonderful and cathartic. And to know you have heard others have gone through this is sort of like “ The Secret Society of Shame Sisters Lockbox Group”. Thank you for your empathy🤗💜💫
I knew my mom was reading my diary so I started writing in code. When I was 15 and had gotten raped, I just put a big dot as the entry of that day. When I see it today, I feel so sad for me.
Hi Jennifer! I've never commented on one of the threads before, but your story really connected with me. I didn't have friends as a young kid, so journaling was a solace for my pent of emotions, and experiences I wanted to remember. I thought I lost the journal, until my grandmother and brother told me they found it and looked at it. I remember the betrayal and shame I felt. I took up journaling as part of a college class 2 years later. I wrote poetry, printed images, and painted in that journal for about 5-6 months consistently. While I do other creative activities, there is something about writing that I really miss. Your post makes me realize how important writing still is to me. I also have lots of lovely journals and sketchbooks- I'm a Journal Dragon truly with the hoard I have! Thank you for sharing!
Hi Eryk, I guess it is true when we allow ourselves to be honest then open about shared experiences that have caused shame and pain ( in your case actual betrayal by stealing your journal! Then reading it! Good Grief😔 I am sorry). However, I am glad that by sharing my own little story of Journal Betrayal then Journal Hoarding with ZERO actual real Journaling may help not only myself but others. Something good can happen from it...and this is the good of being here with you and everyone here on Suleika's Journey too. Thank YOU for sharing your story! ❤️🩹💫
I think what you just wrote counts as a journal entry! If you don’t have Suleika’s Book of Alchemy go buy it. You’ll love how she writes about journaling and the prompts are wonderful starting points. Good luck!!
I’ve journaled on an off throughout my life. Some are filled with words, and other times art. I used to hide my journals because I feared discovery and ridicule. I few years ago I burned incriminating pages and now wish I had them back. They were part of my story even though they were about failures and fears. But now, I no longer care if anyone is offended by what I write. I even begin each new journal with a disclaimer. “Beware-read this at your own risk. . .” My daily journal practice saved my sanity while I was going through a stem cell transplant. I look back at those words and rejoice in how far I’ve come. I’m now using those entries to write a memoir about my experience. Your books and essays inspired me to start sharing my story on Substack. Thanks for the constant reminders to create!
No More tossing of our journals! No more Shame. No more burning of pages! No more Dots! We are all brave to be writing....I am gathering strength again to journal reading everyone's experiences....🙏🏻💗
This piece perfectly connects with your conversation with Dax &Monica on Armchair Expert! Just listened this morning & am sharing it with my friends. As well as your Book of Alchemy. You’re such a bright spot in our days, Suleika! Thank you! 🩷
I also listened to the podcast this morning and then saw this post, which I saw as a perfect follow-up. The interview was a calm, thought-provoking, and interesting start to my day.
When The Book of Alchemy came out, I bought a copy of course because I love journaling and love Suleika's spirit. My best friend of 40 years had lost her voice and was unable to speak for months and we live in seperate countries, so I sent her a copy of the book too. Each day we read an entry, write a response, and send it to each other by taking a photo so we can see each other's handwriting. This practice has deepened an already beautiful friendship in ways we never imagined. Thank you.
Thank you for your candid thoughts Suleika. So encouraging and thoughtful. I have an ongoing journal which fills most of the bill. However, looking at the picture of drawings made me curious to try again writing/drawing on paper. Thanks again for your lovely words and suggestions. Laurie from Seattle
Here's a practical question: I have the worst handwriting EVER so I've avoided putting pen to paper and have relied on my laptop. I'm aware that this probably removes the directness of the mind/heart/pen connection. I did buy an actual Isolation Journal and the Book of Alchemy which I love. Should I just let go of this handwriting thing? Sometimes I wonder if it's some kind of avoidance. Any thoughts on this?
What comes to mind is something Liz Gilbert told me once, which is that her terrible handwriting is a superpower when it comes to journaling—because it’s so bad no one else can read it! Maybe reframing it as a privacy measure might help! 🙃
The only thing about the laptop is the pull to edit which kind of defeats the purpose of unfiltered writing. So, I'm going to give my illegible handwriting another shot with my fresh Isolation Journal and see what happens! I actually can read it, so that's all that matters. :-)
I agree writing by hand is a superpower and so freeing. (Embrace it while you can. I know older folks whose body prevents handwriting). My writing is often inelligible to other people and often myself. Sometimes I'll go back to print above a ? word if I want to return to a line later or I'll reprint a whole section. But mostly I write in a mix of cursive and print and gibberish and who gives a f @ grammar. These days I write all over the pages in multiple directions flipping out of order to a blank page or backwards or in swirling patterns. I keep multiple notebooks & journals in multiple sizes scattered around my house though usually write most in bed with coffee in the morning. I also use markers and colored pencils along with various pens. Writing and drawing on paper can be so fun if you can free yourself from all the b.s. about the right way to do it. Imagine a world where everyone can make Journaling their own. 💓💓💓
I am the same and typing was my salvation---I have been in quite a few journaling seminars and started and quit. However, that was different because we had content so I memorized things and made mental pictures. I have written journalistic columns for newspapers, and many newsletters. I don't know what to say about the handwriting since I cannot read mine. I just read Suleika's response...I will see, if I can get myself going...and find the empty journals that people gave me and I most often gave wider. Oh just read further about keeping on.. with what is comfortable.
my handwriting varies so much in my journals-often unreadable, never too beautiful. I feel however it flows, this line from my head to the page, is a reflection of the energy and emotions at that moment-go for it!
I love the idea of assigning someone to be the curator of your journals' afterlife. Years ago, a friend I met in a 12 step program and I agreed to give each other permission and authority to destroy each others' journals if something happened to us. But that has been years ago and we have lost touch. I have probably 25 years of journals, and am likely in the final third of my life at age 58, so I think it's time to consider again how to handle the topic of what to do with them after I am gone. Thank you for bringing this question to the surface for me.
Oooh! I am so excited. You know when you read something and you just know it's going to have a transformative effect on your life? I can already feel that happening with the beginning of this series.
I have loved journaling forever. For me, journaling was a mix of words and tickets (movies/concerts/plays, etc.) and poems and lyrics and notes from conferences and ideas for creative writing--full of words. Some journals I have finished and some are unfinished.
I know I will love the way this series will help me reflect on my own process and listen to others too. I cannot wait to hear from more journalers, and I am eternally grateful for the spaces you provide.
Thank you for sharing this, I struggle with pen to paper being neuro divergent my brain works faster then my hands often. I wonder if there is a way to go back to pend and paper and not lose the flow that I have developed by typing. I hear the pitfalls of distraction and I need to work on minimizing them. Your book is beautiful and definitely has gotten me back into a daily writing practice.
I'm reading your new book right now, and even though I don't write in a journal, and may never write in a journal (though I do jot down ideas for drawings all the time, so maybe that is journaling?), I have found ALL the entries in the book to be so good, inspiring, moving, and meaningful and touching in different ways. I think I would read anything you wrote/compiled!
I would say yes! Definitely drawing = journaling. But also I hear from a lot of people that they use the prompts as food for thought or even as conversation starters!!
Victoria, I appreciate you sharing this. I have gifted the book to many people, two of whom are not people who have a journal in the past. I still felt the words were powerful to ignite art, thinking, and conversations. I love how you are using it.
Thank you, again, Suleika - for the inspiration and knowledge (peregrinations?!) you share with us weekly! I’m a stranger but I think of you often and send healing energy to you whenever I do. ❤️
I threw out all my writings, journals, letters at one of the lowest points of my life. These past 10 months, I find that I have stopped regreting that decision. It was about the process, not the product. The product, is me. Finding "me" again. And in that "finding," I will finally have the courage to read Book of Alchemy. I wasn't feeling any transformation, any hope prior to moving 10 months ago and still grieving the death of both of my parents. I had been in a 20 year relationship that should have ended 10 years earlier, as the last 10 beat my inner self to a pulp. I am juicy again. I first began expressing it here with the creation of three new gardens. One of them, is a fairy's dream, and the other two thrill me and cause me to push myself into a "What do these gardens need, for they are lacking a certain enchantment?" I bought a new journal. I realized that much like my soul, it will be filled with "things." Pictures torn from magazines, sayings, thoughts, pressed flowers and anything else that catches my fancy. Thank you, Sweet Suleika, for helping me back to myself.
I had been feeling the weight of my old journal entries for some time. When I did go back and read I found myself being self-critical of things I wrote. I dreamed of having some beautiful ritual where I would burn them in a bonfire on the beach and release the "past" instead, at a low moment I sat on the floor in front of my shredder and filled 3 trash bags full of decades of my scribbles. I actually felt lighter but have also grieved their loss from time to time. I like how you have come to see throwing yours out as part of the process. I am now thinking of it as metamorphis, sheddding of old skin....
Years ago I destroyed some journals because I was worried that someone would read them after I’m gone. It was so helpful to write about my struggles, shortcomings, wishes, and everything else - but also I was terrified of someone I loved reading them and not loving me anymore because of it. I’m trying to develop a regular journaling practice now and sometimes still feel that fear about someone reading them when I’m gone, which causes me occasionally to censor myself. Thank you for curating a safe place for all of us to share and for encouraging us to keep on journaling.
I started journaling and writing poetry and musings when I was around 11 or 12. My grandmother at the time shared with me how she had been journaling for years. As an adult -probably from late 20s to the present-I am 66, I have been journaling consistently. I love to keep a gratitude journal as well as a regular journal. However, over the last few years I do it all in one journal. My ideal time for journaling is early morning as I sip my lemon water after having done my meditation and prayers. I most inspired when I take my journal to the beach. It’s often there that I get creative and poetry just comes from my heart. I used to keep a travel journal but now I just take my regular journal with me. It’s a lot easier. There have been periods in my life that I have purged old journals. I think I’ve done that two or three times thus far. I’m not really want to go back and re-read journals. Having said that, I suffered a bad injury in 2012 which called for a couple of surgeries and a couple of years of physical therapy. After the first year, I did start looking back so I could compare where I was mentally. physically, emotionally and spiritually the year prior and how far I had come. It was very helpful!
I also started blogging in 2017 for about five years and, in retrospect, that was really a big part of my healing and way of leaving a little legacy behind for my friends, family, nieces and their future children.
Looking g forward to the summer series and delving into the inquiry you always offer. I love inner investigation. It’s what has kept me growing and young at heart.
I love the idea of a dream journal – sounds absolutely lovely. My hope is that with the dream journal there will be some form of accommodations for those of us with disability. I had a stroke 8.5 years ago which left me very disabled but still very motivated to write . now, since I don’t have the use of my hands, I voice text and feel like it has saved me. Without the ability to voice text, I would not be able to express myself, and therefore feel like I could implode. Voice texting has become my new way of journaling.
I do love telling the truth in my journaling but I find myself anxious about someone reading it and getting upset with me. I suppose now I need to look at this and write about what that means for me and why. Thank you as always for being so brave in showing us how to do this. I have followed your writing since your columns in the NYTimes and have always applauded your honesty. I am going Very slowly through the Alchemy book and getting friends to start it
I threw all my journals out 10 years ago. I deeply regret it. Journals from high school college elementary school. And now I collect journals but fail to write in them. There is shame attached which goes back to my mother finding my journal hidden in my bed and reading it and Shaming me. Then a boyfriend of mine in college while I was gone in class took it upon himself to find my journal and read it ( which revealed nothing he thought would reveal) and later his guilt got to him and he confessed to me he read my journal. So, I know I should either a.) Go to therapy to dig deep into this so I can deeply write again or b.) Just do it. Just journal. I have beautiful journals. Beautiful Pens. I yearn to join the groups here. But the internal shame if stickiness stops me. Just writing this is cathartic. And now you know my deep shame. But perhaps the shame no longer belongs to me but to the people who stole my privacy and used it against my younger more open more tender writing self. Thank you Suleika. And I love your bright pink pretty skirt you are wearing!
💗 jennifer
It always breaks my heart a little when I hear stories like this—but 100% it’s their shame for violating your privacy. Wishing you a sense of peace and a very tight lockbox!! ❤️❤️
Thank you Suleika! You know, just writing this and having it acknowledged as not my shame is truly wonderful and cathartic. And to know you have heard others have gone through this is sort of like “ The Secret Society of Shame Sisters Lockbox Group”. Thank you for your empathy🤗💜💫
I knew my mom was reading my diary so I started writing in code. When I was 15 and had gotten raped, I just put a big dot as the entry of that day. When I see it today, I feel so sad for me.
Pamela...my heart goes out to you....that Dot. Heartbreaking. I am sending you love.❤️🩹❤️🩹❤️🩹
Hi Jennifer! I've never commented on one of the threads before, but your story really connected with me. I didn't have friends as a young kid, so journaling was a solace for my pent of emotions, and experiences I wanted to remember. I thought I lost the journal, until my grandmother and brother told me they found it and looked at it. I remember the betrayal and shame I felt. I took up journaling as part of a college class 2 years later. I wrote poetry, printed images, and painted in that journal for about 5-6 months consistently. While I do other creative activities, there is something about writing that I really miss. Your post makes me realize how important writing still is to me. I also have lots of lovely journals and sketchbooks- I'm a Journal Dragon truly with the hoard I have! Thank you for sharing!
~Eryk
Hi Eryk, I guess it is true when we allow ourselves to be honest then open about shared experiences that have caused shame and pain ( in your case actual betrayal by stealing your journal! Then reading it! Good Grief😔 I am sorry). However, I am glad that by sharing my own little story of Journal Betrayal then Journal Hoarding with ZERO actual real Journaling may help not only myself but others. Something good can happen from it...and this is the good of being here with you and everyone here on Suleika's Journey too. Thank YOU for sharing your story! ❤️🩹💫
The shame absolutley belongs to anyone violating your privacy. I hope you will dive back in and let your beautiful self unfold on the pages.
😍🤗❤️🩹💫🙏🏻
I think what you just wrote counts as a journal entry! If you don’t have Suleika’s Book of Alchemy go buy it. You’ll love how she writes about journaling and the prompts are wonderful starting points. Good luck!!
💗💗💗🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
I’ve journaled on an off throughout my life. Some are filled with words, and other times art. I used to hide my journals because I feared discovery and ridicule. I few years ago I burned incriminating pages and now wish I had them back. They were part of my story even though they were about failures and fears. But now, I no longer care if anyone is offended by what I write. I even begin each new journal with a disclaimer. “Beware-read this at your own risk. . .” My daily journal practice saved my sanity while I was going through a stem cell transplant. I look back at those words and rejoice in how far I’ve come. I’m now using those entries to write a memoir about my experience. Your books and essays inspired me to start sharing my story on Substack. Thanks for the constant reminders to create!
No More tossing of our journals! No more Shame. No more burning of pages! No more Dots! We are all brave to be writing....I am gathering strength again to journal reading everyone's experiences....🙏🏻💗
This piece perfectly connects with your conversation with Dax &Monica on Armchair Expert! Just listened this morning & am sharing it with my friends. As well as your Book of Alchemy. You’re such a bright spot in our days, Suleika! Thank you! 🩷
It was such a joy to talk to them—I’m so glad it struck a chord! ❤️
I also listened to the podcast this morning and then saw this post, which I saw as a perfect follow-up. The interview was a calm, thought-provoking, and interesting start to my day.
I also enjoyed that interview! Diana ':)
Ooh! I don't normally listen to that podcast but I DEFINITELY will since Suleika is on! Thank you for mentioning!
Oh gosh me too!
The perils of downsizing
I wish I had them now🥲🥹
When The Book of Alchemy came out, I bought a copy of course because I love journaling and love Suleika's spirit. My best friend of 40 years had lost her voice and was unable to speak for months and we live in seperate countries, so I sent her a copy of the book too. Each day we read an entry, write a response, and send it to each other by taking a photo so we can see each other's handwriting. This practice has deepened an already beautiful friendship in ways we never imagined. Thank you.
What a great practice
Thank you for your candid thoughts Suleika. So encouraging and thoughtful. I have an ongoing journal which fills most of the bill. However, looking at the picture of drawings made me curious to try again writing/drawing on paper. Thanks again for your lovely words and suggestions. Laurie from Seattle
Yes to trying something new!!!
Here's a practical question: I have the worst handwriting EVER so I've avoided putting pen to paper and have relied on my laptop. I'm aware that this probably removes the directness of the mind/heart/pen connection. I did buy an actual Isolation Journal and the Book of Alchemy which I love. Should I just let go of this handwriting thing? Sometimes I wonder if it's some kind of avoidance. Any thoughts on this?
What comes to mind is something Liz Gilbert told me once, which is that her terrible handwriting is a superpower when it comes to journaling—because it’s so bad no one else can read it! Maybe reframing it as a privacy measure might help! 🙃
Love that! Thank you.
Also I should say that if the laptop works for you, then stick with it. Your routine doesn’t have to look like mine or anyone else’s for that matter!!
The only thing about the laptop is the pull to edit which kind of defeats the purpose of unfiltered writing. So, I'm going to give my illegible handwriting another shot with my fresh Isolation Journal and see what happens! I actually can read it, so that's all that matters. :-)
Looking forward to this series!
I agree writing by hand is a superpower and so freeing. (Embrace it while you can. I know older folks whose body prevents handwriting). My writing is often inelligible to other people and often myself. Sometimes I'll go back to print above a ? word if I want to return to a line later or I'll reprint a whole section. But mostly I write in a mix of cursive and print and gibberish and who gives a f @ grammar. These days I write all over the pages in multiple directions flipping out of order to a blank page or backwards or in swirling patterns. I keep multiple notebooks & journals in multiple sizes scattered around my house though usually write most in bed with coffee in the morning. I also use markers and colored pencils along with various pens. Writing and drawing on paper can be so fun if you can free yourself from all the b.s. about the right way to do it. Imagine a world where everyone can make Journaling their own. 💓💓💓
I am the same and typing was my salvation---I have been in quite a few journaling seminars and started and quit. However, that was different because we had content so I memorized things and made mental pictures. I have written journalistic columns for newspapers, and many newsletters. I don't know what to say about the handwriting since I cannot read mine. I just read Suleika's response...I will see, if I can get myself going...and find the empty journals that people gave me and I most often gave wider. Oh just read further about keeping on.. with what is comfortable.
I have the same problem!
my handwriting varies so much in my journals-often unreadable, never too beautiful. I feel however it flows, this line from my head to the page, is a reflection of the energy and emotions at that moment-go for it!
I love the idea of assigning someone to be the curator of your journals' afterlife. Years ago, a friend I met in a 12 step program and I agreed to give each other permission and authority to destroy each others' journals if something happened to us. But that has been years ago and we have lost touch. I have probably 25 years of journals, and am likely in the final third of my life at age 58, so I think it's time to consider again how to handle the topic of what to do with them after I am gone. Thank you for bringing this question to the surface for me.
Oooh! I am so excited. You know when you read something and you just know it's going to have a transformative effect on your life? I can already feel that happening with the beginning of this series.
I have loved journaling forever. For me, journaling was a mix of words and tickets (movies/concerts/plays, etc.) and poems and lyrics and notes from conferences and ideas for creative writing--full of words. Some journals I have finished and some are unfinished.
I know I will love the way this series will help me reflect on my own process and listen to others too. I cannot wait to hear from more journalers, and I am eternally grateful for the spaces you provide.
Thank you for sharing this, I struggle with pen to paper being neuro divergent my brain works faster then my hands often. I wonder if there is a way to go back to pend and paper and not lose the flow that I have developed by typing. I hear the pitfalls of distraction and I need to work on minimizing them. Your book is beautiful and definitely has gotten me back into a daily writing practice.
I'm reading your new book right now, and even though I don't write in a journal, and may never write in a journal (though I do jot down ideas for drawings all the time, so maybe that is journaling?), I have found ALL the entries in the book to be so good, inspiring, moving, and meaningful and touching in different ways. I think I would read anything you wrote/compiled!
I would say yes! Definitely drawing = journaling. But also I hear from a lot of people that they use the prompts as food for thought or even as conversation starters!!
Victoria, I appreciate you sharing this. I have gifted the book to many people, two of whom are not people who have a journal in the past. I still felt the words were powerful to ignite art, thinking, and conversations. I love how you are using it.
Thank you, again, Suleika - for the inspiration and knowledge (peregrinations?!) you share with us weekly! I’m a stranger but I think of you often and send healing energy to you whenever I do. ❤️
Kristin from Colorado
So grateful for this, Kristin ❤️ Sending love to you!!
I threw out all my writings, journals, letters at one of the lowest points of my life. These past 10 months, I find that I have stopped regreting that decision. It was about the process, not the product. The product, is me. Finding "me" again. And in that "finding," I will finally have the courage to read Book of Alchemy. I wasn't feeling any transformation, any hope prior to moving 10 months ago and still grieving the death of both of my parents. I had been in a 20 year relationship that should have ended 10 years earlier, as the last 10 beat my inner self to a pulp. I am juicy again. I first began expressing it here with the creation of three new gardens. One of them, is a fairy's dream, and the other two thrill me and cause me to push myself into a "What do these gardens need, for they are lacking a certain enchantment?" I bought a new journal. I realized that much like my soul, it will be filled with "things." Pictures torn from magazines, sayings, thoughts, pressed flowers and anything else that catches my fancy. Thank you, Sweet Suleika, for helping me back to myself.
I had been feeling the weight of my old journal entries for some time. When I did go back and read I found myself being self-critical of things I wrote. I dreamed of having some beautiful ritual where I would burn them in a bonfire on the beach and release the "past" instead, at a low moment I sat on the floor in front of my shredder and filled 3 trash bags full of decades of my scribbles. I actually felt lighter but have also grieved their loss from time to time. I like how you have come to see throwing yours out as part of the process. I am now thinking of it as metamorphis, sheddding of old skin....
❤️🙏🏻❤️
Years ago I destroyed some journals because I was worried that someone would read them after I’m gone. It was so helpful to write about my struggles, shortcomings, wishes, and everything else - but also I was terrified of someone I loved reading them and not loving me anymore because of it. I’m trying to develop a regular journaling practice now and sometimes still feel that fear about someone reading them when I’m gone, which causes me occasionally to censor myself. Thank you for curating a safe place for all of us to share and for encouraging us to keep on journaling.
I started journaling and writing poetry and musings when I was around 11 or 12. My grandmother at the time shared with me how she had been journaling for years. As an adult -probably from late 20s to the present-I am 66, I have been journaling consistently. I love to keep a gratitude journal as well as a regular journal. However, over the last few years I do it all in one journal. My ideal time for journaling is early morning as I sip my lemon water after having done my meditation and prayers. I most inspired when I take my journal to the beach. It’s often there that I get creative and poetry just comes from my heart. I used to keep a travel journal but now I just take my regular journal with me. It’s a lot easier. There have been periods in my life that I have purged old journals. I think I’ve done that two or three times thus far. I’m not really want to go back and re-read journals. Having said that, I suffered a bad injury in 2012 which called for a couple of surgeries and a couple of years of physical therapy. After the first year, I did start looking back so I could compare where I was mentally. physically, emotionally and spiritually the year prior and how far I had come. It was very helpful!
I also started blogging in 2017 for about five years and, in retrospect, that was really a big part of my healing and way of leaving a little legacy behind for my friends, family, nieces and their future children.
Looking g forward to the summer series and delving into the inquiry you always offer. I love inner investigation. It’s what has kept me growing and young at heart.
Love hearing about your routine, JT!!
I love the idea of a dream journal – sounds absolutely lovely. My hope is that with the dream journal there will be some form of accommodations for those of us with disability. I had a stroke 8.5 years ago which left me very disabled but still very motivated to write . now, since I don’t have the use of my hands, I voice text and feel like it has saved me. Without the ability to voice text, I would not be able to express myself, and therefore feel like I could implode. Voice texting has become my new way of journaling.
I do love telling the truth in my journaling but I find myself anxious about someone reading it and getting upset with me. I suppose now I need to look at this and write about what that means for me and why. Thank you as always for being so brave in showing us how to do this. I have followed your writing since your columns in the NYTimes and have always applauded your honesty. I am going Very slowly through the Alchemy book and getting friends to start it
Thank You