bone-deep honesty

natalie posted about this article in the curator on friday, and i thought it was too good to not repost.

do any of you journal? i remember getting my first diary as a birthday present when i was seven. it was one of the first presents i received that made me feel very grown up. it was a precious moments (remember those?) diary with a cartoon little girl on the cover. i cherished that little book. i remember feeling so important, like i must have significant things to say if someone had thought to give me an actual book in which to write them down. looking back on what i wrote is pretty comical, but i'm thankful for it nonetheless. it instilled in me a great love of writing and a practice of processing my thoughts externally - something i've learned that i need in order to understand what i am actually doing in my life and what i think of what i am doing. that may sound pretty egocentric, but i think the practice of understanding and evaluating my life actually allows for me to be more focused on others.

i love lindsay's quest to write in her journal fearlessly, to allow herself to be the imperfect version of herself on paper and to enjoy the freedom of writing. in her article, lindsay quotes luci shaw, and i think her remark is right on.

"Though we are often moving too fast to notice it, there is in each of us a profound need to be still, to be alone, to reflect, to meditate, to contemplate, to wait, to reach a kind of bone-deep honesty with our own souls.”

bone-deep honesty. i'm letting that one sit with me a while.