Keeping Journal Private?

[cavytron]

Greetings all; new to the group after discovering Dr. Sarno a few weeks ago. I have been doing some life inventory in a journal, but realized that I am writing things I wouldn't want my family to see. I have been tempted to self-censor, but that would be counter-productive. I am trying a kind of quasi code which includes some abbreviations and foreign words from the couple of foreign languages I know. Does not writing in plain English remove from the effectiveness? Does anyone have any better ideas? Thanks to everyone here - I can see that this is a helpful group.

 

[JanAtheCPA]

I have been tempted to self-censor, but that would be counter-productive

That's the key to getting the most out of this work!

I never kept anything I wrote during the SEP, yet I consider that journaling (totally honestly, as you have already figured out) was a vital part of my recovery process. I still journal today whenever I'm having a serious setback, and I still immediately throw it all away.

You might want to keep your lists while you're still doing the SEP, and those could certainly be cryptic enough that only you will know what the items are. Or, once you write down a fast free-thinking list, it would be easy to transcribe into code so you can shred the original.

An alternative would be to use the computer and password protect the file.

Good luck!

~Jan