OF YOURSELF TO YOURSELF

The mature Emerson would look back on his voluminous journals as his savings bank. The phrase from the world of money seems feeble; it lacks the disastrous felicity—as Kenneth Burke called it—of say, William James's insistence on the "cash value of an idea," but Emerson's journals served a more vital purpose when he was just starting out. "Keep a journal . . . for the habit of rendering account of yourself to yourself and at more certain intervals than mere conversation."

— Robert D. Richardson, First We Read, Then We Write: Emerson on the Creative Process

I don't think of this blog as a journal at all. Really. I scarcely tell anything here. I keep my rambling and whining (believe me) to a minimum. I do hope that, like my journals, I will look back and see evidence of patterns, growth, insight, and a bit of a history of what I was up to.

I do feel I have hit a level of something ... accomplishment? here ... what with the consistency of daily writing and the newfound ability to empty the dishwasher and keep the counters neater. And I do want to grow, writing-wise, yoga-wise (hahahaha)  in some way, some direction.

This is where I often get lost. Sometimes it is first steps. More often it is next steps. I am not even sure how to suss out what the next step(s) is/are. In this case, I see my immediate options for this writing space to

• return to more study and philosophy
• write more about my past/history
• write more about my current real life
• do creative writing assignments and post them here

In the meantime, I am going to muse on Emerson's suggestion to render an account of myself to myself ... somewhere if not here.