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Author Topic: Recording experiences  (Read 1992 times)

Liadine (dragonflyeyes)

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Recording experiences
« on: August 12, 2012, 03:28:54 am »
One of my person downfalls is having no real system of organizing my pathworking thoughts and experiences. For various reasons I haven't kept an online journal in years, and offline I have various experiences/thoughts/etc scattered all over the map - some in one journal, bits and pieces in another, some point-form words in my teeny altar notebook, and so on. I have most important moments recorded somewhere, but not always in enough detail and rarely in a way that makes it easy to connect the dots or compare one to another.

I wasn't sure where to put this topic, but I feel like it's particularly important to keep some kind of thought-record when examining the kind of experiences that are being talked about here.

So: do you keep a journal (or several) dedicated to your work? Do you have another way of keeping track of things? Is it important to record things quickly, or is it better to give yourself some time to reflect? Given that we're discussing mysteries, is it even possible to articulate some experiences?
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Waldhexe

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #1 on: August 12, 2012, 05:41:03 am »
Quote from: Liadine (dragonflyeyes);68462
So: do you keep a journal (or several) dedicated to your work? Do you have another way of keeping track of things? Is it important to record things quickly, or is it better to give yourself some time to reflect? Given that we're discussing mysteries, is it even possible to articulate some experiences?

I keep several journals and I sometimes loose the overview. Experiences in meditations, spirit journeys, dreams or similar I mostly post online, because I can write faster on the computer. I have a private blog no one can read except myself and two public pagan ones (one in English, one in German) with a couple of readers. The most difficult decision is always where to put it, in one of the public blogs or the private one.

I really like the tag system, because it sometimes helps me to track things which resurface more than once. I also like to post Tarot/oracle readings for that reason. I've never had bad remarks on my blog yet, but I only have few readers of which I know most.

Another way to keep track is a kind of 'image journal' I keep. I have a DIN4 sized book in which I draw symbols and images that strike me as important and I have it propped open on a specific page on my house altar. That way I can meditate further on the images.

I also have a couple of oracle/tarot cards from the latest readings there for the same reason.

Juni

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #2 on: August 12, 2012, 11:04:41 am »
Quote from: Liadine (dragonflyeyes);68462
I have most important moments recorded somewhere, but not always in enough detail and rarely in a way that makes it easy to connect the dots or compare one to another.

So: do you keep a journal (or several) dedicated to your work? Do you have another way of keeping track of things? Is it important to record things quickly, or is it better to give yourself some time to reflect? Given that we're discussing mysteries, is it even possible to articulate some experiences?

 
I recently started a blog specifically for path-working and potential mystery stuff, actually. I find that blogging is more useful to me than hand-writing things because I can make use of the tag system, and as long as I tag appropriately, I'm able to connect the dots a little easier. It's not fool-proof, but it's useful.

I do usually mull things over for a few days, but not always. If I'm not posting right away, I make sure to jot down some handwritten notes to help me remember everything.
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Nachtigall

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #3 on: August 12, 2012, 11:56:36 am »
Quote from: Liadine (dragonflyeyes);68462
One of my person downfalls is having no real system of organizing my pathworking thoughts and experiences. For various reasons I haven't kept an online journal in years, and offline I have various experiences/thoughts/etc scattered all over the map - some in one journal, bits and pieces in another, some point-form words in my teeny altar notebook, and so on. I have most important moments recorded somewhere, but not always in enough detail and rarely in a way that makes it easy to connect the dots or compare one to another.

I wasn't sure where to put this topic, but I feel like it's particularly important to keep some kind of thought-record when examining the kind of experiences that are being talked about here.

So: do you keep a journal (or several) dedicated to your work? Do you have another way of keeping track of things? Is it important to record things quickly, or is it better to give yourself some time to reflect? Given that we're discussing mysteries, is it even possible to articulate some experiences?

 
I keep a private blog for this type of things. No particular system to recording - I just write down whatever I have in my head, without worrying much about coherency, whenever I feel that it is important to record something.

I do try to keep a habit of recording my impressions of important rituals right after them, as well as recording my dreams and some of the Tarot readings.

Annie Roonie

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #4 on: August 14, 2012, 04:26:57 am »
Quote from: Liadine (dragonflyeyes);68462

So: do you keep a journal (or several) dedicated to your work? Do you have another way of keeping track of things? Is it important to record things quickly, or is it better to give yourself some time to reflect? Given that we're discussing mysteries, is it even possible to articulate some experiences?


I have a voice recorder that I've been using lately for dreams. It's been easier to remember them and store them until I have time to transcribe to my online dream journal.

I've been debating for some time if I should do any interpretation of my own in the journal. I kind of want it free from my immediate analysis though. Later when I read them, I can see what if anything corresponds to other work without being influenced by my own potential over thinking. That's happened and I was glad not to have tried to analyze the dreams earlier. Also, if someone else has a different take, leaving mine out and letting the dream stand as recorded leaves it more open.

I have been keeping a private journal about other work lately too. I never have done that before, but it seemed a good idea recently. I have had a BoS for witchcraft, but nothing for the different kinds of work like on dreamscapes etc.. In the short time I have been recording that work, I have seen some correlations with actual dreams. I make notes about those in the private journal.

So far there are some things that I cannot articulate well, so I fall into ham handed description to at least have a record of some of it. And there are some things that I know I miss.

I am not sure what it is exactly that I am doing, but I think I might have  to take a break from it. I need to gear up for a solid work mindset and some of the things take a toll I need to recover from. So having the journals, even if I stop for a time, will allow me to go back and maybe not have to start completely from scratch again next break.

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #5 on: August 14, 2012, 06:34:25 am »
Quote from: Annie Roonie;68984
I have a voice recorder that I've been using lately for dreams. It's been easier to remember them and store them until I have time to transcribe to my online dream journal.


That is an excellent idea. I often wake up from a dream, think "I should write that down," realise I'm too tired and go back to sleep. Voice recorder might be easier when half asleep.

I'm not the best at recording my experiences, although I'm working on it. I have a paper journal that I jot things down in, although I don't always remember to use it. I also have a memo app that syncs from my phone to my computer, so that I can write things down if I'm out and about. I also have a blog, but that's more for musings than really recording spiritual stuff, since I usually don't want to write about things publicly until I've been processing them for a while. And I take photos - helps me remember outdoor experiences, which happen a lot. As long as I keep track of all of that, it's not a bad record of things. The photos are probably the most useful for taking me back to the experience itself, probably because I'm a visual thinker.
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Juni

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #6 on: August 14, 2012, 11:12:08 am »
Quote from: Annie Roonie;68984
I have a voice recorder that I've been using lately for dreams. It's been easier to remember them and store them until I have time to transcribe to my online dream journal.


I've been wanting to do that for two reasons- my handwriting is near unintelligible when I'm tired, and waking up enough to make my notes make sense makes me lose chunks of the dream.
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Maps

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #7 on: August 14, 2012, 12:24:21 pm »
Quote from: Liadine (dragonflyeyes);68462
So: do you keep a journal (or several) dedicated to your work? Do you have another way of keeping track of things? Is it important to record things quickly, or is it better to give yourself some time to reflect? Given that we're discussing mysteries, is it even possible to articulate some experiences?

 
I just post whatever I think might be appropriate to my public blog, and the rest I just keep in my head.

I would write things down in private venues, but I just never go back ad read them again, which almost defeats the purpose of recording these things to begin with. Maybe it's a bad habit or maybe it's just the way I am, but oh well. Though I won't say that it hasn't gotten me frustrated before, especially when it comes to writing things down that are completely irrelevant to religious stuff, like keeping track of story and plot ideas for my comics. (No, it's not very smart to try and keep a 500 page story straight in your head for a bunch of years.)

LiminalAuggie

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #8 on: August 14, 2012, 12:40:30 pm »
Quote from: Maps;69016

I would write things down in private venues, but I just never go back ad read them again, which almost defeats the purpose of recording these things to begin with. Maybe it's a bad habit or maybe it's just the way I am, but oh well.

 
I have that same bad habit. All the Mystery-Building threads lately have got me going "man I should really find out when that sheep dream happened and how long it was between that and the other one.." and then I go through my tangled web of documents on my laptop and I am really really terrible at dating anything. It's just a smattering of key words and phrases and the rest of it is locked up in my head.
I also have the world's worst handwriting, so perhaps getting a small recorder would not be such an extravagance after all.

Nyktipolos

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #9 on: August 14, 2012, 12:43:49 pm »
Quote from: Liadine (dragonflyeyes);68462
So: do you keep a journal (or several) dedicated to your work? Do you have another way of keeping track of things? Is it important to record things quickly, or is it better to give yourself some time to reflect? Given that we're discussing mysteries, is it even possible to articulate some experiences?


I have a public blog for most of my religious stuff, but I also have an entirely private journal for all my dream logs and random thoughts going on in my head. Although right now it's mostly dream logs. I go through phases where I don't use it, but I just find it easier to write down my thoughts via a keyboard then write it. Of course, I am looking into getting a voice recorder because often I've forgotten a number of details by the time I'm at my desk, whether at home or at work.

It requires a lot of "okay, I NEED to write this down, because getting into the practice will improve my ability to recall details and open the way to trying lucid dreaming". Even if the dreams are banal or silly, I try to write them down. I take dreamwork pretty seriously, and I want to further my ability to use it.
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Faemon

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #10 on: August 14, 2012, 02:36:40 pm »
Quote from: Liadine (dragonflyeyes);68462
So: do you keep a journal (or several) dedicated to your work? Do you have another way of keeping track of things? Is it important to record things quickly, or is it better to give yourself some time to reflect? Given that we're discussing mysteries, is it even possible to articulate some experiences?

Yes, written notebooks are handy for when I absolutely must jot it down then and there, especially if I have drawings. I much prefer blogs because they can be password-protected and you can categorize/tag them, but since I need a computer for that? It's not always ready to be written in.

Usually, I scribble things down, a lot, in detail, as soon as I can, if possible even as it's happening. Rarely, there comes a time that I just really don't feel like writing something out, even if I can articulate it, so I don't-- it becomes a quite reflective time, I suppose. But I don't think I've ever experienced something yet that I can't articulate.

I used to have a digital voice recorder, but I just couldn't get used to the sound of my own voice from the outside. :p
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Annie Roonie

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #11 on: August 14, 2012, 03:39:33 pm »
Quote from: LiminalAuggie;69024

I also have the world's worst handwriting, so perhaps getting a small recorder would not be such an extravagance after all.

 
I got mine and a couple of sets of rechargeable batteries and a charger for around 40$ for a road trip journal a while back. There are super expensive ones out there, but I got one like this but and older version. It's sturdy and very easy to use when half asleep.

Actually, sometimes there are things I recorded that I have no memory of recording or a vague idea that I did it in a dream. ha!

There are two things so far about recording that I did not expect.

1. The tone of my voice changes considerably and I am not sure why. Very coherent, cheery and alert to half asleep and whiny. And I remember neither, but feel those tones might indicate something. Like a metamessage. Also, laughter and other noises add to the overall tone. I giggled during one gross description that could have been scary in a monotone or plain writing, but with the silly giggling and funny voice, I'll know it wasn't frightening even long from now.

2. Listening to the recordings does bring back a significant part of the dream and feelings associated faster than re-reading them.

But that might just be me.

Aster Breo

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Recording experiences
« Reply #12 on: August 14, 2012, 04:29:37 pm »
Quote from: Liadine (dragonflyeyes);68462
One of my person downfalls is having no real system of organizing my pathworking thoughts and experiences. For various reasons I haven't kept an online journal in years, and offline I have various experiences/thoughts/etc scattered all over the map - some in one journal, bits and pieces in another, some point-form words in my teeny altar notebook, and so on. I have most important moments recorded somewhere, but not always in enough detail and rarely in a way that makes it easy to connect the dots or compare one to another.

I wasn't sure where to put this topic, but I feel like it's particularly important to keep some kind of thought-record when examining the kind of experiences that are being talked about here.

So: do you keep a journal (or several) dedicated to your work? Do you have another way of keeping track of things? Is it important to record things quickly, or is it better to give yourself some time to reflect? Given that we're discussing mysteries, is it even possible to articulate some experiences?

I'm terrible at any kind of journaling.  I've never been successful at keeping a diary or anything like that -- even though I recognize the value of it.  

In fact, after I went through a huge (to me) set of spiritual discoveries and epiphanies several years ago, I realized I should have kept some kind of record of what happened and when.  So I went back and copied all the TC posts I had made about the experiences and pasted them into a document, which I then emailed to myself so I could "archive" it in a place where I thought I'd actually be able to find it later.  Pretty pathetic.  ;)

I've just started working through _The Artist's Way_, a book about unblocking your creativity, and one of the exercises is to write (longhand) 3 pages of steam-of-consciousness every day, as a way of sort of clearing the deadwood out of your brain. (You specifically don't go back to read anything you've written in your daily pages.) I've managed that most days, so far, but it's only been about a week, so I have plenty of time to slack off.  :p

But I'm hoping to also keep a "real" journal throughout this project.

I'm also trying to figure out a way to work through _Trance-portation_, a book about developing trance abilities, and it's sort-of sequel, _The Way of the Oracle_ (both by Diana Paxson).  My primary problem is a lack of privacy.  But if I can figure out how to do this work, I'd like to keep a journal about it.

I have mixed feelings about whether a paper journal is better (for me) than a (private) blog.  On one hand, I type way faster than I write.  OTOH, I don't have a working computer at the moment, so it's a moot point right now.  But even if I did, I don't like the idea of needing electricity to either write or read my entries.

I doubt that I'd ever do a public blog, although I love reading other people's.  I just don't have enough thoughts that are worth sharing. I've never been much of a visionary thinker. I'm more of a nuts-n-bolts kind of person.  Which is pretty boring.

So... Sorry, no revelations here.  Just a recognition that I'd probably benefit from journaling, along with the acknowledgment that I probably won't actually journal.

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Elementalist

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #13 on: November 02, 2012, 03:53:24 am »
Quote from: Liadine (dragonflyeyes);68462

So: do you keep a journal (or several) dedicated to your work? Do you have another way of keeping track of things? Is it important to record things quickly, or is it better to give yourself some time to reflect? Given that we're discussing mysteries, is it even possible to articulate some experiences?

 
I only record those things which I consider are truths rather than just my personal little lightbulbs. For my own epiphanies I generally come back to time and again. I might have a minor experience that gives me the 'aha!' but then shortly afterwards I will have several other confirmatory experiences so no need to record those things because I will get an opportunity to apply it several times over.

The truths however are profoundly deep understandings that feel different. They shift my point of view dramatically in a new direction. Kind of like the scales being taken off my eyes. Those are things which I feel are important not just for me but for others to grasp too. And therefore I record those in my workings book. I generally make records within the hour when the feeling and the shift are still fresh for me.

Fier

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Re: Recording experiences
« Reply #14 on: November 02, 2012, 09:43:23 am »
Quote from: Aster Breo;69075

I've just started working through _The Artist's Way_, a book about unblocking your creativity, and one of the exercises is to write (longhand) 3 pages of steam-of-consciousness every day, as a way of sort of clearing the deadwood out of your brain.

 
Since you brought this up, I will recommend 750 Words. 750 Words is the above exercise on a computer. All it is is an online word pad. Very simple. No formatting.

If one prefers to type on the computer vs. writing it's a good place to do the exercise Aster mentioned. You can go back and see what you've written previous days if you like, and it keeps tracks of what days you've written and whether or not you've reached 750 words.

I like to use it to get my thoughts out of my head and into order. Sometimes I have thinky thoughts that are too tangled to put in a blog, so I'll write them down there first and try to make sense of them before I record elsewhere.

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