Writing expressively for one’s well-being : Partly constituting oneself through self-reflection

Abstract

Journaling for one’s wellness is an ancient philosophical exercise and a contemporary psychological technique. Although scholarship has since the 1970s recaptured philosophy as a way of life and since the 1980s produced a psychology of therapeutic writing, the relation between the diarist’s ex perience and the diary remains unclear. This chapter demonstrates from my own experiences of and reflections on journaling that our self-conceptions do not only describe but also define ourselves, so that we partly constitute ourselves by the conceptions in which we conceive ourselves. However, the chapter contends that we misconceive ourselves through contemporary psychological techniques of journaling. For these conceive that “outer” writing and “inner” experience are connected empirically, and that well-being is resolved pain and derived pleasure. The chapter argues instead that the connection between writing and experience is conceptual, and that well-being is leading a worthy and worthwhile life. Thus, the chapter is very important for all who seek to develop themselves through journaling not only to live a pleasant life but a happy life.