Journal Burning
Recently, I went to the park and built a small camp fire with my journal. It was a perfect night to do so; cool and slightly breezy. I found a little barbecue grill for my fire and I settled in to enjoy the warmth. It took a while to burn everything because there were many pages and I had to feed it about 3 pages at a time so it wouldn’t get too out of control.
The idea for journal burning was inspired by Jim Morrison, he would periodically burn his journals in order to get a fresh start. I decided to start doing it as I open new chapters of my life. Before the burning begins, I sit down and read each journal. If there is anything worth keeping, I copy it down in the next journal.
This recent journal was the worst one I ever wrote, probably because I was going through a time of tremendous growth. I was resisting growing up, but I knew I had to suffer in order to become the person I want to be. I was glad to see it reduced to ashes.
When I got home I hung out in the lobby for a while, then I went out for a hamburger and returned to my room to watch a TV show. Later I pulled the remnants of the journal out of my bag and noticed my expensive headphones were missing. CRAP!! I remembered that I left them in my bag when I went to the park. I looked around my room and my office and they were nowhere to be found. So I hopped on my bike and rushed down to the park. As I approached the spot I could see the little round black headphone case in the grass. I was relieved to find them, I was not about to let them get away.
I had not planned to return to the spot where I burned the journal, and I didn’t stick around too long because it was starting to sleet. Returning so soon made me think about how I sometimes revisit things too soon, or maybe how I don’t give much thought to my actions. I couldn’t decide which reason was valid so I explored both, but that is the subject for a new journal entry…