Journal Entry – 001
It's the end of the year and for some reason I'm itching to start writing journal entries again. I considered just turning this into another Weeknotes post, but I don't think I can keep up with that schedule. So, this will be the start of a new journal entry series.
I say new because I've had a journal entry series before. If you are a returning reader, you've most likely even read them. If you are a new reader, then you missed out on a number of cringe-worthy personal posts. And that's part of the reason that series came to an end. I somehow outgrew that phase and no longer wanted to write about overtly personal stuff.
So, for this new series, one of the things I want to focus on is just sharing what I've learned. Instead of this journal/series being about “What's been going on with my life?”, I want it to be more about “What have I learned today?”
Also, I won't commit to a schedule for posting. It could be once a month, once every 4 months, or even just once a year. Whatever it will turn out to be, I'll write one when I feel like writing. So before that urge to write fades, here goes.
Interesting Reads
The Power and Joys of Turning Off — Great post on the simple joy of going offline.
Every Blogging Option Sucks — Pretty good round up of current blogging options. While the author didn't end up choosing write.as, it did fairly well compared to the competition.
Praxis and the Indieweb — Great read on the potential and challenges with the IndieWeb. It is an interesting take because most of everything you read online about the IndieWeb is all positive. This is the first one I've read that tries to argue against it.
But perhaps the most important thing I've learned from reading it is mentioned in the quote below:
The problem is that this construct fails in two key ways, legal and conceptual. Legally, any and all content that you post to a silo is no longer “your content”.
The quote is talking about the idea of POSSE: Publish Own Site, Syndicate Elsewhere. It's basically posting content to your own site first, then syndicating it elsewhere. But there's a problem with doing that. If you post the same photo that you posted on your site, onto a social network like say Facebook, Instagram or Twitter, you end up giving them ownership of that photo.
Yikes. Was totally not aware of that.
Reflections
A problem with my Weeknotes posts is that I have to decide what gets included on a post, based on what I’ve written down during the week. If I wrote a lot, then there are a lot of decisions to make.
This is one advantage that impromptu blogging has over my Weeknotes posts. With impromptu blogging, I only write down what I want to write about. And I only ever do it when I really want to get something out.
And this is why this post is a “journal entry” and not another Weeknotes post.
We live in an age of distraction, not an age of doubt. ~ Father Joshua Whitfield (Sunday Homily)
All I can say to that is, amen Father Joshua Whitfield.
Actually... I can say a few more. I think what Father Joshua was saying, is that the challenge with the people of today, is not that they doubt, or that they don't have the capacity to believe in the existence of a creator. The challenge with people today, is that most are distracted by social media, the internet, and so many other things and activities, that they never find the time and solitude to think about the answers to existential and theological questions like:
- Where did we come from?
- Why are we here?
- Where are we going?
- Is there more to life than this?
- Does God really exist?
- What happens to us when we die?
Is it wrong for me to say that finding answers to those questions, is more important than say, checking up on your Instagram feed tonight? Or even dare I say, more important than publishing that new blog post? I don't know. Maybe I'm just getting old.
Tags: #JournalEntry #Bookmarks #Reflection #Blogging #Spirituality