What is this?

I've found I'm much better at writing than talking.  So this is a place for me to organize my thoughts, be deliberate, and challenge my thinking before speaking.

Why a journal?
I've done enough reading and listening about psychology to be convinced that frequent writings about our thoughts and emotions can help us better understand ourselves and our world. 

I really got excited about doing this while trying to understand why my daughter thinks and acts the way she does. As most parents would, I would love nothing more than to know what she is thinking, how she is experiencing our world. That is the most rewarding aspect of parenting, I think; I get to live life through her eyes and try to understand her point of view.

Maybe if I can understand me better, I can understand her, and others, better.

Who is this for?
Mostly, this is for me.  However, I hope that those of you who have an interest in me will find this worthwhile as well. 

Why open?
Somehow our culture leads us to shield our true selves from others and we are convinced it is for their benefit.  We mold ourselves to what we think others would hope us to be when we are around them. Then we discard that when we are alone and we go back to being who we are inside our own heads. Or perhaps we never leave our own heads and we try to be what others want us to be on the outside while still being ourselves on the inside.  

(Thinking about that now while writing about it seems terribly stressful to me.)  

I think that is especially true with our loved ones, we want to live up to some ideal we think they have for us.  However, being a parent, I know this not to be true. I want nothing more than for my child to be who she is and not to worry about what I would have her be.

So, with those thoughts rattling around in my head the last few months I've decided I'll do what I think everyone would like to do.  That is, share our thoughts and emotions so we can better understand each other and feel more like ourselves more of the time.