Tuesday, October 19, 2004

We are actually a Reflective Learning Journal

Just discovered this is not a blog.

Well, not in the traditional sense of "web log". A log simply records what happens; a Reflective Learning Journal records what happens inside our minds when something happens.

While I'll still call this a blog to my offline friends (who are only just getting the idea of what a 'blog' is) I think it's helpful to know the difference.

Found out about it here. Perfect description of what we're doing really: "Human beings, by their nature, are 'connection makers' and 'meaning makers'. Our experience always consists of 'what happens' and then what we make of 'what happens'. "

The helpful hints are also ... well, helpful ... like:
  • Begin asking yourself these questions: "What?", "So what?", and "Now what?". Listen as your mind makes connections.
  • The best time to make an entry in your Journal is as soon as possible after an event takes place. Be sure to have a few notes if there will be a long time lapse before you make an entry.
  • Periodically reread your Journal entries. They will provide more to connect with in your reflections.

That last one is good. In fact, later on I'll be re-posting some book reviews I did years ago for the Communicate! newsletter, and seeing if I still agree with them.


2 Comments:

At 9:57 am, Blogger ADM said...

Kind of reminds me of something I read about Nicole Kidman -- she keeps a running journal of her thoughts - and she plans on burning it when she passes. Reminds me of me, too.

I have pages of manuscript stuff that I haven't looked at in mths -- some of it I want to read again, and some not.

Sime -- if you remember that long letter I'd sent you from Prague -- round about the same time as that letter was when I'd been burning through the reams -- of paper -- that is.

I think this is also a form of journal.

Donchya think?


-- AM

 
At 11:03 am, Blogger Simon said...

Hi Adam ... yes, I remember the letter. That was really cool, getting a handwritten letter from the Czech republic. Talk about Breaking Through The Clutter! (For everyone else, that's the name of Adam's business)

I understand the burning - some things are just between you and yourself - but it's also neat to find stuff that's not for burning but instead for posterity.

Just check out books like The Year 1000: What Life Was Like At the Turn of the Millenium. Full of minutiae that would have been trashcan fodder back then (had they had trashcans!) but fascinating to us today.

And you're right, this blog is a journal - that's what I said at the top of the post :) - our reactions to events like seeing movies, reading books, doing stuff, having stuff done to us etc.

 

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