I was with my uber TBM sister and BIL yesterday for our mom's birthday. They actually treat me ok even though I left the flock years ago and am living with my fiance. I was telling them about a few things my youngest son had experienced the last few years and they were quite impressed with the update. Then, all of a sudden, my BIL got all excited and wanted to know if he had written all of this stuff down. I told him I had no idea if he had. "This should be written down" he said and went on and on about it. He brought it up again a little later and it started to annoy me.

I never understood the obsession mormons have with keeping journals. When did the mandate to keep them really get going in ernest?

I think it was Kimball who pushed the journal thing.

For the church there could be two good reasons why you would want your members wrting in the journal day and night.

1. Another "keep busy" tactic for those with a natural affinity for journal writing. Somehow they think their grandkids are going to be impressed with these daily, banal entries.

2. It reinforces psychological nature of the testimony. If you have read a TBM journal you will see that it a testimony-a-day kind of thing. Boyd I believe, asked people to writing about the spiritual things in their life so it helps with the confirmation bias. That in turn, if they ever get around to reading it, could reinforce the idea of the church in your children and grandchildren of the church being true.

Clever tactic actually.

Another form of self-brainwashing as you aren't allowed to write anything about your struggles (except when you've overcome them), your doubts, anger, depression, etc. These are intended for future consumption by your progeny who will find your steadfastness inspiring and be able to give wonderful ancestormonies about you at F&T.

I know when I was trying to do the journal thing, it just set up lots of guilt when I would go months without writing and then I would promise I would do better. How twisted is that...when NOT writing stuff down made me feel bad? I has forgotten that until now.

hey everyone. thought I would chime in here. i've been using Penzu as a journal (switched from my moleskine) and have been loving it. my husband used to get into my diary and since i've made sure it was password protected. i'm waiting for them to add a wordcount so i know how much i'm writing, but other than that it works great. enjoy!

Journals and sex tapes that you think will stay private have a way of winding up in the hands of people who don't have your best interests at heart.

ALso, how many mortified teens have had their journals read by parents or siblings.

Or think of the journals of Pepys, whose code was deciphered and who had his private thoughts and sexusl pecadillos published centuries later.
Interesting reading btw,LOL.

I would not do it. If you have to write something out for your personal clarification do it - and then BURN it.

I was one of those mortified teens! I used to get Journals in YW, Seminary and for birthday gifts. I would usually be good and write in them for about a week...then it just became an outlet for venting when I was frustrated. Inevitably my mom would be "cleaning" my room and would always find them and read them and then lecture me and make me feel guilty for what I had written...sigh. I ended up tearing them all up. I will never keep a journal ever again.

When I was splitting with my ex, I kept a daily journal. Reading it periodically helped me see the progress I was making. They were really emotional spill your guts things. I kept them buried in a plastic sack under some rocks where nobody would ever find them. When I was done with the whole thing and better, I burned them. I would never want anyone to read them, but they did help me process it all. Journals are very private things and should not be used later to hang someone.

Also, a dear college friend kept a private journal. She died young (30s) in surgery. Her husband found the journal and it really left him with a lot of trauma, as she wrote things he had no idea were going on (her true feelings abut him). He had no way to make anything right.

I did feel guilty for writing all the bad things in journals. My journals ARE NOT inspirational in the least, but journaling has helped me heal. Like lostinutah said--I have a few journals--one called my "gay journal." I kept the gay journal after I found out my boyfriend was gay and I didn't dare write in a regular journal. I forgot and left it out on my bed just before I got married (living at home for a few months) and called from work and paid my nephew $5 to hide it for me. I didn't think that journal would ever see the light of day--but it has and it has been useful.

BUT I am amazed how therapeutic my journals have been for me. I can very much see the progress I've made, but like I said, they aren't inspirational in the least. They basically chronical my healing and my journey out of the church.

My daughter--she writes about her scripture study in journals. This is how important she sees them as. One happened to end up in a box of stuff she was sending to the Deseret Industries. I "rescued" it and she said, "No big deal, nothing important written in there." She throws them away after she fills them and she fills about one a month--it is part of her scripture study. I guess it makes her feel she is doing her part . . .

But, yes, it was Kimball.

Nowadays, I just staple things in them that I want to keep--but I haven't written in one for a while.

I think journals have been pushed since sometime in the late 1800s or early 1900s, but I couldn't tell you when or by whom. My grandfather (born in the 1890s) kept a journal while he was on his mission in the 1910s and up until his stroke sometime in the 1950s. When his family decided to put his journals together, 30+ years after his death, they had a lot to sort through and some of them were missing. I admit some of the entries are interesting, as he served his mission in the days when missionaries ate and slept anywhere, even with other members. After that, it gets boring and repetitive. So you visited so and so? Great. Who are they again? They've been dead for 50 years...

My husband's father also kept a journal from about the time he got married in the 1950s until his death in 1984. When my MIL put her husband's journal together for a family gift, she edited a lot out of it. According to her, he used his journal as a sounding board, so she changed some of the names and took stuff out of it. This left me with the question, "WTF are they keeping journals for if they have to edit them so no one's feelings get hurt?" I guess people would rather read about who got visited or what they ate for breakfast than what they were REALLY thinking.

This as also led me to NOT keep a journal. I am waiting for the day when I can have a ritual burning of my many old journals in some campfire. Or send them with me when I'm cremated. I plan on writing a life history, which would be oh so much more entertaining to read. Okay, not really, but it's better than reading about how I was ticked off at someone one day and then went to the movies with them the next.

Yes, the campfire thing is great, it's healing to burn them after you're all done. I burned mine in a campfire way out in the desert, along with all my credit card statements after I paid the damn thing off. I danced around the campfire and felt very free.

Several years ago, I read "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich". The one thing that struck me about the individuals involved, they all kept extensive journals. During the Nueremberg trials that is the thing that convicted all of the Nazi's. They wrote it all down in their diaries and journals. Some even kept a talley of how many Jews they killed and tortured. Another example of absolute mind control. So similar to the tscc in many ways.

It was common in the 1800's and 1900's , for people to record their thoughts, keep a diary, or journal of their activities.

I kept a journal long before I converted. I still have a lot of them. The problem, of course, is that people often read them without your permission and then misinterpret your comments and destroy trust. I stopped keeping a journal after that happened to me.

It was a generational family tradition in my non LDS family. Unfortunately, the keeper of the journals put them in a place that got water damage and they were all lost, and I have no way to access their history now, even if I wanted to.

I think LDS folks keep journals like their ancestors did. It was a common thing to do.

Now days, hundreds of people have blogs, which is basically the same kind of thing, only on the Internet which almost anybody can read. People have a great desire to share their thoughts with the world, it seems.
Some keep a journal on their computer.

I don't keep a journal as such, but I do keep a calendar which is valuable in checking dates and times when needed.

I went with a lady from a class I was taking to do some shopping and I caught her writing things in a little book every time she could. I asked her if about it, and she confirmed it.
I don't know what that was about, but that was the last time I went with her anywhere.

One thing about this obsession is that for me, it made journal writing a chore, and no longer fun as it was something I did occasionally before joining. I kept a journal hidden from my TBM ex-husband while we were together, and when I filed for divorce, I burned it so he couldn't use it against me. It's been about 9 years since I kept a journal, and I don't have a blog as I wouldn't update it.

I've been writing in journals since 1965. I can honestly tell you that I love it. I've gotten a lot out of it. I started writing on the computer a few years back because typing is easier than writing longhand.

I would HATE it, though, if I were told that I had to do it, what to write, or how often I had to write. My journal is my me-place. I have always rejected the notion of “rules” to keep a journal; it takes any pleasure out of it and makes it a loathsome chore.

This thread made me remember something… haven’t thought about it in a long time. Years ago I did a little website about journal-writing. My primary purpose was to promote enjoyment of it by doing it YOUR way, and to view any rules with skepticism. I had a link to email me on each page. Well, one day I got an email from a Mormon who chastised me for not talking about what wonderful things the LDS church has done for journal-keeping. What a horrendous oversight, she maintained. She made it sound like they had single-handedly invented the genre. I smelled bull$hit but at the time I knew nothing about the Mormons except what I’d sort of picked up from dating one when I was quite young. I promised myself to do some research about this person’s claims but never got around to it. Of course, awhile later, I learned a lot here!

I keep thinking about getting my journaling site back up and going again… but if I do I am NOT going to say a blasted word about the Morg and journal writing; I will not do anything to promote that nasty sexist, homophobic, thieving bunch!