The Benefits of Writing & Self Authoring

I don't write very often. In actuality, aside from work e-mails, texting and some point-form journaling, I hardly write at all. I do however read and listen to podcasts... a lot. The Joe Rogan Experience podcast is a staple of mine. I've been listening to the JRE podcast since around 2011 or so (for those in the know, this was the snowflakes on Ustream era).

Recently, Joe had Professor Jordan Peterson as a podcast guest. Peterson is a clinical psychologist, cultural critic, and professor of psychology at the University of Toronto. While I don't agree with everything Peterson has to say, I did find his message and his talks very compelling. So much so, that I purchased his "Self-authoring suite", an online exercise program that is broken up into four sections: Past, Present: Virtues, Present: Faults and Future.

I've only just begun the online program, beginning with the Present sections. In essence, the program asks you a series of questions about yourself in order to narrow down to 6-9 characteristics, which you then write about it detail. The process of writing about your faults and virtues is an exercise in self-reflection and analysis, where the objective is to know yourself more deeply. I think there is a huge lack of self-knowing in the world. Most people I talk to seem to be floating through life, stuck in the same patterns of behavior. Like leaves in the wind, they get blown around wherever life takes them. I find that as I write about my own faults and virtues, I am getting more clear on what drives me and who I aim to be. I look forward to completing the Past and Future sections as well, which I assume have the aim of healing past trauma and setting meaningful goals (respectively).

"HE WHO CONTROLS OTHERS MAY BE POWERFUL, BUT HE WHO HAS MASTERED HIMSELF IS MIGHTIER STILL."

• Lao Tzu

If you're also interested in Self-Authoring, check out the below link to Jordan Peterson's paper on the benefits of writing, and try out the Self-Authoring suite:

Benefits of Writing
Self-authoring