Stop and Smell the Roses - thoughts on "Free Writing" as an exercise.

I had intended on posting one message per day on my blog, but in writing a response to a friends post, I decided to break from the routine and post my response as a blog.

A fellow Blogger recently posted a blog about the virtues of writing freely, with no subject in mind, as an exercise to see what your sub-conscious mind is up to. (I'm assuming that was the point of the exercise, for the most part?) The following are my thoughts on that post. (original post)

I think in our busy lives and our daily routine, our minds are clouded by the many distractions around us. Although for [you] these distractions liberate your mind, which is great, everyone needs to take a break every now and then and smell the roses (IMHO). You hit it on the head when you said that it is the "unpredictability" that allows [you] to reflect on your life. For me too it's that lack of structure that helps me think, but I also find clarity in silence. At 3am I am at my peak of mental acuity. While it is exciting and refreshing, it can also be a pain in the butt since going back to sleep is usually a dream (nice pun), and my thoughts are all over the map that I end of driving myself crazy!

The most important thing, regardless of how you find clarity, is to just find it (IMHO). To never stop and take a minute to think about who you are and where you're going is dangerous. Without introspection, you run the risk of living your entire life only to die having never found your true self, and that in my opinion is tragic.