Are diaries sinful?

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It’s never too late to start, Nelka. 🙂

You can always start at any time that you want to.
 
I think people would regret purposefully losing them.
 
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Not if there was some kind of locked vault there, where they could be stored. 🙂 😉
 
I own a few diaries of Saints. It depends a lot on how they are written and used I would say.
 
No one is going to achieve perfection on this earth. But many saints and mystics have said that the Lord holds priests and religious to a higher standard. Holiness is kind of their job/ career, and they receive a lot of training and formation in how to be holy and charitable. So a fault that for someone outside the order might be considered small, would be a bigger deal to them.
 
HeDa said:
Sometimes I have taken my “spiritual journal” with me to talk things over with a priest or deacon. It has been very helpful to read to them what was going on and receiving help in how to face the difficulties. I have written or glued in some of the prayers, poems or songs that meant a lot to me or drawn pictures when I haven’t been able to use words. I prefer to use journals with blank pages rather than lines. And using pens instead of pencil so I can’t erase what I wrote earlier.

Reading what I wrote 5 years earlier, is very funny as I am in a totally different position today to be able to deal with the same questions. Following my reasoning is sometimes hilarious.
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I rarely – extremely rarely – ever go back and read my journals. The exception is some of the journals I kept in middle school and high school. When I came across them, I flipped through a few pages and did get a good laugh, especially as I read the tragedies of my 12-year-old self, poor dear. 😂

I’ve actually destroyed a couple of journals: the one I kept while in the monastery, and one I kept in the months leading up to marriage and through that first year of marriage. I wanted to make sure NO ONE (especially my son) ever saw those! 😱
 
My rule is “don’t write anything in a diary that you do not want your family/friends to read”.
 
The advice I’d give any human being, and I adhere to it myself.
 
Jump4Joy said:
How would you feel if someone read it?
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People shouldn’t pry into things they don’t want answers to in the first place.

If they find mine, they broke into my house to get it, or cracked my computer. One reaps what one sows.
 
I don’t see any issues with someone keeping a personal journal in which they write down their deepest emotions and feelings. Some people find it difficult to share such emotionally, vulnerable thoughts so they turn to creative writing to get the “bad vibes” out of their system. They may chose to keep it hidden or they might share it with a trusted person - either choice is an acceptable one.
 
THat’s kind of how I see it. If a person is willing to violate someone in that way in order to read their private thoughts, they deserve what they get. (And they’re not a nice person so they probably won’t be reading flattering things about themselves.)
 
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