Dear Diary

English is the unofficial official language of India. Therefore it becomes imperative for everyone to learn speaking, reading and writing English as they are growing up. If they want to succeed in business/profession, that is.

Being fortunate enough to be able to learn it, I have had countless people ask me for my secret or for advice. Among other things I always tell them to write a diary.

Writing a diary is good because it’s a composition you don’t have to think about and since it’s from you and for you, you don’t have to be too grammatically correct. It makes both interesting writing and reading. For you.

But other than as a language tool also writing a diary is very useful. Many a times we have such a tangled web of thoughts in our mind that we cannot think straight or figure out our life. Life is always a web, never a straight road or even crossroads. In such a situation writing about your thoughts helps you pull the threads apart and examine them one at a time. You can understand their importance, their interrelations and the importance of these interrelations.

Most of the time out of this self-analysis will emerge a path to solution. But even if there is no solution, or no immediate solution, thinking clearly about it can calm your mind and give you peace for the time being.

When you write about people, surprisingly enough, you are more tolerant towards them than while thinking. Maybe because of the immortal nature of the written word you don’t want to be spiteful against someone who is not there (unless you are a news reporter), and this mellowed attitude filters back to your thinking.

When you put ideas to paper (even virtual paper), you can see them more clearly and judge them more accurately.

That’s my thinking. What do you think?