[Madmallard]

I've always likened meditation as teaching yourself to become more resilient to emotional turbulence. Free writing seems like it would not help too much in this regard, at least any more than say cooking, playing music, or any activity like that. If you get a random thought while free writing and write about it that increases your investment in that thought and I'm sure if you continue stream of consciousness writing on some of the more bothersome thoughts you might have problems with the activity. In meditation, it's more about noticing you had a thought and then letting the thought go. The whole goal is to teach yourself to not become invested in the battery of thoughts and emotions that can come with each day.

[chillingeffect]

I experimented with some free writing recently on vacation. I was very apprehensive bc I was ashamed and afraid to think the things I thought.

But I found it was immensely valuable to me. I wouldn't obsess over the rules like pen vs. typing. And I do think it's different from playing music or cooking because of the verbal layer.

Writing down your thoughts blazes new trails, modifying your subjective experience.

By free writing, I don't mean, random, I mean, not directed toward publishing or even paragraph/prose structure. A thin editing layer between raw thoughts and written/typed media.