Beginnings
When I was first deciding on a title to use for my personal journal, I almost selected A Better Place To Be, because I can remember saying this phrase to myself uncountable times. However, since these words have tended to creep out of a depression slant, I kept looking for a title that would better describe the purpose of my whole journal, of my whole being. The debate ended when I chose the title, Searching Within. Instead, A Better Place To Be has become the name for the section of my Website focussing on my struggle with bipolar disorder.
Four Entries
I went through my journal to discover where I had used the phrase, a better place to be, in writing rather than just in my thoughts. I only found four entries. The first entry came from June of 1982. The most recent entry I found in the text from a day in November of 1988. Reading these thoughts many years latter, I see my depression talking.
Bipolar Disorder
The phrase A Better Place To Be, instead, has become the section title of my Website that focusses on my struggle with bipolar disorder.
Selected Journal Chapters
- 1974-1978
- A few favorite poems and class notes from the ages of 11 to 15.
- 1978, Galt
- Snippets from class notes during the period of High School Sophomore in Galt.
- 1978-1983
- Favorite poems, snippets from interesting books and class notes during the period of High School Sophomore to College Sophomore: ages 15 to 19.
- May 10, 1983
- A journal entry written during my Sophomore year of college in the middle of a Spring time funk.
- 1983-1985
- The period of my Junior and Senior of college: ages 19 to 21. This section contains numerous personal letters written to friends.
- 1994
- Letters to Dan.
- 2000
- Leo Horoscope, by Jonathan, for the Year 2000.
More Stuff
- Anecdotes and Reflections
- Collection of thoughtful snippets from here and there
- Feeling Words
- List of feelings that individuals have, but often fail to identify
- Humor
- The type of snippets that tends to excite laughter or mirth by ludicrous images or representations
- Song Lyrics
- Song lyrics of significance, including A Better Place to Be by Harry Chapin
- Cast of Characters
- This is the result of an exercise from individual psychotherapy where the task involved looking at all the different aspects of my personality. The exercise specified naming each character and applying an age of that part. The exact date that this project was started is unknown... sometime after 1992... and I have been refining the text periodically since then.
