"Free Your Secrets and Become Who You Are"
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"Free Your Secrets and Become Who You Are" Reflection done for the Unitarian Fellowship of Lawrence on 05.20.12. Please note that notes are on a tab under the presentation, next to comments (notes on slide 1). You can also view all notes and video by downloading the presentation.
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"Free Your Secrets and Become Who You Are"
- 5. -----Email----- Frank, This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn't know how I was going to make it through the night. Not knowing where to turn and feeling like I couldn't stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half hours and I truly feel that they saved my life. Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and thank the people that send in their postcards so that others know they are not alone with their secrets. -Casie (with permission) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Editor's Notes
- In February, Frank Warren gave a TED talk about his project, PostSecret. For those who are not familiar with TED, T-E-D stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and it’s a non-profit devoted to ideas worth spreading. There’s a lot more information online, and I believe we have or had a Wednesday night class that views and discusses TED talks. Frank does such a good job talking about postsecret and the different ways that it’s touched people, that rather than summarize it, I’m going to show you the talk.
- TED videoThis video can also be found at postsecret.com and http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/frank_warren_half_a_million_secrets.html
- This started as a project. It evolved- people saw a piece of themselves in the secrets that others sent in. they could relate to these secrets that people had hidden, and suddenly they were no longer alone. In many cases they write, email, send facebook (postsecret is on facebook now) messages, or tweet to Frank about the secrets and he posts these on the site.
- -----Email----- Frank,This past Friday night I found myself in a black hole of depression and I didn't know how I was going to make it through the night. Not knowing where to turn and feeling like I couldn't stop. I remembered seeing the Hopeline phone number in the front of your book. I talked with someone there for 2 and a half hours and I truly feel that they saved my life.Thank you for the book, thank Hopeline for being there, and thank the people that send in their postcards so that others know they are not alone with their secrets.-Casie (with permission)Frank says that he Lost a friend and a family member to suicide, and also says that it’s not uncommon for him to receive secrets about self-harm, or suicide. He says that ”in some ways, I feel like suicide is Americas secret, it’s a secret that we keep from ourselves.”
- One of the inspirational things that has happened is that the postsecret community has crowdsourced (that is, created by the members of the community) the most complete and comprehensive online directory of suicide prevention hotilines and textlines in the world. The Postsecret blog Also has led to the creation of online community- support communities and sub-communities of addiction and recovery, where members share concerns, struggles and triumphs with addiction and recovery; of mental health for open discussion of psychological conditions; and secrets of spirituality where members share secrets about “religion, faith, or the lack thereof”, To name a few.These communities did not start from a desire for profit or business, they started from the very basic need for connection to another person, something that is clearly lacking in our average day-to-day life.
- I love this one, because I think the serving size that’s written in is correct, no matter what the nutrition information says.
- What I’ve found really interesting is that some of these are really deep secrets, and I wonder what it is about sharing something anonymously with strangers that can ease a burden. I find myself people-watching wondering what secrets people have that they would share with a stranger, but don’t feel they can share with their closest friends. I know I’m more aware of mine.I guess it’s kind of like confession without having to speak the words. This is art, and art is an expression of the soul.I wonder if there’s an ease to sharing when you don’t have to receive the reaction- there’s no fear of judgment. Just the need to be heard. Not even understood, just heard.This one says “I look up random teen ‘in memorial’ groups on facebook… because it comforts me to know that other people are mourning a friend too.”
- “When my boss starts his ramblings I always imagine I am shooting angry birds at his forehead.”Look around. Any of the people in this room could have sent in any of these secrets. Everyone has secrets- secrets they keep from themselves, secrets they keep from others. What secrets are you keeping from yourself?
- Frank says he carries his favorite secret with him. It is written on a dollar bill and reads- “We are all part of something bigger, and we are all part of it together”. That’s pretty close to my “what I believe elevator speech”. So now Frank travels and does appearances. He quit his job and spends 50 hours a week on Postsecret. The community comes together at these appearances- the community that was created and created itself around the organic need to not be alone. I’ll end with one of his tour videos:
- http://www.postsecret.com/