{"id":2716,"date":"2012-11-05T08:44:24","date_gmt":"2012-11-05T13:44:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/mindfulnessmatters\/?p=2716"},"modified":"2012-11-06T07:03:03","modified_gmt":"2012-11-06T12:03:03","slug":"postsecret-project-a-precursor-to-mindfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2012\/11\/postsecret-project-a-precursor-to-mindfulness.html","title":{"rendered":"PostSecret Project: A Precursor to Mindfulness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The PostSecret Project started when Frank Warren printed 3,000 blank postcards with instructions and his address on the front. He distributed them randomly in the streets of Washington DC. He asked people to present an artful secret.<\/p>\n

The process went viral and he started getting postcards from around the country and the world. Half a million secrets later, PostSecret is a phenomenon. It is the most visited non-commercial website on the Internet. His college speaking engagements are sold out, as was recently the case at the University of Vermont.<\/p>\n

The instructions are: 1) The secret must be true, and 2) The secret has never been told to anyone else. Warren publishes ten new secrets every Sunday on his blog and collections of these postcards in a series of books .He always includes one of this own postcards in the books.<\/p>\n

He says these postcards reveal \u201ccountless human dramas\u201d and can be \u201cshocking, silly, or soulful.\u201d Reading through one of his books is like reading through my clinical caseload. Some of these postcards are humorous; most are dealing with gritty, painful content.<\/p>\n

Warren feels the appeal of PostSecret is that it, \u201cConnects us with our deepest humanity.\u201d The postcards, no doubt, tap into our confessional need and provide relief from inhibition.<\/p>\n

Revealing secrets helps us to process them. It helps them to move from subject to object. Once an object, the story can be released from the Storytelling Mind or the default mode network of the brain.<\/p>\n

The story has to move through the DMN and come out as an object to consciousness. Telling the story, revealing the secret is the process of processing. It helps us to dis-identify with the events by releasing them and by making into something\u2014either spoken or written\u2014that can be observed from a safe distance.<\/p>\n

As on object, the secret becomes amenable to mindfulness. When we can pay attention to it as an object, the power of the pain or fear is diminished.<\/p>\n

When the process is done in a creative fashion it appears to add another dimension as evidenced by the popularity of PostSecret.<\/p>\n

You can see the secrets at www.postsecret.com<\/a><\/p>\n

You can watch Frank Warren give a brief talk at TED here.<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The PostSecret Project started when Frank Warren printed 3,000 blank postcards with instructions and his address on the front. He distributed them randomly in the streets of Washington DC. He asked people to present an artful secret. The process went viral and he started getting postcards from around the country and the world. Half a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":268,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,15,9,14,10,19],"tags":[415,571,21,570],"class_list":["post-2716","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-buddha-101","category-media","category-mindfulnesss","category-recommended","category-spider-mind-world-of-interconnections","category-stress-reduction","tag-default-mode-network","tag-frank-warren","tag-mindfulness","tag-postsecret"],"yoast_head":"\nPostSecret Project: A Precursor to Mindfulness - Mindfulness Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/2012\/11\/postsecret-project-a-precursor-to-mindfulness.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"PostSecret Project: A Precursor to Mindfulness - Mindfulness Matters\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The PostSecret Project started when Frank Warren printed 3,000 blank postcards with instructions and his address on the front. 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Dr. Kozak's ability to translate ancient healing traditions into pragmatic applications suitable for modern lifestyles through the use of metaphors have made him a strong voice in healthcare and business. Beginning with a journey to India in the 80\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s where he took the Bodhisattva vows from His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Arnie Dr. Kozak began his lifelong practice in mindfulness meditation. Intent on finding a way to bring the practical healing attributes of mindfulness he began incorporating these techniques in his private practice. In 2002 Dr. Kozak created Exquisite Mind in Burlington, Vermont as a vehicle that could expand his wisdom to larger audiences beyond individual psychotherapy to professionals and corporations, health care providers, public groups and, most recently with Exquisite Mind Golf, amateur and professional golfers. His award-winning new book, Wild Chickens and Petty Tyrants: 108 Metaphors for Mindfulness (Wisdom Publications, 2009) is a thoughtful, funny, and inspiring translation of mindfulness practice through the inventive use of metaphor applicable to our daily lives. In addition to his work with Exquisite Mind, Arnie Kozak, Ph.D., Licensed Psychologist\u00e2\u20ac\u201dDoctorate has been a Lecturer in Psychology at the University of Vermont and is a Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry and Medicine, University of Vermont College of Medicine. He has studied and practiced clinical psychology, meditation, and yoga for more than 25 years. He has studied with several meditation masters, including S. N. Goenka, Larry Rosenberg, Gurumayi Chidvilasananda, and His Holiness the Dalai Lama. After receiving his bachelors degree with honors from Tufts University, he was awarded a Presidential Fellowship to get his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from the University at Buffalo. He completed his training as a Psychological Fellow at the Harvard Medical School. Prior to founding the Exquisite Mind in 2002, Arnie worked ten years in the private sector for the PKC Corporation consulting on mental health content for this revolutionary software company.","sameAs":["http:\/\/exquisitemind.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/author\/akozak"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2716"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2720,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2716\/revisions\/2720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2716"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2716"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/mindfulnessmatters\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2716"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}