post secrets

Last night I went to a book reading/signing. Every time I enter a store for a reading or discussion or signing, I am drawn in and feel at home. So last night was wonderfully welcomed in my life, a life that has been short on reading and readings and signings this last year.

I heard Frank Warren speak about Post Secret. I find it so fascinating that this man came up with this brillant idea. Send post cards all around the world and have them send in secrets. He spoke about how he sees it has a social movement and social networking. He spoke a bout how so many people can connect on each other's secrets. Is it true? I think is it. I believe we share similar thoughts and screts with others but don't share. In the name of embaressment? Shame? All the above? But I can tell you this...there is nothing more comforting than when you realize someone else is harboring the same secret you are.

Walking out of the store, a friend asked me "Is there a secret you would send in, one you haven't told anyone?" And I said I didn't think so. So as I was laying in bed last night I kept thinking that I responded so quickly as to not have to be pushed into sharing a secret. Truth is there are many secrets I have that no one else has heard. Secrets I harbor inside of me.

I have shared some secrets with certain people, the people closet to me. They have shared some of theirs with me.

Secrets are so dangerous to let out though, How do you know when you can trust someone with it? SO I suppose that's why this post secret thing has been such a success. You don't have to tell someone you know. Tell a total stranger via a postcard and no one will ever know.

So my question is this....if you don't know the person you are telling, is it more like you are telling yourself?