Friday, March 4, 2016

PostSecret Live Event

On a scale from 1 to 10 where 1 is finding yourself locked in the bathroom on a bus and 10 is the feeling after a first kiss, going to the PostSecret Live event at the University of New Mexico was a strong 10.

If you have ever kept a secret; if you have ever felt like no one understands you; if you need more compassion in life; if you feel the need to hear the deep and dark secrets of others (be them hilarious, heart breaking, or anywhere in between), then PostSecret Live is a perfect event for you. I truly believe this project can change the world for the better, making it a more peaceful, compassionate, and understanding place to live. It already has helped the world strive for this in many ways.

This event is an hour and a half long presentation by Frank Warren, the founder of the world's largest advertisement free blog in the world, postsecret.com. His PostSecret journey began in 2004 when he decided to print out 3000 postcards which were blank on one side and had these simple instructions on the back:


Warren tells of going to the "darkest streets" of Washington DC (because that's where the really good secrets can be found) and passing out these cards. Not everyone supported him or really even understood why he was doing this. But the postcards started coming. In some of the first weeks, he barely had enough new post cards sent to him to post the 10 new cards every week on his blog. And there were only a few visitors. The idea soon went viral and he began receiving cards from outside of Washington DC and outside of the US. His blog visitors soared from 100 one week to 1000 the next to over 4 million weekly viewers now, 12 years later. Warren explains this process as having "accidentally" tapped into a a stream of mystery and wonder.

PostSecret has made a huge difference in the world as they have raised over $1,000,000 for the Suicide Prevention Hotline. It also has sparked the idea for other websites such as ifoundyourcamera.net.

Through the night, Frank Warren used a multiplex of post cards he has received, audio recordings, stories, and even a secret of his own to help explain what this process has been like for him and what he has learned along the way. I loved that he took the time to hand selected a few extra posts about the Albuquerque and New Mexico area from the PostSecret App (which lasted for 3 months in 2011-2012) to share with us. The process has been extremely enlightening to him. Here are some points he has learned which really stuck out to me:

  • There are two kinds of secrets: those we hide from others and those we keep from ourselves. 
  • Secrets inside of you are like a wall. As we share them with others, we realize they were really a bridge the whole time connecting us to others and to our deepest self. 
  • In Hebrew, the word for secret means "to come closer."
  • It is an illusion that we are alone in our secrets. 
  • You earn your soul through your suffering. Through them you begin to discover talents and gifts. We have gifts that the world is waiting for us to discover. The world needs these talents and gifts.


At the end of the night, Warren allowed individuals in the audience to share a secret over the microphone with others. One person shared her story of transferring schools in high school because everyone told her to kill herself. Another person said that he hasn't made it through a love song in months without crying. Another shared his story of growing up in the system and feeling unburdened by the need others feel to seek out lost family relationships. One man told a hilarious story of how his brother used to tell him that cob webs belonged to cob spiders, the deadliest spider on earth. If a web touches you, the cob spiders will find you no matter where you are on earth. A few hours later, this man walked through one and thought for sure that he was going to die. He couldn't sleep for weeks. My favorite secret shared was of a man who always used to pass a stranger on campus who would vibrantly say, "hello." They both knew that they didn't know one another, but they began creating a secret handshake and and stories about how they met to share with the friends nearby. He hasn't seen that guy in quite some time and he misses him.

Warren left us with his memorable testimony about how his life has been changed so much since PostSecret began. If he could go back in time to the worst memories of his life and erase all the pain and anguish, he wouldn't. Every part of his past was vital to leading him to exactly where he is today. He repeated several times his belief that there are a thousand other ideas just as good as PostSecret which are just waiting for one of us to discover and give a life to. I left the event feeling very contemplative about what my true purpose is. What is it that only I can give to the world? This is an event I would recommend everyone go to at least once in their life!






Visit PostSecret.com to learn about upcoming PostSecret Live Events! Also, comment below about your experience with PostSecret or PostSecret Live!

Also, if you want to learn more about how keeping secrets can physically change your body and your perception of the world, read this research article: http://ambadylab.stanford.edu/pubs/Slepian-Masicampo-Toosi-Ambady_Physical-Burdens-of-Secrecy_in-press_JEPG.pdf

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