There is a difference between writing to yourself and writing something that others may read. I mean, it's obvious, but it's not something I necesarily give conscious thought to. Having an interesting conversation with a friend is a form of thinking out loud, though it is instantaneous, which has its pros and cons.
Writing something that is going to be shared is unique in the way that substantially more thought gets put into the writing. I can erase words, re-write them, even mentally, before putting them down on "paper".
I journal a lot... writing about my thoughts, the events around me, reflections of the past, and plans for the future. I re-orient, re-center, and calibrate myself through this exercise. I've gone through phases of sharing what I think on social media, and it felt really good... liberating in a sense. On one hand, it forced me to exercise clear thought and communication as well as reflect on my thoughts and beliefs more deeply, and on the other hand it created multiple deep connections with people that I still love to this day. It didn't achieve "mass reach", which SM influencers make you believe is necessary, but it achieved everything I would want to achieve. Personal and local community gain. I think my brain loves scale, systems, and high level thinking, though life ultimately demands presence in the here and now. One letter at a time, one word at a time, one small action at a time.
I've reflected a lot about the concept of everything being one and one being everything, i.e my body being made up of many cells that are contributing to being "me", and "me" not being possible without every single one of my body's cells. I find that thought tangent to be very grounding, calming, and connecting with the world. I often repeat to myself during meditation "I am the universe (a part of it) and the universe is me (as in has me as a part of its entity). This idea creates a lot of meaning and connection, to my immediate environment but also everything as a whole.
The "higher order" thoughts and feelings are great, but as they say, "talk doesn't cook rice".
When it comes to integrating it into my day-to-day, or week-to-week, or broader than that (in the context of say goal setting or a work/life project), it is somewhat challenging. I observe that for some this comes easier, as in, they just do and act day-to-day without questioning the status quo, but for me it's hard. All I do is question the status quo. Practices such as exactly this one - writing - which I do exclusively for myself in my personal journals (I have a few for different purposes), meditation, or any other form of conscious re-centering and disconnect, help me clear my mind and bring myself to the present (in some way, from the universe to the atom, from the body to the individual cell). For the body to work, it can't just be "the idea of the body", the cell itself has to conduct its responsibilities as a cell...
So when I gather myself, my thoughts, my philosophies, my reflections, and align them properly into the here and now and then the future, and if I do it properly and succesfully, I create a clear path forward in the here and now. This creates calm and confidence in the next step, so to speak. So I've arrived at the conclusion today during journaling, and I must admit it was influenced by the usual thought and information consumption (recently reading We Who Wrestle with God by Jordan Peterson), that I should share what I love to do out loud. Why? Because it's the integration of me with everything else. Of the cell with the body. I love to do this, it comes naturally and I've been doing it for years (close to a decade), so sharing it may be interesting and useful to others... For thought, conversation, or whatever else.
I enjoy to think and write, and maybe someone out there enjoys to think and read (like me, when I read content from others that provokes my thought). Anyway, here it was.
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