What began as my technical experiment evolved into something far more meaningful: a system that doesn’t just store and retrieve information, but actively helps me understand my personal journey through life. Let me share how this system came to life and what it revealed about the power of AI-assisted self-reflection.

The Technical Foundation

The heart of my system beats through an intricate network of modern AI tools. At its core lies n8n, orchestrating a dance between various components. The journey begins when my journal entries, carefully exported from Affine in markdown format, are transformed into vector embeddings using the nomic-embed-text model running on Ollama.

These mathematical representations of my thoughts find their home in Supabase’s vector database, but it’s what happens next that truly brings the system to life. Through the Mistral-nemo model, I created an AI assistant that doesn’t just search through entries – it understands them, connects them, and helps uncover patterns I might have missed.

Bringing Intelligence to Personal Reflection

The real magic emerged when I implemented the AI agent’s personality. I crafted a detailed prompt that transformed it from a mere search tool into an insightful journal analyst. The prompt instructs the AI to:

  • Identify key periods and transitions in my life
  • Look for recurring themes and patterns
  • Connect past experiences to current situations
  • Explore the context around important decisions
  • Help uncover blind spots in my self-reflection

The first test revealed something remarkable. When asked about my view on the meaning of life, the system didn’t just retrieve relevant journal entries – it synthesized them into a coherent narrative about my perspective on personal growth, well-being, and relationships. It recognized that I view life as a journey centered on living in the moment, making meaningful changes, and nurturing connections with others.

The Technical Orchestra in Action

My workflow, visible in the n8n implementation, shows how each component plays its part:

  • The Chat Trigger node initiates interactions
  • The AI Agent, powered by Mistral-nemo, processes queries with deep understanding
  • Postgres Chat Memory maintains conversation context
  • The Vector Store tools (Supabase and Ollama) enable semantic search across my journal entries

This creates a seamless experience where technology serves my personal growth and understanding.

Beyond Simple Question-Answering

What makes this system special is its ability to generate thoughtful, contextual questions about my journey. For instance, it doesn’t just state observations about my life philosophy – it prompts deeper reflection through questions about:

  • My personal growth and well-being priorities
  • Steps I’ve taken to nurture relationships
  • Specific practices I use for staying present and mindful

Each question is grounded in patterns observed in my journal entries, creating a feedback loop of reflection and insight.

The Human Element

While the technical implementation is impressive, what truly matters is how it serves my need for self-understanding. The system becomes a partner in my self-reflection, helping to:

  • Identify patterns I might miss in my daily thoughts
  • Connect different periods of my life in meaningful ways
  • Surface insights that might otherwise remain hidden
  • Prompt deeper questioning about my choices and values

Looking Forward

As my system continues to evolve, I’m discovering new possibilities. Could I enhance the emotional intelligence of the AI analyst? Might I add visualization tools to map my personal growth over time? The foundation is laid, but the potential for deeper understanding seems boundless.

Credit goes to Mischa for the initial inspiration and Python script that started my journey. But what began as a technical project has become something more – a tool for understanding myself better through the lens of my own written thoughts, augmented by artificial intelligence.

This isn’t just about storing and retrieving memories anymore. It’s about creating a dialogue with my past self, understanding my patterns, and using those insights to shape my future. In a world where technology often pulls us away from self-reflection, I’ve created a system that guides me back to it, helping me understand not just what I’ve written, but who I am and who I might become.